Just a quick note inspired by my personal journaling…
Have you ever considered the significance of the characters in your books sharing a meal? It is a basic and important part of life, eating. It is so basic that it’s not usually an important scene in our stories.1
Unless, of course, we are meant to see something important that can most easily be revealed over a shared meal. Or a friendship is being formed. Or a relationship is being realized.
Breaking bread together gives us an opportunity to share something that is common to all of us (eating) and also encourages community – within our families, with neighbors, with greater societal circles.
I immediately thought of two different meal-sharing situations I have encountered in my favorite books. The first is the calling hours found in Regency stories. A possible suitor comes to call and tea is immediately rung for. So much is learned through the shaking hand of the one pouring tea, the hostess who only pretends to take a sip, and the biscuits left untouched.
The second is the sheer number of times hobbits gather for meals in The Lord of the Rings. In the The Fellowship of the Ring, it is over food and ale in the tavern of an inn that the hobbits make their plans, get into trouble, and meet the man who will be an important guide for their journey.
The best part about characters breaking bread for me? I feel like I’m building friendships with the characters, too. And it is great fun.
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🤖 Always written and edited without the use of AI.
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- In chapter 2 of “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” by Thomas C. Foster. ↩︎
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