ABSTRACT

This essay compares the two cultural and publishing phenomena of fiction and food writing. It begins with a statistical survey to analyse general conceptions of the two types of publication, along with motivations to purchase these books. It looks at the history of fiction and food writing and considers ways in which they have come to find common ground over the past few decades. It demonstrates that in some instances passages from prose fiction and food writing are all but indistinguishable with regard to phrasing, nuance, evocation of place and mood. Further, it considers parallels between the two genres in terms of the ways in which books are structured and promoted, giving particular attention to how celebrity chefs have come to resemble, in various ways, authors, narrators, and fictional constructs in their own right. It concludes by considering how the industry of food writing has announced its presence on the landscape of book culture by, like literature, generating a market for ‘how to write’ guides for those who fantasise about transforming themselves from readers to writers.