Stories Behind The Stories, Tasty Treasures & Edible Pleasures

"One should eat to live, not live to eat.” Moliere

I may have to disagree with the mid-1600’s playwright, actor and poet, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as 'Moliere'...Experiencing food, touching it, enjoying the scents, and experiencing the tastes, are some of the greatest pleasures we have in this life."

“One should eat to live, not live to eat.” Moliere

I may have to disagree with the mid-1600’s playwright, actor and poet, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as 'Moliere', even though he was considered one of the greatest writers of French language and world literature in his era. Experiencing food, touching it, enjoying the scents, and experiencing the tastes, are some of the greatest pleasures we have in this life.

My book, Tasty Treasures & Edible Pleasures started out as a series of writing exercises. My wonderful writing coach, Melody Owen, suggested we (writers) take some time to fine-tune the connection of our words to our senses to facilitate drawing in the readers interest, by letting them identify with our work though the experience of viewing, touching, smelling, tasting and experiencing food. We all do it, that is, we all eat, and enjoy many of the foods we chose to eat, so why not mindfully explore the senses and emotions used when eating or drinking? It was a brilliant way to have my writing come to life by describing the experiences of my food-awakened senses. I felt inspired to write in a poetic manner, because it is what I love to do.

This was a great exercise in writing because as a ‘expressive’ writer, I write to express and bring out all of my emotions, feelings and experiences. And, as any writer would intend, my goal is then to have my reader companion experience my story, that is, fully feel themselves being part of my stories and poems. I want them to connect with my work, identify with it, experience the sensations, and enjoy what I have written. I want to them to be right there with me in it. Since all of us experience the consumption of food daily, writing about food was an perfect way to bring the reader along. Delightfully, this exercise also made me reevaluate and appreciate my own relationship and experience with several foods and drinks along the way.

What started out as writing exercises and a study to mindfully put emotions and senses into my writing, became a selection of poems and prose pieces, each one delightfully later accompanied by a wonderful photo, in a Two-Part book. In Part One, I described in detail, my every-moment experience and pleasures of eating (the ‘edible pleasures’), my favourite foods or beverages, (my ‘tasty treasures’). For instance, I fully describe eating a rich, sumptuous piece of chocolate cake, or the experience of roasting and then eating a gooey-sweet, just roasted, marshmallow around an open campfire with friends, or sipping a chilled glass of wine with my ladies. A special piece was written to honour the memories of when I cooked with my parents as a young girl, the endearing, morning breakfasts in the 1950’s coloured kitchen. I would make rounds of fluffy, fat pancakes to smother in syrup with my mom, or curiously watch and smell my dad frying up little kippers. I smile now, just thinking about those beautiful, childhood memories.

In Part Two of the book, I suggest to you a playful culinary food experiment to try with a partner. This activity is meant to be a way two people can have some fun and be playful, by intensely and mindfully experiencing food together. I hope you decide to give it a try.

Although I prefer to use my own photography in my books, or alternately, digitally illustrate my books myself, I am grateful for the royalty-free photography sources I searched through to get the perfect, colourful, and delicious-looking photographs that accompany each poem and prose piece! Thank you to all the photography artists out there that were kind enough to offer these wonderful photos for free. (I use Unsplash.com and Pixabay.com most often). (Pancake Photo: Heather Barnes)

Find my book, Tasty Treasures & Edible Pleasures as an eBook, on Amazon. I hope you enjoy it!

Cheers! Lise

Please note: Melody Owen is an amazing writing coach, storyteller and coach, author, YouTuber, and more. Here are her links:

Nonfiction Book Writing Coach-Author Nation: https://authornationtube.com

Storytelling and Workshops: https://www.melodyannowen.com

Join Author Nation-Author Nation ($7.00/month): https://authornationtube.com/join-author-nation