Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

the epicure's lament by kate christensen. a hilarious novel narrated by an exceedingly self absorbed, manipulative man who happens to be a superb cook.

cereal dust is good! especially the dust from sugary cereals like trix :D just to make it even better, i would add a little sweetened condensed milk and it becomes think and dessert-ish!

The cereal dust is the best part.

I used to eat a lot of cereal and when I had eaten most of the box, I'd go downstairs to pour the last bowl to discover my brother who doesn't eat a lot of cereal has stolen the last bowl including cereal dust. Seriously, what a bastard.

Sometimes I think about smashing up a bag so it's all cereal dust...but it wouldn't be the same.

My favorite combo = caramelized bananas, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce.

Wouldn't you be better off with an Entemmen's Pound Cake than using a mix? That would be my choice.

Umpteenth vote for the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and the Anne of Green Gables series. I could probably attribute both of those series as the precursors to my current love for food.

I wanted to mention Boy by Roald Dahl - his little blurb about the Norweigan holidays, with the freshly poached fish and the burnt toffee ice cream, always makes me drool. Still.

I actually have to space out my food lit to make sure I read things that aren't about food!

Haruki Murakami always does an excellent job of describing what his characters are eating, and The Pickwick Papers, by Dickens, always makes me hungry. And I umpteenth the Anne of Green Gables series. I always think of plum puffs when I'm feeling disconsolate. I don't even know what plum puffs are.

Definitely the Chronicles of Narnia - especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. The Turkish Delight, the fried fish at the Beavers', and the giant feast at the end of Caspian, with roasted sides of beef and boar...The descriptions of wine in that book engendered extreme disappointment when my parents let me taste the real thing. Luckily, I discovered sangria.

Spenser may not be "imaginative" but I like the way Parker has him whipping things up from what's available w/out making a fuss about it. For Spenser, cooking isn't a production or a chore - it's something he does easily and with some enjoyment. Nice to have a "macho" male character who enjoys cooking.

Don't forget Wind in the Willows! I've always wanted to have a picnic like the ones described there:

"‘There’s cold chicken inside it,’ replied the Rat briefly;
coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrolls
cresssandwidgespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater––’"

Ooh, or the one later on:
"There he got out the luncheon-basket and packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes."

Robert Parker's Spencer books. Not about food but it is clear that Spencer enjoys good food and can cook good food. His descriptions often make my hungry. It doesn't hurt that I love his books.

Pretty much anything by L.M. Montgomery or Laura Ingalls Wilder will have a ton of food in it, those sparked a lot of my foodie dreams growing up. Mercedes Lackey books have a lot of food in them, too, especially The Fire Rose, although all of them have food. The Pern books do, too, especially the Harper Hall trilogy, and Louise Fitzhugh has some food. For adults, I suggest Maeve Binchy books, one of hers (Scarlet Feather) is about caterers and another one (Quentins) revolves around a restaurant. Also, if you can find them, the Crossroads trilogy by Nick O'Donohoe has enough about food, plus a fascinating plot to make it a lot of fun. And the books by Barry Hughart of The China That Never Was, (Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and The Eight Skilled Gentlemen) have a lot of food plus these books are absolute gems to read.

Highly recommend: Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe series. Excellent noir fiction.