A recent comment exchange with Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery has got me thinking about the importance of food. Of course, we all need to eat; that’s part of how we stay alive. But for some people, eating is much more than something you do to stop hunger. It’s imbued with meaning and sometimes ritual. People with that perspective take their food very seriously; even a quick lunch should be done with thought and care. Crime fiction is well seasoned with that approach to food, and it can make a story (and characters) all the more appealing.

Agatha Christie fans will know that Hercule Poirot is a gourmand. He is quite particular about the way food and wine should taste and how they should complement each other. In fact, Mrs. McGinty’s Dead begins as Poirot leaves a new restaurant he’s discovered. He reflects happily on the meal he’s had and thinks about what a pity it is that one can only eat three meals a day. Then, he’s drawn into a murder investigation when Superintendent Albert ‘Bert’ Spence asks him to look into the killing of a charwoman. Everyone thinks she was murdered by her lodger, but Spence isn’t so sure of that. Poirot agrees to investigate, and goes to the village of Broadhinny, where the murder occurred. Unfortunately for Poirot, he ends up staying at a Guest House run by Maureen Summerhayes, who believes that it doesn’t really matter what one eats. As you can imagine, Poirot is in for a very uncomfortable stay…

Another famous gourmand is Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. Fans know that one important member of his household is his Swiss chef, Fritz Brenner. Both of them take food very seriously, and often have conversations about what should be served, how it should be cooked, and so on. Mealtime is sacred, too, and Wolfe refuses to be disturbed when he is eating. He knows a lot about food, too. In fact, in Too Many Cooks, he and Archie Goodwin travel (!) to a West Virginia resort for a convention of the top fifteen chefs in the world. Wolfe is to give the keynote address to the group, and of course, partake in their creations. Instead, he and Archie investigate when one of the chefs is murdered.

Andrea Camilleri’s Salvo Montalbano is a police inspector in the town of Vigàta, in Sicily. He truly appreciates good food and doesn’t allow interruptions when he’s having a meal. His housekeeper Adelina is a very good cook, and leaves meals for him. But there are also a few trattorias he enjoys very much. The owners know his respect for food and always manage to make time to serve him, even if they’re not officially open when he stops in. Even a casual meal with a friend is a bit of a gourmet experience. For instance, in The Shape of Water, Montalbano invites his friend, telejournalist Nicolò Zito over for a casual meal, so they can discuss a case Montalbano’s working:

‘So what’s for supper?’ asked Zito as he entered.
‘Pasta with garlic and oil, and shrimp with oil and lemon.’
‘Excellent.’

Montalbano places a high priority on enjoying high quality food.

So does Martin Walker’s Benoît ‘Bruno’ Courrèges, who is the chief of police in the small town of St. Denis, in the Périgord. For Bruno, even a quick lunch involves careful use of seasonings, complementary foods, and the right wine. While he’s not a ‘culture snob,’ it is important to him to eat well. That’s actually an important part of the culture where he lives, so it’s not surprising that he takes food as seriously as he does. Fans of this series know that a Bruno novel doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the culinary.

Swati Kaushal’s  Lethal Spice takes place in Shimla, in Himachal Pradesh, where Superintendent of Police (SP) Niki Marwah lives and works. In the novel, the hit reality show Hot Chef, with its host Rajat Tripathi, is filming an episode at the Gaiety Theatre. Six contestants are vying to be the winning chef, and three judges will determine who the winner will be. When people start collapsing, a gas attack alert is given, and Marwah and her teams go straight to the Gaiety to deal with the situation. At first, it’s thought that it might be a terrorist attack. But it’s not. When everything settles, it’s discovered that Mala Joseph, one of the judges, is dead. Investigating this murder is going to take a lot of skill, and the trial leads to more than one different place in India. As you can imagine, throughout the novel, there’s plenty of discussion of spices, seasonings, and gourmet cooking.

And then there’s Kalpana Swaminatham’s The Page Three Murders. Dr. Hilla Driver has recently inherited a large, beautiful home, and she wants to celebrate it. So, she invites a house party to spend the weekend. Almost all of the invitees are ‘A-list’ people, so Hilla wants to make the whole experience special. And her cook, Tarok Ghosh, wants to put the place on the culinary map. So, he prepares a very special weekend of gourmet food, culminating with a seven-course meal that reflects different traditions in Indian cooking. The idea is that more people will be drawn to high-quality food, and take it more seriously, if this weekend gets a good write-up in the papers. On the second night of the visit, Tarok prepares his special meal, including personalized hors d’oeuvres for each guest. And that’s when the trouble really starts. Each hors d’oeuvre gives a hint about a secret that Tarok knows about the recipient. When he is murdered later that night, it’s clear that someone was willing to kill to keep a secret. One of Hilla’s guests is Lalli, a former Mumbai police detective. So, she and her niece, who is also a guest, work to find out who the murderer is.

There are many other examples I could give of people who take food very seriously. I’m thinking, for instance, of Louise Penny’s Three Pines series, where Gabri Dubeau and Olivier Brulé own the local bistro. They’re serious about creating delicious food, and they can make it look easy. It just shows how important food is to many people, and how it’s baked into so many novels.

Thanks, Tracy, for the inspiration. Now, please treat yourself to a visit to Tracy’s excellent blog, where you’ll find thoughtful reviews and lovely photos.

*NOTE: The title of this post is the title of a song by Sara Bareilles.