COOKING THE BOOKS - FOOD, SFF + FEMINISM (MF GALAXY 089)
SFF NOVELISTS NALO HOPKINSON,
EKATERINA SEDIA, SG WONG + MINISTER FAUST ON WHY THEY WRITE ABOUT FOOD WHILE SO
FEW NOVELISTS DO, POWER DYNAMICS IN FOOD CULTURE, FUTURE FOOD TECH + CYBORG BODIES
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| I bought my first cookbook when I was about 8 or so. These scans are from my original copy. |
To be alive is to eat. To enjoy life is to eat. To meet with family and friends and reminisce and plan the future is to eat. And of course, all of human culture, in one way or another revolves around our basic need to stay alive through producing, consuming, and loving food.
So why
do so few novelists, poets, lyricists, and other writers talk about food in
their work?
I’ve
been cooking since I was a kid and have always loved everything about
acquiring, making, and consuming food, and in recent years I’ve become an
enthusiastic and productive gardener. I’ve relished (ba-dum-ching) my
conversations with other people, but especially other writers, about food. This
episode features the sparkling ideas about food, culture, science, feminism,
social justice, technology, and more of three delightful human beings and celebrated
writers:
SG Wong
is the creator of the Lola Starke hardboiled detective series (Die on Your Feet, In For a Pound, and Devil Take the Hindmost), set in
Crescent City, California, in an alternate history in which China colonised
North America. An Arthur Ellis Award finalist, Wong is also a sparkling
stalwart of Edmonton’s literary scene as an organiser of writer conferences.
She’s one of those outstanding individuals whose endless energy benefits
everyone in the community.
Ekaterina Sedia is the author of The House Of Discarded Dreams,
The
Secret History of Moscow,
and The Alchemy of Stone. She’s a
short story writer who also occasionally edits anthologies, and was an interim
non-fiction editor for Clarkesworld
Magazine in the fall of 2008. She blogs television, books, fashion, food, and
even cats, with a focus on the intersection between fashion industry and
feminism. She encourages readers to contact her at katsedia@hotmail.com.
Nalo Hopkinson, whom the Routledge Companion to Literature and
Science calls a luminary in the science fiction community. She is widely known
for her Africentric science fiction and fantasy novels exploring the
experiences and cultures of African peoples in the Caribbean and ultimately
into the galaxy. She’s the author of ten celebrated books including Skin Folk, Sister Mine, The New Moon’s Arms,
and her explosive debut Brown Girl in the
Ring, a dystopian science fiction adventure set in near-future Toronto
featuring an African-Canadian heroine and the orisha gods of Nigeria and Benin.
The
bonus edition for Patreon subscribers features an extra 40 minutes of
conversation, so sign up, why doncha?
Bean
Pie, My Brotha?
Sister Lani Shabazz invented bean pies
Sister Lani Shabazz invented bean pies
NALO HOPKINSON
SQUASH SOUP
Ingredients
1
medium winter squash, perhaps 4" in diameter. I prefer the dry, sweet
squashes such as kabocha, turban or hubbard. But you can substitute pumpkin or
any other winter squash, such as acorn or butternut. I advise against using
canned pumpkin. It just doesn't taste as good.
1
medium onion.
2
tablespoons butter. Can substitute w another flavorful oil, such as coconut,
palm, or hazelnut. I'm not sure the taste of olive oil would work.
1/2
teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg, or 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger. As with the
pumpkin, fresh is best.
Flaked,
dried chilis to taste.
Salt
to taste.
Soup pot
or heavyish saucepan with a lid, plus enough water to cover the squash as it's
boiling.
Optional;
basil leaves and plain yogourt, as garnish.
Directions
Rinse
and peel the onion. Cut in half, put in soup pot.
Rinse the squash. Cut in half, remove seeds. Chop the squash into large pieces and put in the pot. I generally leave the rind on until later.
Cover the squash & onion with water. Put the lid on the pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the squash and onion are soft enough to puree.
Turn the heat down as low as possible. You want to keep the water warm, but not boiling.
With a fork or slotted spoon, remove the onion and squash. Put the onion into a food processor or blender.
While you're letting the squash cool a bit, put the butter, dried chilis, and nutmeg or ginger into the simmering water.
With a spoon, scrape the squash flesh free of the rind. Discard the rind and add the squash to the onion.
Add some of the liquid from the pot to the squash and onion. Not too much! There's nothing quite like steaming hot squash puree erupting from your blender all over your hands, face, and anything in a 3-foot radius. Heed the voice of experience.
Puree the squash and onion. Return it to the pot. Stir, taste. Add salt if you like.
Turn the heat off.
Optional; garnish with the basil leaves and/or a dollop of plain yogourt.
Serve. Will probably serve 3-4 people as a meal starter
Variation
To make
this into a main course, I cook flat rice noodles, mung bean noodles, or plain
dumplings (flour, water, salt, egg) in the water after I've removed the squash
and onion. I might also add basil leaves at this stage. Then I just leave them
in and continue with the rest of the recipe.
SG WONG
Saskatoon
Berry Jam
Yield:
approx. 2 cups / 2 x 250ml jam jars
Ingredients
Saskatoon
berries 4 cups
Water ½ cup
Lemon
juice ½ lemon’s worth
Lemon
peel ½ lemon’s worth
Method
Crush
berries in heavy-bottomed pan. A Dutch oven works nicely.
Heat on
medium until juice begins to seep out.
Add
water and sugar, stirring to incorporate.
Bring to
boil, stirring constantly.
Add
lemon juice and peel, incorporating fully.
Boil or
simmer to reduce liquid and thicken. (About 15-20 minutes)
Ladle
into sterilized jars and continue with usual canning methodology to ensure
long-lasting storage.
Notes
This
recipe is adapted from ATCO’s Blue Flame Kitchen. I halved the original sugar
content.
You can
customize the texture in step 1. Crush more or less depending on your
preference for whole berries in the jam.
To make
this a jelly, you can strain before step 7.
I
sterilize my jars like this:
Submerge
jars & rings in a pot with tepid/room temp. water
Bring to
boil & boil 10 minutes (never
less; more is ok)
Let sit
for at least 10 minutes
I don’t
do a hot water bath after I fill the jars. I let them sit, upside down, on a
cooling rack on the counter. I also fill to the brim. Most instructions will
tell you to leave a ¼ inch.
The jams
are safe for long-term storage when you hear them pop, or when the lids don’t
click when you press down. This means a vacuum seal has been created.
EKATERINA SEDIA: RECIPE + FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
Dessert-for-breakfast PB Banana Mug Cake
Ingredients
1 banana
1 flax egg (use real
one if not vegan)
½ tablespoons peanut
butter (almond or any nut butter work just as well)
1 tablespoons almond
or buckwheat flour, or protein powder (optional);
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Dash of vanilla
extract
Other spices to taste
Directions
Mash banana with a
fork. Add other ingredients to the mashed banana. Mix everything in a mug
to form a mostly smooth batter (it should fill mug to 2/3-3/4). Bake at 350 for
20-30 min or until the top is golden brown. Let stand for 5 min and serve with
honey, berries, whipped coconut cream or just plain.
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