Angela Carter’s short story ‘The Bloody Chamber’ is to serve as inspiration for some of the recipes in a mouth-watering new book project entitled A Gothic Cookbook. This delectable tome, which is being funded through the crowdfunding publisher Unbound, will feature more than sixty “divinely delicious” recipes inspired by Gothic stories, both classic and contemporary. Written by award-winning travel, food and drink journalist Ella Buchan and Gothic expert Alessandra Pino, and featuring gorgeous illustrations by graphic designer Lee Henry, this cookbook will feature both food and drink recipes, as well as drawings and literary criticism, inspired by texts such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca (who isn’t tempted by afternoon tea at Manderley?).
The chapter on Angela Carter, subtitled ‘The Edible as Escapism’, will feature hot chocolate pudding pots, cider and sausage casserole, and roast pheasant with hazelnut stuffing and chocolate-hazelnut mole sauce. As the authors explain in a sneak-preview of this chapter:
The title tale of Angela Carter’s collection of short stories is one of exploitation, entrapment and edible imaginings. The unnamed heroine is objectified and mistreated by her gluttonous husband, with the language of food and consumption richly and chillingly depicting his abuse and cold, controlling nature. She drifts into daydreams about a “supper of sausages” – a fantasy of contented, uncomplicated domesticity – and finds a morsel of comfort in a “breakfast of hot chocolate”.
As Alessandra and Ella explain on their funding page, The Gothic Cookbook was “inspired by Alessandra’s academic studies into how food manifests itself on the pages of Gothic literature”, and combines her “knife-sharp analysis with Ella’s experience as a food writer and recipe developer”. “A Gothic Cookbook“, they continue, “pays homage to the most appetising cuts of the genre, with even the most avid reader discovering eerie and edible delights.”
If your appetite has now been whetted by this short overview of The Gothic Cookbook, then why not consider helping to bring this project to fruition by heading over to the Unbound funding page here and making a donation.
Angela Carter Online 