January 15, 2010
What Children’s Books Taught Us About Food
Cupcakes courtesy of flickr/makeshiftlove
I read the other day that Kellogg’s is teaming up with an Irish publisher and a bookstore to give away free books to children there who buy Rice Krispies cereal. I’m all for free books, and any effort to get children to read. The books they chose don’t appear to have anything to do with food, but it got me thinking about the books I read growing up, and what culinary lessons they held.
Here are just a few that came to mind:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Probably the first book I ever read about food, with gorgeous illustrations of plums, pears and cherry pie. Lesson: If you eat until you have a stomachache, you will transform into a beautiful creature. Hmm.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
My mouth watered at the descriptions of Wonka bars and Everlasting Gobstoppers, and I shivered at the fates of Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop. Lesson: Greedy people always get their comeuppance. If only.
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Who didn’t love this tender tale of friendship between a girl, a pig and a spider? And how many became vegetarians as a result? Lesson: That BLT you’re eating may have been someone’s friend.
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Sam-I-Am harangues his skeptical friend into trying the title dish by annoying him with rhymes. Lesson: Don’t knock it till you try it.
Geraldine Belinda by Marguerite Henry
My mother gave me a collection of books from her childhood that included this little gem from 1942. Geraldine Belinda comes into a fortune (a nickel, I think) and goes on a shopping spree for candy and toys. Not wanting to share, she snubs her friends, but is holding her nose so high in the air she doesn’t notice that all her treasures fall out of her package. Lesson: Friends are more valuable than things—even candy. And a nickel went a lot farther in 1942.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
I was never a big fan of science fiction, but this time-travel mystery blew my little mind. In one scene, the protagonist, a young boy, is served what appears to be a turkey dinner, but to him it tastes like sand because it is actually synthetic. Lesson: Looks can be deceiving. Well, it was probably deeper than that, but it’s been decades since I read the book.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
The original yo-yo diet—Alice grows bigger and smaller according to the foods (labeled “eat me” and “drink me”) she ingests after falling through the rabbit hole. Lesson: Beware of enticing food labels.
I’m sure there are many more. Can you think of any?
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In The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Turkish Delight figures into Edmund’s moral downfall. I’ve never had the pleasure of trying the stuff, but I’ve always been curious about what it tastes like after reading this book.
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” taught me how to play with my food, a talent that should not be underestimated. It also taught me that pancakes are more delicious when lifted via helicopter.
Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A.A. Milne contain cryptic lessons about food. When Tigger’s favorite breakfast turns out to be Roo’s medicine, we learn that one kangaroo’s poison is another tiger’s tonic. And when Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit’s doorway after eating too much honey, and Rabbit hangs dish towels on Pooh’s legs, we learn that regardless of the situation one can always make oneself useful.
Bread and Jam for Frances! The most fabulous book for picky eaters. Lesson: Being picky might mean you are missing out on some good stuff.
How to Eat Fried Worms. Boy is dared to eat a worm a day for a month. Lesson: If you try a food often enough, you just might learn to like it.
I always remember the descriptions of Christmas treats in the Little House and it reminds me how spoiled and overindulged we are today. I always wanted to taste the sugar candies Wilder described.
I was in seventh grade when I read Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. I will never forget how the people “grok” the dead in that strange land.
Strega Nona! A memorable pasta flood and Big Anthony has to eat his mistake.
I always thought the food lesson of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” was if you eat too much rich food you feel ill.
The lesson of the “Little House” books (especially the early ones) is that getting food takes a lot of hard work.
Don’t forget: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Raggedy Ann and Andy had bubbling soda fountains and cookie trees…the “bad” people always turned out to have just been misunderstood and when things cleared up they had ice cream sodas, or some other sweet treat, always!
Betsy, Tacy, and Tib made Everything Pudding. Lesson learned: mixing delicious ingredients together does not guarantee a tasty result.
Jane Thayer’s The Blueberry Pie Elf — saying please and thank you may just get you more pie!
Farmer Boy — and why do I love this book? Because every chapter contains long and vivid descriptions of Almanzo’s groaning dining room table. I wonder if they really ate that much?
[...] but I’ll hand it over to you readers (who proved very creative with your contributions to the food lessons in children’s books comments). What are your favorite movie food moments? Posted By: Lisa Bramen — Food in [...]
Paddington Bear loves marmalade so much that it is the only thing that he packs in his suitcase. I’m not sure what this signifies–other than to keep one’s prize possession close bu–but it definitely made me curious about marmalade and is one of the only aspects of the books that I can remember.
In some of the books in the Nancy Drew series, Nancy receives sleuthing help from her two cousins, George and Bess. While George is athletic girl, Bess is always described as “plump” and, if I remember correctly, enjoyed eating ice cream sundaes. Moral of the story: you are what you eat and your food defines you, quite literally.