I am definitely one of those people that is easily inspired by food, stories about food or simply stories with food in them.
One of my favorite authors years ago was Lawrence Sanders. He wrote crime and suspense novels and I guess most “gumshoes”, as some of the earlier detectives were known, must have eaten a lot of sandwiches. I remember a friend of mine asking what I was reading one day.
“Why?” I replied.
“Because you’re making the strangest sandwich. I just wondered what the leading character in the book you’re reading was eating,” he answered.
I’m not sure what the sandwich was anymore, but the point was, if I read it and it sounded good, I’d try to make it. I guess that’s why people read cookbooks.
At any rate, in the series SMUGGLERS IN PARADISE, all my main characters eat food, make food, serve food, and celebrate with food. Kill with food? Maybe not in the first two books, but there’s still the third book to come.
I’ve traveled a lot and have always tried to be as open minded about food as possible, without simply asking to be chained to a bathroom for days on end. While most foods won’t actually kill you, if you aren’t acclimated to the bacteria, you may actually want to die.
Here are a few food pictures (all the things that I have eaten) that have inspired the SE Asian cuisine in my stories.
Travel often, eat heartily, feed your imagination and your soul.
