For years, I have meticulously annotated food in books.
I mark everything: meals, snacks, restaurants, drinks. Any edible crumb the author tosses into the text gets tabbed or margin-noted.1
Lately, I’ve been toying around with the idea of creating “book menus” from my annotations. Daydreaming butterfly effects like: my menus being a conversation tool for talking about food moments in books, my menus inspiring bookclub hosts to put on a bookish dinner party, or my menus inspiring someone to try out and develop their own annotating practice around food in books.
Today, I’m publishing the first (of many, I hope) book-inspired menus. My first-ever menu captures the food details from The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee, a book I loved and devoured in two days. See below!
The Book Menu for The Romance Rivalry
Food Overview for The Romance Rivalry
The Romance Rivalry is a brand new YA release set on a fictional college-campus in Southern California called Brighton College. Our main characters (and love interests) are Irene and Aiden, who are both Romance readers and big-time competing book influencers. The food in their story is of the convenient, cozy, and carb-heavy variety, the delicious fuel that keeps stressed and busy college freshman going.
Irene likes to grab sloppy joes and egg salad sandwiches at the college cafeteria. The local date spot is a delicious Italian restaurant outside campus, so there’s a variety of pasta in this book. Matcha and coffee fuel study sessions and friend hang outs. The HEA even has a little food moment. It involves a lovingly stocked supply of Coke Zeros in a dorm room fridge
Make Your Own Foodie Annotations in The Romance Rivalry
Supplies:
- 11 tabs of the same color (this includes one for tab your key)
- matching or coordinating highlighter (to highlight the food)
Annotations:
First, feel free to print out the menu above to make your annotations. All the chapter titles and page numbers are listed on the menu. I’m also listing the ten pages I annotated below:
- CAESAR SALAD, TRUFFLE GNOCCHI, FOUR-CHEESE LASAGNA, WINE, WATER: Chapter 4: age-gap romance, p 78
- EGG SALAD SANDWICH, COOL RANCH DORITOS, APPLE: Chapter 6: rivals-to-lovers, p 113
- SLOPPY JOES: Chapter 6: rivals-to-lovers, p 113
- CARAMEL MACCHIATO, ICED AMERICANO: Chapter 11: fake dating, p 198
- APPLE FRITTER: Chapter 11: fake dating, p 199
- PUTTANESCA, RAGÚ, TIRAMISU, AFFOGATO: Chapter 11: fake dating, p 200
- ICE-CREAM SHOP ICE CREAM: Chapter 13: unrequited love, p 237
- IN-N-OUT ANIMAL STYLE BURGERS + FRIES: Chapter 17: star-crossed lovers, p 355
- COKE & COKE ZERO: Chapter 20: the chosen one trope, p 339
- BOWL OF ICE CREAM: Epilogue: p 349
- I tend to scribble FOOD in all caps in the margin right next to the paragraph than mentions food. ↩︎
Annotate With Sara 