A good food essay is not a restaurant review or a recipe...or a mere catalogue of ingredients. Imagine your gastronomical adventure as more of a travel essay, a journey into an unusual location.--Crafting the Personal Essay (155)
For this assignment, I want you to dig deep into a food experience that you have had, or will have, and write about it. Whether your experience revolves around your first taste of an exotic fruit; or a late-night stack of blueberry pancakes at the local IHOP; or a botana for four alongside family and friends at Taco Olé; or traditional, extravagant (or mundane) cuisine in a foreign country you once visited; even the memory of your first taste of your grandmother or grandfather’s favorite recipe, all of these qualify as experiences you can write about and examine. Your job in this essay will be to recreate one of these experiences for readers in a meaningful, coherent, and engaging manner. To do this, remember what Moore states: “Food is not just sustenance...it is a mood changer, an essential component of marking key events in our lives. Food...is representative of culture and identity” (154). In the epigraph above, Moore also tells us that food essays share similarities with travel essays, and you already know that the latter requires you to be curious, to embrace mystery and questions, and most importantly, to take readers along with you and immerse them in your particular experiences and emotions. In short, your food essay needs to keep your readers “hungry”--not solely for the food your are exploring, but definitely in the experience you are recreating. Like the travel essay before this assignment, your food essay requires that you pay attention to the elements of the craft of creative nonfiction, such as narrative structure, sensory details, descriptive and figurative language, conflict, characterization and dialogue, research (where applicable), and most importantly, verisimilitude--i.e. the realistic portrayal of people, foods, experiences, and environments.
in Google Drive, create a Google Doc and name the file like this: FoodEssay-YourFullName (ex. FoodEssay-GuyFieri)
your Food Essay should:
include include your full name, class information, and date (top left corner of first page only); page numbers (top right); and a creative title (centered). Your entire essay should be double-spaced as well.
revolve around one food experience only
strive to render your experiences through the elements of creative nonfiction mentioned above
include no more than 2 images, if desired
We will workshop drafts of your essay in class on Tuesday, 10/24, and Thursday, 10/26, so plan accordingly.
The final draft of your food essay is due with your final portfolio and should total 6-8 double-spaced pages.
That's it. Stay hungry and curious. Have fun with this assignment, and happy writing!
