10 Cookbooks Inspired by Children’s Fantasy Classics

On a recent work-related web search, I stumbled across one of Roald Dahl’s cookbooks.

Guys. Roald Dahl’s got cookbooks.

Sure, you occasionally hear about a recipe collection inspired by the latest fantasy franchise. But I think there’s something extra special in the idea of recipes from the books we grew up reading. The ones that made our little child-mouths water.

So at the risk of looking like Buzzfeed, I took it upon myself to search high and low for a whole list of cookbooks inspired by classic children’s fantasy! Take a step into the literary kitchen…lit kitchen…litchen?…and see if you find a cookbook your inner child can’t resist.

 

cover of Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes

 

Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes

The one that started it all. You’ll find recipes from Dahl’s most loved books, including, of course Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (lickable wallpaper!). There’s also a sequel or two.

 

 

 

cover of The Redwall Cookbook

 

The Redwall Cookbook

Admittedly, I’ve only read one Redwall book (though I now own two). But you don’t get through very many pages before being inundated with homey, comfort-food-filled feasts. Deeper-than-ever pie? Of course. Authored by Brian Jacques, so you know it’s legit.

 

 

cover of The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

 

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

While I never got in to Harry Potter, and it’s maybe a tad “new” to be on the list, I think it’s safe to say it has earned its place among the classics. This cookbook may be unofficial, but it’s earned enough attention to make the list.

 

 

cover of Winnie-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook

 

Winnie-the-Pooh’s Picnic Cookbook

There seem to be about a million Winnie the Pooh cookbooks, but two actually by A.A. Milne (it says “inspired by” on the cover, but he is listed as the author). This one’s on picnics and there’s another for teatime! Plenty of recipes you’ll inhale like a heffalump.

 

cover of The Official Narnia Cookbook

 

The Official Narnia Cookbook

Though in a pinch, you can probably find some Turkish Delight at your local Indian market (it tastes like Christmas!), I imagine you’ll enjoy cooking up your own with this official Narnia cookbook, co-authored by C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham.

 

 

cover of The Wind in the Willows Country Cookbook

 

The Wind in the Willows Country Cookbook

Another book that made a big deal of food, so it ought to have a cookbook – and it does! One would hope that a flip though it is just like a rummage through Rat’s picnic basket. Kenneth Grahame co-authored it (or is at least credited). Just look at those illustrations!

 

 

cover of Everything Alice

 

Everything Alice: The Wonderland Book of Makes and Bakes

I found several Alice-related cookbooks, but this one had the nicest cover and sounded the coolest – plus, it’s got crafts as well as recipes.

 

 

 

cover of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz Cookbook

 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Cookbook

Again, there were a few choices. This was the only one that looked to be inspired by the books (not just the movie). And look at that gorgeous cover!

 

 

cover of Serve It Forth

 

Serve It Forth

I was slightly disappointed to find no Pern cookbook (klah, anyone?), but Anne McCaffrey has compiled two books full of recipes from celebrated sci-fi authors. Larry Niven and Mercedes Lackey contributed to this one. You should also check out Cooking out of This World.

 

 

cover of Medium Rare and Back Again

 

Medium Rare and Back Again: A Tolkien Cookbook

I found a handful of Middle Earth cookbooks, but they looked suspiciously unofficial and not exactly faithful. However, there’s one as yet unpublished that looks very promising. Keep an eye out for it!

 

Know of any good ones I’m missing? Speak up!

You Tell Me: Best and Worst Books into Movies

I’m out-of-pocket this weekend, being in a wedding, so I’ll just leave this question for the comments:

Having taken our first steps into the Hobbit and Hunger Games movies, Great Gatsby just out, Ender’s Game coming soon and The Book Thief still being cast, what are your thoughts? What movies did you think captured their books well? What movies totally ruined the books? What movies might have improved the books?

 

What is Suspension of Disbelief?

Photo by Adam Hodgson

Photo by Adam Hodgson

I felt awkward as the photographer told me to turn my head this way and that, and our production director played AC/DC from her iPhone to set the mood. Between instructions, the photographer kept up small talk about Jethro Tull and praised my modeling abilities. “You’re a natural!” he said.

I knew, of course, that wasn’t true.

But I was willing to let a part of myself believe it was true, because I’d be more comfortable if I thought I was doing well. Therefore I would take better pictures. He knew that. I knew that.

We had entered into an unspoken contract known as a suspension of disbelief.

This contract requires something from each party. I had to agree to believe, on a superficial level at least, something I knew was not true. He, in turn, had to keep the lie within the realm of plausibility. It was not too far-fetched an idea that at least one person out of several he photographed that day would be good at tilting their head at aesthetic angles.

But if he’d said I was the prettiest, most talented subject he’d ever had the honor of photographing, he would have broken the contract. I’d become uncomfortable, suspicious he was mocking me or insulting my intelligence with such a brazen lie.

So how does this apply to fiction?

Well, here’s another example.

I was in the third book of the Inkheart trilogy, reading about a couple of characters escaping from a dungeon. I’ll redact names to prevent spoilers:

——- threw a rope down. It’s didn’t come low enough, but at a whisper from above it began growing longer, lengthened by fibers made of flames…They would have to climb fast to keep from burning their skin.

“That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed under my breath, “They’d burn their hands as soon as they touched it.”

And then I burst out laughing at myself. This was a story about people who could read things into being. Where women could turn into birds and back again, where men could command fire to take the forms of animals. And I hadn’t had trouble believing in any of that. But climbable fire – this was too much?

Yes. Because magic doesn’t eliminate the necessity of rules in a story. Anything can happen within fiction—but only within the framework of the fictional world and the tone of the story.

It’s perfectly acceptable in Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s trilogy when Arthur Dent discovers the secret to human flight is to throw yourself at the ground and miss–because that nonsensical-yet-witty logic fits in a universe where six times nine equals 42.

But in a serious story—even a magical one—fire cannot support weight or fail to burn the skin instantly when grasped. Otherwise it’s not fire.

The moral of the story

Don’t blame your readers for failing to suspend their disbelief if you write something that breaks the laws of your own world. Most readers pick up a book with every intention of suspending their disbelief.

It’s up to you to make it possible for them to do it. Take it from Mark Twain:

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.