Eating in the Little House on the Prairie

By Shirley Raye Redmond

I enjoy reading about food in fiction. Don’t you? In the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a reader can enjoy churning butter with Ma, making molasses-on-snow candy with Mary, and eating buckwheat pancakes with Laura. The author does a great job of “show don’t tell,” so the reader can almost taste the deliciousness of the food. There’s even a Little House Cookbook so hungry readers can recreate these food items in their own modern kitchens.

Or what about Kenneth Graham’s, The Wind in the Willows? I love how he describes the animals’ picnic lunch with “sausage singing with garlic, the cheese that lay down and cried.” He even notes that “packing the picnic basket is not quite such pleasant works as unpacking the basket,” when it’s time to eat.

Even Victoria Holt’s gothic romance novels were rich with traditional foods of Great Britain. I still remember looking up the term “singing hinnies,”—a treat like a griddle cake or scone favored by several of Miss Holt’s heroines.

So what’s your favorite book resplendent with food? The Harry Potter books with creamy butter beer and other dining room delectables? The foresty feasts in the Redwall series? Do tell!

An award-winning writer and frequent conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of two inspirational historical novels, as well as two dozen children’s books. Shirley Raye holds an M.A. in literature. She has been married to her husband Bill for forty years. They live in New Mexico and are blessed with two grown children, two adorable grandsons, and one spunky Scottish terrier. Touch bases with her at shirleyrayeredmond.com