When writers place food in front of their characters - who after all do
not need sustenance - they are asking readers to be alert to the meaning
and implication of food choices. As readers begin to listen closely to
these cues, they become attuned to increasingly layered stories about
why it matters what foods are selected, prepared, served, or shared, and
with whom, where, and when. In Canadian Literary Fare Nathalie Cooke and
Shelley Boyd explore food voices in a wide range of Canadian fiction,
drama, and poetry, drawing from their formational blog series with
Alexia Moyer. Thirteen short vignettes delve into metaphorical taste
sensations, telling of how single ingredients such as garlic or ginger,
or food items such as butter tarts or bannock, can pack a hefty symbolic
punch in literary contexts. A chapter on Canada's public markets finds
literary food voices sounding a largely positive note, just as Canadian
journalists trumpet Canada's bountiful and diverse foodways. But in
chapters on literary representations of bison and Kraft Dinner, Cooke
and Boyd bear witness to narratives of hunger, food scarcity, and social
inequality with poignancy and insistence.Canadian Literary Fare pays
heed to food voices in the works of Tomson Highway, Rabindranath
Maharaj, Alice Munro, M. NourbeSe Philip, Eden Robinson, Fred Wah, and
more, inviting readers to listen for stories of foodways in the
literatures of Canada and beyond.
