Foodie-Hemingway

Läsare av Enid Blytons Fem-böcker brukar tala om picknickluncherna och tebjudningarna med läckra smörgåsar och kakor som de fem detektiverna mumsar sig igenom. C.S. Lewis använder sig av samma matstrategi för att återställa lugnet och etablera litet vardagstrygghet mellan varven. Jag snålas fortfarande på den gräddstinna koppen choklad som Lucy fick dricka i The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - tror jag det var.

Otippad lit-foodie är machomannen Hemingway som i The Garden of Eden presterar ett par tiopoängare. Den som läser följande frukostbeskrivning utan att snålvattnet flödar till är osedvanligt förhärdad:

On this morning there was brioche and red raspberry preserve and the eggs were boiled and there was a spat of butter that melted as they stirred them and salted them lightly and ground pepper over them in the cups. They were big eggs and the girl's were not cooked quite as long as the young man's. He remembered that easily and he was happy with his which he diced up with the spoon and ate with only the flow of the butter to moisten them and the fresh early morning texture and the bite of the coarsely ground pepper grains and the hot coffee and the chicory-fragrant bowl of café au lait. 

Sedan fortsätter det med lunch:

They were hungry for lunch and the bottle of white wine was cold and they drank it as they ate the celery rémoulade and the small radishes and the home pickled mushrooms from the big glass jar. The bass was grilled and the grill marks showed on the silver skin and the butter melted on the hot plate. There was sliced lemon to press on the bass and the fresh bread from the bakery and the wine cooled their tongues of the heat of the fried potatoes. It was good, light, dry, cheerful unknown white wine and the restaurant was proud of it.

Om Hemingway bara hade låtit de unga tu på semester i den soldränkta fiskebyn fokusera på mat och dryck så hade saker och ting kanske inte gått på tok.