My library contains volumes of books directly related to food. Cookbooks, modern, vintage, and sometimes obscure; food history tomes penned by likes of Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Mark Kurlansky, and Ken Albala; food memoirs, documenting the lives of food-centric personalities like Ruth Reichl, Gabriela Hamilton, and Julia Child; books about food writing and photography; cookbooklets published by Knox, Crisco, and General Mills.
Food and a Murder Mystery Series
But lately I’ve been reading a series that has no direct link to food. As a matter of fact it’s a murder mystery series, and yet Louise Penny uses references to food to create context and connection. Her brilliant inclusion of food draws you into the story, makes your mouth water, and has you yearning to be invited to partake. I want to be clear, this is not a review of the series, but a reflection on a fiction writer’s understanding of the importance of food to infer space, time, and culture as well as a symbol of human emotions, states of mind, and relationships.
I have literally stopped in the middle of a sentence to find my phone and take pictures of some of these sentences and paragraphs. I’ve amassed quite a collection, honestly. Eric, my husband has asked me what I plan on doing with all of these photos. To be honest, I wasn’t sure when I started taking them. I just knew that I didn’t want them to sit there on those pages without being celebrated in some fashion. I thought maybe I’d turn them into an unofficial cookbook of the series - which I still may - but that’s a long time coming. Then I thought, maybe I’d use them as inspiration in writing, which is very likely.
But, then I thought of you. And I was pretty sure that you would appreciate some of my favorite food quotes from the books. Maybe we can even turn this into a serialized article. When I come across a particularly poignant quote, I’ll share it and we can have a discussion. I’ll share my thoughts and you can share your thoughts about what is means, or how it affects you.
Should we get started? OK!
The Offer of a Simple Plate of Food
This first quote is from A Rule Against Murder. To set the scene, the Morrow family, a wealthy, very cultured Quebecois family has gathered at the Manoir Bellechasse to pay tribute to their dead father. And as you may have guessed, a body turns up. Now the family adds another family member to mourn.
Having grown up in a very different circles, Clara the youngest son, Peter’s, wife has fought to fit into this family from the beginning.
“Mrs. Morrow, would you like some lunch?”
“No, Claire, thank you.”
The elderly woman sat on the sofa next to her husband, as though her spine had fused. Clara held out a small plate with a bit of poached salmon, delicate mayonnaise and paper-thin cucumbers and onion in vinegar. One of Peter’s mother’s favorite lunches, she knew, from the times she’d asked for it at their place when all they had to offer was a simple sandwich. Two struggling artists rarely ran to salmon.
Wow! In this offering of a favorite meal, we learn so much about the relationship between these two women.
Clara, is not only offering her mother-in-law some type of sustenance during what has to be a mother’s most anguished time, but also a conduit for the two women to connect. She didn’t just choose anything for Mrs. Morrow, she carefully chose foods that she knew were favorites.
Louise Penny’s chose of foods and the way they are offered is telling. Clara presents “a small plate.” Knowing that her mother-in-law surely had very little appetite but did require nourishment, a small, manageable plate was chosen. An offering made with great care and intention.
Poached salmon. Not grilled. Not Fried. Poached. A method that denotes not only sophistication, but also a gentleness. She couples it with “delicate mayonnaise and paper-thin cucumbers.” Implying, again, a gentleness and an intention of care. It takes time and care to make a delicate mayonnaise and to slice cucumbers paper-thin. But then she adds onions in vinegar. Both have a sharpness about them. They provide a counterpoint to the delicateness of the first three ingredients, and yet hint at an underlying differentness. A separateness.
Mrs. Morrow not only declines the offer, she does so calling Clara, Claire. Now, it’s important to understand that at this point of the story, Peter and Clara have been married for over 20 years. Names are important. We want to be called by the name that we go by. And to be called something other than that is discomforting when done unintentionally. But when done with intention, it becomes malicious.
We come to understand that Clara knows that this luncheon plate happens to be one of Mrs. Morrow’s favorites because it’s what she asks for when she visits Peter and Clara at their humble home. She knows full well that poached salmon, delicate mayonnaise and thinly sliced cucumbers cannot be afforded by the “two struggling artists.” A play that seems to establish authority and superiority as well as disappointment in her son’s choice of brides and lifestyle.
That. From 5 sentences about a small plate of poached salmon offered as condolence and peace.
Offering food can be an act to sustain life. Think of a parent offering food to a child. As we’ve seen in the dialogue above, offering food can also be done to help nurture those in pain. Or create a conduit for healing. The next time someone offers you food, do you think that you will stop to consider the intention, or just simple accept or decline the offer?
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Someone must write The Three Pines Cookbook. Why not you? 😊