Ten top memorable meals in literature

Diana Secker Tesdell is the editor of the Everyman’s Pocket Classic anthology Stories from the Kitchen. One of her ten most memorable meals in literature, as shared at the Guardian:

The Flounder by Günter Grass

When you are feeling cold inside – try the walls of the cow’s second stomach. When you are sad, cast out by all nature, sad unto death, try tripe, which cheers us and gives meaning to life.

Nobel prize-winner Grass’s inventive novel ranges across centuries and features a vast array of characters, including a mystical talking fish and a great many cooks. In one scene, a 16th-century abbess finagles the right to cook a last meal for her father before his execution for heresy. She invites the officials responsible for his death sentence; they eagerly accept. The abbess prepares her father’s favourite dish – peppery stewed tripe – but takes care to spice it liberally with vengeance.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue