tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27643523.post4199811802918525887..comments2024-03-20T23:54:23.673-07:00Comments on The Great Raven: Food In The VorkosiverseSue Bursztynskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27643523.post-53094168525275256642017-10-08T15:37:55.431-07:002017-10-08T15:37:55.431-07:00Some good points there, David! I don't recall ...Some good points there, David! I don't recall that bit about Asterix, it's been a while since I've read those books, but it wouldn't surprise me. <br /><br />I have a tendency to use food to drive my own plots. My friend Gillian Polack disapproves of this. In all her books, characters sit down to delicious meals, for no special reason except that's who they are, they like to cook. It does have a connection with Gillian's own love of cooking. <br /><br />But in A Civil Campaign especially, food really does drive the plot and there's no "merely" about it! There's that banquet which nearly wrecks Miles's romantic life, for starters! Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27643523.post-39796830147651148082017-10-08T13:33:45.064-07:002017-10-08T13:33:45.064-07:00The Vorkosiverse is well overdue a re-read...but n...The Vorkosiverse is well overdue a re-read...but not something I'm going to be able to correct for a while!<br /><br />I hadn't really twigged the food thing, but now you mention it...I think you make an important point: to a great extent, food is really there to help drive the plot. It's really easy to get food wrong. We've recently read the Gargoyle for bookclub, and in there are some lists of food that sound like Clement Freud on Just a Minute. Very distracting. I don't know but perhaps the intent is that food is from Miles' perspective. There is odd, foreign stuff - he knows the obvious dishes that are seen across the galaxy, but the ones that don't make it off-world seem very exotic. Military fare is (usually) the same every where (Asterix warning Obelix that army cooking is deliberately bad to keep the soldiers lean mean and n their toes). Home cooking is comfortable, comforting - Miles doesn't need this until he starts gallivanting across the galaxy and getting into trouble...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com