Colleen Connolly-Ahern - Make Book Club Lit Again: Recipes and Ideas to Bring Classics to Life

My favorite book, bar none, is Pride and Prejudice. I read it for the first time at St. James Elementary when Mrs. Lyons suggested it as my second stretch book, her term for an above-grade-level read for precocious sixth graders like me. I spent a lot of time at the dictionary stand that spring, but I loved the spunky Bennett sisters even better than the March sisters. This may have something to do with being the only girl in my family, but sister books still work for me.

Im not alone in my love of Pride and Prejudice. It hasnt been out of print since 1813; The Atlantic Magazine cataloged the cover of two hundred editions for the novels two hundredth birthday in 2013.

Jane Austens life and her corpus were shortonly six completed novels, two of them published posthumously, along with some unfinished work. But readers couldnt get enough of her. Realizing what an opportunity that was, the twentieth-century novelist Georgette Heyer created a whole new literary genre, the Regency Romance, in homage to Austen. Heyer scrupulously researched nineteenth-century England for her books, detailing clothing, carriages, and courtly manners so that her books would replicate the culture that Austen was writing about contemporaneously.

Starting in 1935 with Regency Buck, Heyer wrote twenty-seven Regencies (and a smaller number of Georgian Romances), deriving her prototypes from Austens originals. Georgette gave Austen lovers something else to read, varying the situations but sticking to the script: girl meets boy; boy annoys girl; boy finally notices annoyed girl; boy finally manages to win girl. The novels generally ended with an engagement and a very chaste kiss.

That worked fine in the early part of the twentieth century, and there were plenty of authors, such as Clare Darcy and Elizabeth Mansfield (see what they did there with those pseudonyms?), who jumped on the bandwagon. Whole imprints devoted themselves to the genre. But then, the sexual revolution showed up, and the genre felt pretty outdated. It became hard to sell that chaste kiss and earnest proposal to readers raised on Fear of Flying and the works of Danielle Steele. Romances changed as well, leaving the Jane Austen parameters behind and bringing steamy sex to the Regency Romance. Anyone whos seen the colossally popular Bridgerton series, based on Julia Quinns novels, has an idea of how far the genre has veered from the original formula.

Yet, love for Jane Austens masterwork remained. In the late twentieth century, authors started retelling Elizabeth and Darcys story in ways that made sense to them. Theyve been sexualized (Definitely Maybe in Love), horror-ized (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), neuroticized (Bridget Joness Diary), re-cultured (Ayesha at Last), and mystery-ed (Death Comes to Pemberley). Theyve even been comic book-ed (Manga Classics: Pride and Prejudice). Ive read so many of these re-imaginings that I really couldnt count them all because I love the guilty pleasure of a goodor even a passableromance novel.

But this Jane Austen lover isnt satisfied. I could never find the one that let me into the main characters world. I dont want to get between their sheets; I want to get into their kitchens. Every time I read a Pride and Prejudice reboot, I keep wondering, Why hasnt Jane been gourmandized? In other words, Where is the food?

I realized I must think about it a lot when my friends picked up on the trend. My contribution to the Badass Book Bitches buffet is always designed with our book in mind. Matching the food to the book has become part of the fun of book club meetings for me. I love sharing what Ive learned about the history, the customs, and the food with which the characters in a novel would have interacted. Sometimes, it gives insights into the writer and their background work. Sometimes it takes us in a completely unexpected direction. But eating and talking about the food always makes the book discussion better.

I think one reason is the relationship between food and culture. Think about how many first dates involve food. Thats because watching peoples interactions around food helps us evaluate them. Are they generous or cheap? Neat or messy? Classy or lowbrow? Food choices also tell us where people fit into society. Can they get a table at a hot restaurant on late notice? Do they think Five Guys is a good first date? Just like us, Elizabeth and Darcy would have used interactions around food to make decisions about people. But while there are a few specific references to food in Pride and Prejudice, they really dont give us much information about how their senses were engaged. And thats a flaw that needs to be addressed. Because understanding their food helps us understand their world. And that brings us even closer to characters we love. And that makes a great book even better.

This collection of recipes is meant to evoke the tastes and aromas that would have accompanied some of world cultures greatest love stories: the Tale of Chunhyang from Korea, Erec and Enide from medieval France, Pepita Ximenez from Spain, and yes, of course, Pride and Prejudice from Regency England. For each book recommendation, Ive created recipes with the flavors of a particular time and a particular place that could easily be cooked by a novice in a decently appointed American apartment kitchen. You dont need fancy, specialized equipment or expensive ingredients. Make one recipe or moreor better yet, dole them out to the members of your book club and share the fun! Ive tried to include something for every member of the club in each chapter: the picky eater, the vegetarian, the person who loves sweets, and even the one who prefers to purchase their contribution from the store instead of making it.

Many of these recipes have been inspired by my own travels. As a researcher studying international communications, I have had the chance to travel all over the world and work with incredible people. Diving into the local cuisine highlights every tripmy colleagues are always keen to introduce me to their food. Eating in the kind of restaurants that locals love is one of the easiest ways to start to understand a different culture. My hope is that trying these very accessible recipes might spark your curiosity to seek out authentic recipes from masters of the cuisines I pay tribute to hereand Ive provided a list of the cookbooks and websites that have inspired my own creations at the end of each chapter. Or maybe they will inspire you to try a new ethnic restaurant. Or read some great translated literature. Or even start your own book club! If this book helps you understand another culture a teeny bit better than you did or step outside your comfort zone, I accomplished one thing I hoped to do.