Food is an important cultural touchstone in literature, representing more than just full bellies; food brings characters together and highlights the differences between communities. It can be used metaphorically or as a way to define place and time. Exploring the use of food as a tool in their own writing and the writing of others are Jennifer S. Brown, whose Modern Girls shows how food can represent the assimilation of Jewish immigrants in the early twentieth century; Louise Miller, who uses food in her novel The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living as a way for her protagonist to connect to a rural community; and Dawn Lerman, who links food to physical and emotional well-being in her memoir My Fat Dad: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Family, with Recipes. Setting the table will be our host, Lori Galvin, an agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth and former editor at America’s Test Kitchen.
