You might not think that novels involving food could get better than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, but a lot has been written since you were six.
Each month, the Kansas City Library assembles a list of recommendations tied to holidays or the birthdays of famous authors. To celebrate Culinary Arts Month, Kansas City librarian Angela Kille has put together a "Fiction for Foodies" summer reading list.
For mystery lovers, Kille recommends Claire Johnson's Roux Morgue, centered around a murder at a San Francisco cooking school.
Romance readers should pick up Last Bite: A Novel of Culinary Romance, Nancy Verde Barr's tale of love for a morning-show chef. "It's a heady mix -- romance and food -- whether or not it's inside the pages of a novel," says Kille.
While
she wants you to find romance, Kille would prefer you keep the food
away until you put down the library book. Is there anything a reader
can pair with one of the novels?
"I think a nice glass of wine goes with any book," says Kille.
Since
the library doesn't have a wine list, here are a few suggestions for what
to enjoy with the world of fictional chefs. Nothing says love like
Italian sparkling wine -- a glass of Prosecco could make romance readers of us all.
Murder is best served with reds. Heavy red wines are more likely to induce sleep than encourage reading, so pick up a bottle of Beaujolais. The light, fruity wine from France is typically sweet with a lot of acidity, just like the sous chef that nobody expects.
If you're attending a book club, pick up a Red Truck Mini-Barrel --
a portable wine cask filled with three liters (four bottles) of a
four-varietal blend: Syrah, Petite Sirah, Carbernet Franc, and Merlot.
[Image via Flickr: Mufet]
