A required course in the ASU English M.A., Approaches to Research, is an overview of research methods in English Studies with an emphasis on contemporary approaches to research and scholarship within English and the humanities. I loved learning about the different methods of research and really loved putting together my research proposal for the final project in the class. I include that proposal here to illuminate how, even though the English M.A. program was not specifically geared toward my interest in food writing and history, I was able to incorporate it into my coursework. I think this speaks a lot for the English program’s flexibility which allows students to tailor it to suit them while still taking the required courses.

Gina Ruiz

Dr. Baldini     

ENG 501

21 Mar. 2022

Research Proposal: Food Writing in the Fantasy Genre

Food writing in fantasy literature helps the reader connect with stories set in magical and invented worlds. This type of writing functions as a signifier helps to illustrate culture and setting, and closely aligns with identity and selfhood of the characters within the fictional worlds. While food writing exists in every kind of literature and some academic study has been done in other genres or specific authors, the focus of this proposal is the fantasy genre. The research proposed will address the specific question of how food writing within the fantasy genre contributes to worldbuilding in terms of culture, politics, and socio-economic status.

While no seminal academic work has focused on the specific topic of food as a vehicle for worldbuilding in the fantasy genre, there is, however, a significant body of work in various fields of study about the subject of food writing or food as a literary motif or semiotic. The following review of literature outlines a selection of such work.

Sarah Hardstaff, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge has written about food poverty as a theme in children’s literature. In her book chapter, “Poachers and Scavengers: Reconceptualising Food in Children’s Literature,” Hardstaff does address food in fantasy writing, as she includes Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in her analysis of other children’s literature. Hardstaff challenges current literary criticism on food in children’s literature as depicted within a Freudian framework where food viewed through that lens, is symbolic of sexuality. Hardstaff argues that novels that address child poverty and hunger using food as a motif are “an indictment of existing political, social, and economic structures” (S. L. Hardstaff). Hardstaff also discusses gender roles, oppression, and socio-economic status as illustrated by the role of the bread and the baker in Suzanne Collins’ dystopian YA novel, The Hunger Games, in her article, “Run, run as fast you can: the boy with the bread’ in The Hunger Games.” Here, Hardstaff addresses the issues of poverty and how bread functions as a political symbol (S. Hardstaff). While Hardstaff’s articles address an audience interested in food as a motif in children’s literature, her research applies to the fantasy genre as well, especially in terms of socio-economic justice themes using food as a motif.

Simon James, a scholar who specializes in Victorian and Edwardian studies, in his article “Daily bread: food and drink in the Holmes canon” (James, 2018) James discusses literary signposts/food semiotics that Conan Doyle uses to convey a sense of disarray within the Sherlock Holmes canon. James discusses how mealtimes depict both the anxiety of a client in the Holmes canon and a sense of normalcy. This usage illustrates how food is utilized, not only as a literary signpost but to build tension and create conflict in a story. James also discusses how Watson and Holmes’ differing approaches to eating convey their vastly different characters. Though Professor James’ audience is in the Holmesian, Victorian, and Edwardian studies realms, his work shows the need for more research in food semiotics and explains how such study could help to illuminate meaning within literature as well as how food writing is important in helping to build realistic worlds and define characters in stories. It also shows the need for deeper study and illustrates points that will be of use in the proposed research on worldbuilding in the fantasy genre.

Kerri Majors, author and essayist, in her article entitled “Out of the Frying Pan: Food in Fiction,” (Majors, 2012) discusses Otherness, character, scene setting, and style, all illustrated within the scope of food writing in various literary novels she examines. Majors discusses exoticism and the Otherness of a character’s cuisine to depict character and a means to attract and inform the reader. While Majors’ audience is that of the literary fiction studies population, her analysis of how food writing depicts Otherness, setting, character, and style is worthy of further study in relation to the proposed intended research.

In “Food Symbolism and the Traumatic Confinement in “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” (Muñoz-González, 2018), Muñoz-González discusses how food is used as a tool to illustrate social class, oppression, confinement, and power dynamics. Muñoz-González is a research fellow at the University of Zaragoza.  She specializes in contemporary U.S. fiction from a posthumanist perspective combined with dystopian representations of the future and science fiction. Muñoz González’ audience is within those genres but applies to the proposed research in terms of being informative of how food writing is used to illustrate power dynamics and social class in worldbuilding.

Other works to be examined in the proposed research are authors Patricia McKillip, Robert Jordan, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., and Steven Brust, who incorporates food writing within their fantasy worlds. Further academic study in other disciplines such as food history, food philosophy, semiotics as written by authors such as Mario Montanari (Food is Culture, Let the Meatballs Rest and Other Stories About Food and Culture), Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Food: A History, Near a Thousand Tables, a History of Food), Pino Palma (Savoring Power, Consuming the Times: The Metaphors of Food in Medieval and Renaissance Italian Literature), Tigner and Caruth (Literature and Food Studies), John Allen (The Omnivorous Mind: Our Evolving Relationship with Food), Gordon Shepard (Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why it Matters) and Simona Stano (“The Semiotics of Food”) will be analyzed to further develop the research.

No seminal academic work on food writing has been done exclusively in the fantasy genre. As such, no work has been done to analyze how food writing contributes and/or is necessary to that genre.

The specific research question this proposal addresses is how food writing within the fantasy genre can be a powerful tool in worldbuilding. Specifically, it will ask how such writing can enhance character development, set a scene, illustrate socio-economic status and politics, as well as imbue an alien world with connectors to the reader/audience to enhance their reading experience and make the fantasy worlds seem real. Simona Stano, in her work on food semiotics, states “What are the traces left by such discourses? And how do these traces affect our perception of reality?” (Stano, 2015). The proposed research will address those questions from the optics of fantasy literature, i.e., how do the traces left by food discourses in the worldbuilding of fantasy literature affect the reader’s perception of reality and fantasy and their connections to those stories? What subtexts provided by incorporating food in fantasy worlds aid in worldbuilding and gives the reader a greater sense of time and place within those worlds? How can authors learn to incorporate food semiotics into their work to convey meaning? How can food writing be used to build richer, more detailed fantasy worlds? These questions matter because food in fantasy literature is an understudied tool of making fantasy worlds appear real to the reader. A greater understanding of how food can be used in the nuts and bolts of worldbuilding will give educators an opportunity to refine their practice, while students of writing will gain valuable insight into how to enrich their fictional worlds.

Considerable study has been devoted to food writing in other genres and disciplines, demonstrating the importance of food as a literary tool. There has been, as yet, no seminal academic work in the fantasy genre, which remains a ripe field for further research. Further, there is a wide audience of scholars who research the genre in other disciplines that would be interested in how food writing contributes to the genre and studies. The popularity of pop-culture cookbooks such as Hero’s Feast, which is focused on the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons, A Feast of Ice and Fire, Cooking for Wizards, Warriors and Dragons, The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, Cooking for Halflings & Monsters, Recipes from the World of Tolkien and others show a marked interest and audience outside of academia for literature regarding food in fantasy novels, games, and films.

Qualitative data analysis and collection will be conducted using the above-mentioned novels, academic books, and papers utilizing textual analysis. Archival methods will also be used in researching recipes, letters, and articles. Some cooking of recipes in fantasy novels may take place in order to get a sense of why a particular dish makes sense in the story. The research on this topic could take from six months to a year depending on whether or not author interviews can be scheduled and incorporated into the above-mentioned research methods. Scheduling interviews during a pandemic could increase the time spent researching. Further, if interviews with authors are conducted, ethical issues such as gaining the trust of interviewees, appropriate permissions for using published and copyrighted material, as well as the fact that an author may request to see the interview before it is published in the research. Ethnological research with readers of fantasy fiction may also take place in order to get a sense of how important food in fantasy literature is to the intended audience. The ethical considerations of respect, justice, and transparency will also be taken into account throughout the research.

The proposed research will enhance the body of academic study in the fantasy genre by addressing how food works as a literary tool in worldbuilding to illustrate Otherness, and socio-economic status, develop characters, set scenes, and as a literary signifier. This research could allow other academics to ask and answer questions as they pertain to the discourse of food as a tool in other genres, or even within the fantasy genre in terms of what the author’s intent was versus how it is perceived by their audience, highlighting how food can be used to depict other literary themes. The research could also provide deeper insight into the philosophy of a novel or fantasy series and what message the author is trying to convey. It could thus give a deeper understanding of the author, as well as that author’s beliefs and convictions.

The proposed research may deepen our understanding of other works outside of the genre, such as how food in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is used as social commentary (Dickens, 1985), or how food conveys a sense of place during the “cheese symphony” in The Belly of Paris (Zola, 2009), while at the same time highlighting social oppression and fear the characters feel. The proposed research may provide additional data in terms of how a particular food in a novel defines the era from which it came and thus, provide additional historical insight into that era for scholars of literature and/or history. Thus, the proposed research would supply insight not only into the fantasy genre but could illuminate other genres and disciplines. The proposed research can also inform authors of how they can use food as a literary tool in their world-building and character development. Because food writing exists in every genre, this research could aid other scholars in their own work in other genres and disciplines, and provide insight into other fields, while filling a gap that is ripe for further, focused academic study in the fantasy genre.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Bantam, 1985.

Hardstaff, Sarah Layzell. “Poachers and Scavengers: Reconceptualising Food in Children’s Literature.” Carrington, Bridget and Jennifer Harding. Feast or Famine? Food and Children’s Literature : Food and Children’s Literature,. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publisher, 2014. 182-193.

Hardstaff, Sarah. “Run, run as fast as you can: ‘the boy with the bread’ in the Hunger Games.” Forum for World Literature Studies 8.3 (2016): 371.

James, Simon J. “Daily bread: food and drink in the Holmes canon.” Critical Quarterly 60.3 (2018): 5-13.

Majors, Kerri. “Out of the Frying Pan: Food in Fiction.” Midwest Quarterly 54.1 (2012): 67-81, 9-10.

Munoz-Gonzalez, Esther. “Food Symbolism and Traumatic Confinement in “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”.” Complutense Journal of English Studies 26 (2018): 79-93.

Stano, Simona. “The Semiotics of Food.” The International Handbook of Seminotics. Ed. Peter Pericles Trifonas. Springer, 2015.

Zola, Emile. The Belly of Paris. Trans. M. Kurlansky. New York: The Modern Library, 2009.