Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tuesday a day later

Today was my Tuesday, because yesterday was my school-Monday (my district gets off for the first day of buck season, wouldn't you know...). But I'm not here to talk about the odd holidays of my region. I'm here to talk about the food of my region. Or, regional food in general (kind of an oxymoron there, huh?).

Setting is, as we all know, quite important to a story. And what's part of setting? Food. Not just what's available/popular in a region, but what it's called. (For example, pop vs. soda and funnel cake vs. fried dough.) Food might stand out if a character finds himself/herself in a new area--for example, when I was in Tennessee this summer there was fried pie at the Fourth of July fair. (Actually, a lot of things were fried.) But fried pie? Totally caused a double-take. Or, if the character is in a usual setting, food can be worked in to enhance the sensory appeals of the story. Let's face it, sight and sound are used to death. How about taste and scent?

I challenge you to look up your state (or area) on Wikipedia and read the food section. Under the Pennsylvania page were foods I didn't know were traditional PA delicacies (pretzels, chips), food I definitely would've guessed (chocolate, go Hershey!), and even some food I've honestly never heard of (what's chow-chow?).

Also, including food gives you an awesome new aspect of your setting to research...preferably hands-on!

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com