“EAT YOUR WORDS! The International EDIBLE Book Festival Is A REAL Thing”
- jacetylerxxx
- Mar 26, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 9, 2023
Yes, you read that correctly. There are annual festivals that take place on the 1st of April celebrating (and eating) EDIBLE books! A little backstory…
… First of all, I am posting this in March, partly because I rather like the idea that some of you readers might be inspired to create your own edible book ideas for the day, and I wanted to give you time to take part, but mostly because the International Edible Book Festivals are celebrated on April Fools’ Day, and I honestly didn’t think that anyone would believe me if I waited until then to post about it!
From what I’ve read about the celebrations, it was the conception of Judith A. Hoffberg and Béatrice Coron back in 2000, and it is now celebrated as far around the globe as Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Russia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Morocco, Japan and Mexico!
According to the official website, the International Edible Book Festival is held in principle to commemorate "the birthday of French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826), noted for his book Physiologie du goût, a witty meditation on food".
But I think that some concepts are too good to be contained to just one singularity! It really sounds like the festivities have taken on a life of their own, regardless of its origin. Pastry chefs, both pros and amateurs, all compete around the globe with food that is 'bookish' through the integration of text, literary inspiration or, quite simply, the form. The creations are displayed and judged as an exhibition, photographed, and then – finally – eaten! The food is judged on categories like Most Creative, Least Edible, Best Overall Fiction, Best Overall Non-Fiction, and Best Children's Book
But for me, the real joy is in finding some of the literary puns participants have come up with. So far, I’ve read Lard Of The Fries, a play on Lord Of The Flies, a Farewell To Arms platter that featured armless gingerbread men, Orange Is The New Snack (instead of Orange Is The New Black), decorated in mandarins, baby carrots, cheese puffs and other orange culinary delights all together. Something tells me that this particular one did not win any prizes for being the most edible!
While researching this, I also discovered that Perkins Library at Hastings College in Nebraska (US) celebrated Banned Books Week 2008 by holding an edible book contest. The event invited guests to eat cooked dishes that resembled covers of banned books or reflected their content, described by a reporter at the time, "Our celebration took Sir Francis Bacon's famous words quite literally, Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”.
Disappointingly, I don’t think my current book titles really lend themselves to clever puns.
Without dedicating too much time to it, the only ones that come to mind are How To Be Flavoured (How To Be Famous), and Only When Cornholed (Only When Cornered). Admittedly, I have got an absolutely fantastic pie-based pun for the title of my next novel, but since it hasn’t been released and no-one but me knows the title yet, I’ll have to save that one for next year!
I think that having your work immortalised into a cake or pie would be an absolutely brilliant – if unexpected – accolade for an author to have. I encourage you all to think about your own edible book puns and ideas! And be sure to share a slice with me!
- Jace T. Adams
I love this article....i wished I could go to one of those edible book festivals.