Lara Vapnyar (Evan Sung for The New York Times)The holidays have always been infused with food — spiced eggnog, potato latkes, cranberry sauce and even candy canes. But for Russian-born author Lara Vapnyar, food fuels the stories of our everyday life.
This weekend, Ms. Vapnyar, whose latest book is “Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love” (Pantheon, 2008), will be speaking at the Brooklyn Public Library about the role that food plays in both life and fiction.
As my colleague Julia Moskin writes, in Ms. Vapnyar’s books, “food has the power to define characters, propel plots, cause riots and even commit manslaughter.” She continues:
In the short story “A Bunch of Broccoli on the Third Shelf,” the character Nina is defined by her infatuation with American vegetables. (Her husband — who, clearly, will soon leave her — introduces her to his poetry-reading, guitar-playing friends as “a vegetable lover.”)
Healthy Holidays
30 Days of Holiday Eating
A series of daily tips, tidbits and insights about holiday food.
Nina buries herself in a lavishly illustrated Italian cookbook, with pictures of a woman’s smooth, capable hands working in the kitchen: “Nina fantasized that … it was she who pushed the hard, stubborn stuffing into the bell peppers, or rinsed grit off lettuce leaves, or chopped broccoli florets, scattering tiny green crumbs all over the table.”
In fact, like many home cooks, Nina never manages to cook the vegetables she buys. When her husband leaves her, it is with a crisper drawer full of rot.
While Ms. Vapnyar is known for her fiction, I was particularly taken by a piece she wrote for The Times in May, called “Pot Luck,” about the role food played in her childhood in Russia. For her, food was often a mystery, and while reading literature, she stumbled across strange items like asparagus, oysters and cheesecake that people in Russia had never seen.
Around 1979, when I was a child living in Russia, my teacher once assigned our class an essay: if a Magi promised to grant you a single wish, what would you ask for? I knew what I wanted, and I wrote about it with passion and sincerity. I thought it was a beautiful wish until my teacher read my essay and said she was appalled — she couldn’t believe anyone would waste a wish like that. She leaned close and whispered, “Wouldn’t you rather wish for world peace?”
I considered her words and nodded. I did worry about the cold war and the arms race and the stockpiles of nuclear warheads everywhere. We learned about these things during weekly political-awareness sessions, and we did feel frightened. Yes, world peace would have been very nice — but what I still really wanted was a magic pot that could produce any food I fantasized about. And since in Russia at that time the variety of available food was very limited, my magic pot would have a lot of work to do.
For details on Ms. Vapnyar’s talk, go to the Brooklyn Public Library Web site. Click here to read “Salad Olivier,” the first chapter of “Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love.”
Healthy living doesn't happen at the doctor's office. The road to better health is paved with the small decisions we make every day. It's about the choices we make when we buy groceries, drive our cars and hang out with our kids. Join columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day. You can reach Ms. Parker-Pope at 
The easiest and most pleasurable way to eat well is to cook. Recipes for Health offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. 
16 Comments
As a short story writer and biology/anatomy junkie, food is a reoccuring theme in my work, so I understand Ms. Vapnyar’s passion very well. I invite anyone to read at http://www.TheFictionistOnline.com
It’s free; a great price for bad times.
Thanks for the article.
— JillianThat is definitely a cooks wish. A magic pot, bringing to me any food I wish, limited only by my imagination, it’s not even a wish, it’s a dream. It’s also a good question. If you had a magic pot, capable of delivering any food you wish, what would you wish for? Come discuss it with me on my forum, located at distinctlyamericanfood.vze.com
— tmsbrdrsI am addicted to novels–always have been. I one piece of advice to writers I once saw is: Put in something good to eat. So many books do this that when it’s not there, I notice. I remember one detective book–wish I could cite the author–who protag always ate “wet” sandwiches standing over the sink…memorable. Kinsey Milhone eats peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I am listening to The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy and the hard-bittten (!)detectives are always gnawing into a steak. These fictional types never lash into a nice dish of Kraft Dinner. Hey–maybe I should write something…
— StarI loved the part of the teacher asking if she should not wish for world peace…
Kids start out so honest, so spontaneous. Then they learn the appropriate, expected thing to say. I am reminded of a scene in Miss Congeniality, where the character played by Sandra Bullock first gives a straight answer, recommending a ban on certain types of firearms. Then she notices her slip — having said something actually smart and knowledgeable — and wishes for world peace.
When I was a kid, I declared that if I could, I would feed exclusively on steak and grapes. So delightful that Vapnyar was an aspiring gourmet already as a child, in the monotonous food landscape of socialist Russia.
— SusannaI like to incorporate food and eating in my fiction because it adds a sensual dimension to the story, if only as an aside. In my novel, Babylon Bayou, the main character eats and prepares the Creole and Cajun cuisine of the New Orleans and Southern Louisiana area. Spicy, like the love interest, in the story, and hot, like the pacing.
I like your idea of a magic pot. My pick of food coming from the pot would be seafood gumbo with a generous sprinkling of file powder.
Conley
— Conley ClarkNice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.
— Tim ReynoldsI see the issue of environmental change as two-prong: conservation and new resource development. In the category of conservation, doing something simple to help the environment consistently and daily, rather then bemoaning being unable to make sweeping rapid changes. For example, cooking whole foods at home, as opposed to processed food full of grease and mystery. Whole foods are often grown locally, so you help support local farmers. Also its fresh so no electricity and gas spent on freezing for months, transporting across country.
Cook your food. At home we usually do not own a deep fryer so when we cook our food is less greasy. Restaurants love oil,- it heats faster then water and stays hot longer. Then disposing this very multi-refried oil is considered a hazard waste, it has to be properly disposed of in a designated way. But we pay 4 times the supermarket cost for food and ingest it!
Collectively, we must consider global use of fossil fuel. By deciding to eat eco-friendly – fresh, non-frozen, whole foods, locally grown (at least mostly) and preparing them ourselves, we benefit our body and the collective body of our planet.
Shula Fink
— Shulahttp://health-wealth-wellness.blogspot.com
How interesting that Ms. Vapnyar uses “common” vegetables to illustrate Nina’s need to explore and control her world. Unfortunately, the character’s culinary experiments are as unsuccessful as her relationship. I’ll never look at broccoli the same way again.
Nancy Scuri
— Nancyhttp://thewritingtrenches.blogspot.com/
Susanna, I thought of Miss Congeniality too!
And it’s a shame that adults would try to make kids give canned answers that every “decent person” is supposed to say about wanting world peace. I like Lara’s answer much better.
What would also be really nice, aside from that magic pot, is something that would make me be able to run a marathon without doing all the training for it during the cold months.
— ShanaStar, (Post 3#)
I think the detective you mean was Chief Delaney, who appeared in the “Deadly Sin” series by Laurence Sanders. I also loved the descriptions of his wet sandwiches (and other food).
As far as the magic pot is concerned, while I love the fact that it would magically make any food I wanted, it would deprive me of the pleasure of actually cooking it. I think I would rather have a pot that magically created any ingredient I wanted…
— JAMLara Vapnyar, if you’re reading this, I really admire your writing. More, please!
— HeronI read the excerpt of Ms. Vapnyar’s writings in the NYT a while back. It brought to mind Isak Dinesen’s wonderful story, “Babette’s Feast”.
— MacKayNo 10–yes! Delaney…Thanks. I am at the age when I remember the sandwiches and forget the mayhem–icepick, I think.
— StarPlus–I am a fan of Conley Clark (”Babylon Bayou”). Muffalatas–olives, yum! Oyster Po Boys.
— StarStar– You are right. It was some kind of pick axe. Wasn’t the villian a mountainclimber? In any event, I agree. The food was much more memorable! (Who is Conely Clark?)
— JAM(Who is Conely Clark?)
See his note above, number 5. He is a personal acquaintance…His first book, say it again, Star, is
— Star“Babylon Bayou” (enough with the plugging–but it’s good and I have to read with a manifying glass bec it’s not on CD, so I must like it) has food in it. Yes–on the Delaney. Ice AX. This must have been 20 yrs ago. We are weird.