Writing Blog Number 2

20241025 Recipe (Cooking) Genre (Fiction)

Recipe (Cooking) Genre

In the past week I have been introduced to a relatively new genre of writing. I have seen it called both Cooking and Recipe, and, I have to say, it is rather intriguing way of writing.

What is it?
Recipe genre is a form of fiction where the story is entwined with food, and recipes are given throughout the narrative. In a short story, it is generally only one recipe, while in longer stories, it is accepted that it is one per chapter. Having said that, more are possible.
         It is not just a recipe, but the recipe forms a part of the narrative. On a wider genre stance, it generally falls under historical drama, romance, family drama, or generational drama. Now, that being said, I was introduced to it in a horror story setting!
         One last thing – the recipes are genuine, and anyone with access to the ingredients, can make them. It isn’t the sort of thing like a fantasy story where you need “dragon steaks” or the like – the recipes include ingredients you can get if not from the local supermarket, from a specialist food supplier (in Australia, that would be, say, crocodile meat).

Where does it come from?
Its history is something that many can probably relate to.
         In the past, going back to Georgian times, families started to write down their family recipes, instead of relying on oral traditions. This is something that continues to this day; my own family’s book, first written by my great-grandmother, and subsequently added to by her daughters, and then my mother, sits at over 100 pgs of recipes I have not found anywhere else, at least in the form we have them.
         In Victorian times, it was not uncommon for little stories about the history of the recipe to be included, as family history – especially in the UK and the Commonwealth – was something that was entwined with personal self-identity. As was usual for these sorts of things, it soon crossed the Atlantic (or moved south from Canada) into the USA as well.
         So, fast forward a few decades, and the recipes were there, with little family histories to go along with them, and a few of these were published, especially in the USA… and it soon came out that quite a few of these “histories” were just made up whole-cloth, or the family had its own history wrong (word of mouth is never a good encyclopaedia… almost as bad as Wikipedia).
         This led to people just running with it, and inventing little anecdotes to go along with their recipes; one of the more famous in Australia was a story about a woman being cared for by goats after her abusive husband made her leave home, hence the reason their damper recipe used goat’s milk.
         Of course, this developed into this new genre/sub-genre.

How is it presented?
There are two ways I have seen it presented.
         First is each chapter starts with a recipe, and the chapter involves the ingredients, its history, the foodstuff having a major plot point, all sorts of things like that. This makes it easier to follow the recipe, but it can feel like the story is shoe-horned in around the recipe.
         Second is the recipe is entwined within the fabric of a story. This does make it harder to follow the recipe – some books have the complete recipes at the end, others expect you to work it out – but it does make the food feel more organically a part of the story.
         In the hands of a talented writer, both can work.

Warning!
Recipes can be copyrighted! They are published online or in books for public consumption and use, but NOT for reproduction. You cannot simply copy a recipe from taste.com into a story. These need to be family or personal recipes that you have made up.
         When it comes to modifying recipes… I am not sure where the law stands on that. I would personally err on the side of caution – only use those family recipes you have prof have been in the family for many, many, many years.

Conclusion
This is a new and fun genre to try, and it could be something different as well. Do I recommend it? Only if you have some good recipes to use!
         Anyway, possibly something worth considering for all the cooks and family historians out there.
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