TTT: Top Ten Books Featuring Characters Who … Enjoy Food

/ beckmank

Top Ten Tuesday

Time for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday (TTT) brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.

Oh dear. This topic is pretty open – “Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who …” I have to come up with my own subject. Not good for a “recovering” engineer like me. I need structure. I need guidance! (I cannot wait to see what other [creative] TTT bloggers come up with!) Let’s see…how about:

Top Ten Books Featuring Characters Who Enjoy Food

You know what I mean, right? I’m talking foodies. Characters who just love to eat. Or enjoy to cook. Sometimes their food preparation is so detailed, you can make the dish yourself. Or – even better – the author provides the recipe for you in the back of the book. You may even find yourself craving whatever food is being served up in the story. So let’s dish, shall we? (Mind you that these are in no particular order.)

clueless

1. Death of a Liar (Hamish Macbeth Mysteries) by M.C. Beaton – This is the latest in the Hamish Macbeth series. While food flows in many of the books, this one stands out with Hamish’s sidekick, Sergeant Dick Fraser. Dick is always prepared for any crime scene, ready to pull out his picnic basket with all the trimmings while he and Hamish wait for what’s next. He also is quite the cook and the baker.

2. A Brew to a Kill (Coffeehouse Mysteries) by Cleo Coyle – All of the Coffeehouse Mysteries feature foodie Claire, who enjoys cooking as much as she enjoys a shot of smooth espresso. In this particular outing, her ex-husband Mateo gets in the kitchen and serves up some delish carnitas and black beans. I know, because I’ve made them from the recipe provided at the end of the book.

3. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – Breakfast. Second Breakfast. Elevenses. Luncheon. Afternoon Tea. Dinner. Supper. Are there bigger foodies than Hobbits? I think not.

Second Breakfast?

4. The Dog Who Knew Too Much (Chet and Bernie Mysteries) by Spenser Quinn – These charming mysteries are narrated by Chet. Chet the Jet. Chet is a dog. A dog who likes bacon. And beef sticks. Did I mention bacon?

5.  Kinsey Milhone Series by Sue Grafton – Kinsey isn’t the best cook, holding a steady diet of peanut butter sandwiches and Quarter Pounders from McDonald’s. But her friend and neighbor Henry Pitts is a wonderful baker.

Uncorked6. Uncorked – My Journey Through the Crazy World of Wine by Marco Pasanella – This memoir explores the author’s journey to start his own wine shop. And with good wine comes good food.

7. The Corpse with the Silver Tongue (Cait Morgan) by Cathy Ace – Here is the inspiration for my list today. Fresh off of finishing this book, it was Welsh Canadian Cait Morgan who got me thinking about food. Cait enjoys a good meal. And she is treated to several great dishes in the South of France during this first outing.

8. Eat, Pray, Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert – I’m going to be honest here. This is on my “currently reading” shelf at Goodreads. And it has been for several years. I loved the “Eat” part – Her descriptions of beautiful Italy and the food she finds there are amazing. Then I got to the “Pray” part. Wasn’t holding my interest, so I set the book down for a bit. Still waiting to pick it back up. But as far as foodies go, Eat (and Italy) deserve to be on this top ten list.

9. Kay Scarpetta Series by Patricia Cornwell – It’s been a while since I’ve read a Kay Scarpetta. The early books were great thrillers, but I’ve lost interest in some of the newer installments. One constant in each book is Scarpetta cooking Italian food as a way to escape the pressure of her job. Ms. Cornwell describes it so vividly I can almost smell it cooking in my own kitchen.

10. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen) by Joanne Fluke – Are these the best mysteries in the world? No. But bakery owner Hannah sure can cook up some delicious desserts.

Meeko

Do you find yourself hungry while reading some of your books? Are you a foodie yourself? What topic would you have chosen for this open Top Ten Tuesday? Share a link to your list if you made one! There are sure to be a variety of topics and books this week.

29 thoughts on “TTT: Top Ten Books Featuring Characters Who … Enjoy Food”

  4. What a great take on this week’s feature! (I’m a total foodie and LOVE FOOD, hehe.) I really liked how you incorporated the humorous gifs. XD Eat, Pray, Love is on sale at my local bookstore, but I’ve read several bad reviews on the book so it’s kind of putt me off from buying it. I think the testament of it chilling on your “currently reading” shelf for that long has solidified my resolve to not buy it (so thanks)!

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  5. Great list! Oh it made me hungry even though I just had dinner. Here’s my TTT-https://crazyinsomniacbibliophile.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/top-ten-tuesday-8/

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  6. I only have one recipe from a non-cookbook in my personal cookbook, and it’s Nate the Great pancakes from when my son started to read the Nate the Great books! If I were doing a blog post on this topic I would have to include that one. Interesting in that I often think of the Kay Scarpetta novel (don’t remember which one) where her niece is in a car accident and at first it looks like a terrible bloody scene, but that’s only because there was some takeout spaghetti or sauce in the car. I usually think about it when driving home with takeout food! I have heard that some of Rita Mae Brown’s cozy mysteries written with her cat (Sneaky Pie Brown) involve lots of food and even a spinoff cook book. I need to add those to my Goodreads shelf!

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  17. Pingback: TTT: My Ten (actually Five) Favorite Top Ten Topics We’ve Ever Done | Hidden Staircase

  18. Pingback: TTT: What’s Cooking? | Hidden Staircase

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