April ScaredyKit- Food Horror!

This month we're reading food related horror or creepy cookbooks! Some of the stories on the list I'm providing are specifically about horrifying food, while some just include a lot of food talk in the story. I also have a few cookbooks listed if you want something lighter. Bonus points if you add a pic of a horrifying dish along with your posts!

Creepy Cookbooks
Castle Rock Kitchen- Stephen King inspired cooking.
The Walking Dead Cookbook or Supernatural Cookbook

Fiction
A Certain Hunger
Thinner
Cackle
Dark Harvest
Vampires in the Lemon Grove
Gingerbread- more of a dark fantasy
Woman Eating by Claire Kodha

And there is a whole menu of zombie novels to choose from too. What are you choosing?

I'm excited to see everyone's reads this month! I'm planning on reading The Pain Eater by Kyle Muntz, about a creature who eats pain.

What may or may not also fit is my planned GeoCat read, Barbecued Husbands and Other Stories from the Amazon. The title certainly fits, but I'll see how the read itself goes!

I may read another installment of the Chew graphic novel series by John Layman, about a cannibalistic detective.

When I do a tagmash, I have to that come up, but I'm not sure how food fits into them. So, I may try one of these or look for something else:

The Passage / Justin Cronin
All Quiet on the Western Front / Erich Maria Remarque

I have Castle Rock Kitchen, so I'll definitely be looking at that. I also have A Certain Hunger on my list.

Lots of good titles! I've come up with a few more, these are newer ones. I believe The Fungus is the latest.


The Fungus- mushroom horror!
Such Sharp Teeth- werewolves
Blood Sugar- Halloween candy
Halloween Fiend- this is a novella that I recommend highly.

I am planning on reading Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart about - you guessed it - zombies!

BTW the thought of a Walking Dead cookbook really grosses me out - all I ever see them eat is stuff from old, unlabeled cans!

Your zombie book looks fun!
I happen to own the TWD cookbook, and the recipes refer to some food scenes from the show. There are multiple cookie recipes from Carol, Carl's chocolate pudding, and I've made Morgan's peanut butter protein bars several times and they're tasty. The photos are all worn out wooden tables and food on tin plates, which is the only thing that bothers me. But good news, no dog food casserole recipes!

>8 mstrust: That's a relief! I pictured having to gather some old cans and mix them up into one big stew!

Would The Martian by Andrew Weir fit this category? Horror is not a common topic for me.

ETA: That pie is horrific!

>9 DeltaQueen50: Now that would be horrifying, ha!

>10 VivienneR: Hmmm, I've read The Martian and it's definitely sci-fi. I want you to be able to take part, so if that's the closest you get to horror, have at it!
But you might check with your library for one of the cookbooks, because there are not too spooky choices for that. There's Disney Villain's Cookbook or The Nightmare Before Christmas Cookbook. Or a foodie Goosebumps like The Boy Who Ate Fear Street would work too. Whatever you find will be fine.

>11 mstrust: Thanks, Jennifer. I'll save The Martian for some other challenge.

I found Monster Blood for Breakfast by R.L. Stine at the library that should fit the bill.

Looks like a fun one, and one I haven't read yet, so I'll look forward to your review.

Woman, Eating has been on my to read list for a while, so that's what I will go with.
I have also been meaning to read Tender Is The Flesh, but still not sure if I can.

>13 mstrust: Well, that didn't work out either. I have A Scone to Die For by H.Y. Hanna. I'm not sure that it's 'scary' enough but after a lot of searching, it's my only choice.

I hope this one is better for you!

>16 mstrust: I'm sure it's not the kind of book ScaredyKIT had in mind so we'll wait and see how it goes.

It may not be as scary as some, but food+death means it meets the criteria. And I've had months when I didn't have the perfect book but jimmied in something anyway ;-D

>18 mstrust: Consider it "jimmied" 😀

I will! ;-D

Ha, the thread topper gave me a jump scare when I opened this thread to pin it to the main group page :D

Ha! Well, sorry, and I guess "mission accomplished"? Thanks for including us!

I searched for a while and finally found something reasonably suitable:
Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez
A vampire and a werewolf have to save a diner and the world.
A Lovecraft story as a comedy show - quite nice to read.

That sounds like a perfect fit for this challenge.
I'm reading Cackle, which has lots and lots of food: making pie, goulash (I almost typed ghoulash), diner pancakes. This woman and her witch friend are always eating.

I'll just mention Bake-Off: a granny horror by D.M. Guay if you're looking for a food horror short story. I believe it's only available on Kindle.

Just remembered that I have The Dinner by Herman Koch that perfectly fits this challenge. I've read it before but kept it knowing I'd want to read it again. The food was great but the story was horrifying.

Annie has been dumped by her boyfriend of ten years and needs to find somewhere new to live because she can't afford NYC. She accepts a teaching post in an upstate school and find an apartment in a small town not far away in a quaint and lovely town, and despite her depression, Annie looks forward to meeting people here because she really doesn't have any close friends.
Meeting Sophie changes everything. Charming, helpful and beautiful, Sophie wants to be friends with Annie because she's lonely too. But Annie gets the feeling that the people here are afraid of Sophie, and after seeing the two women together so much, they seem afraid of Annie too. The more Annie learns about Sophie, the more confused she is about whether Sophie is her kind friend or an evil tyrant.
This fits in perfectly with this month's theme. There is so much food being made, eaten, and shopped for: roast chicken dinner, pie, cake, pancakes, and Annie chooses a different flavor coffee every time she visits the local coffee shop.

May's thread is up and can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/350134

>27 mstrust: This sounds good, and I have it on my wishlist. I really enjoyed the author's first novel.

Is that The Return? That looks good, I'll have to get to it.

>30 mstrust: Yes, that's the one. Really fun book. It would fit May's theme.

I am reading Thinner for this challenge.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

I was eager to re-read this to find out if my first opinion still held.
This is the review I wrote after the first read. Nothing has changed, except that it is even more chilling than I remember.

It's the kind of book where you can't look away - like driving slowly past a traffic accident. Every detail is important. In the early part of the book, the details may seem trivial, but then as more information comes out, it comes together. The story started in a way I thought I understood, I thought I knew where it was going. And then before my eyes it completely changed direction! By then I was utterly hooked. There are some weak spots in the plot but they are easily overlooked. This is dark, disturbing, unpleasant and shocking, but undoubtedly clever.

>33 VivienneR: Good choice! I read a few years back for my book club and remember it being very good!

>34 LibraryCin: I was glad I found something that fitted the prompt at last! I saw the movie too a few years ago but don't remember much about it except that it wasn't nearly as horrific.

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart was a good match for this month's topic. From the colorful cover that features candy, to the rampaging hunger that the zombies in this book have, food was a major element to the story.

I got a zombie candy mold from the baking supply store this morning. I think it counts as food horror :-D

>37 mstrust: LOL! Hilarious!

>33 VivienneR: you have convinced me - I will try to finish it this month.
>37 mstrust: I love it!

I picked up Chocolate: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets by Kay Frydenborg for my STEM read and discovered that the book fits this category also.
This nonfiction history of chocolate covers the horrors of murder in attaining the plants and the slavery to harvest it.

>37 mstrust: Wow, that is frightening! My daughter once did a science fair project on the brain and a friend of ours lent her a mold to make a brain out of jello and milk powder. At the fair, one of the other parents, an anesthesiologist, said it looked very realistic, and I suppose he'd be a good judge of that!

>38 LibraryCin: Ha! Can't wait to see if it turns out well!

>39 SirThomas: Couldn't pass it up!
>40 lowelibrary: Sounds like it fits in here. Looking forward to your review.
>41 mathgirl40: I guess whoever made the mold did their homework!

>39 SirThomas: I'll watch for your post. I'm interested in hearing what others think of it.

>43 VivienneR: Unfortunately, I didn't finish it in April.
But so far I am thrilled... Sorry, wrong book - I finished The Dinner in April and this is what I think:

Two brothers are having dinner with their wives in a posh restaurant.
They want to discuss a small family matter, so far so harmless.
But little by little the plot gets darker and the bridge that covers the family abyss becomes more and more shaky and dilapidated.
Very excitingly written with many unexpected twists. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the story only gradually becomes clear, but what is good and what is evil?
A book that you can not put down and makes you see your own family with different eyes.

>44 SirThomas: Glad you managed to fit it in. I like "the bridge that covers the family abyss becomes more and more shaky and dilapidated" that describes it so well.

I am still reading my book but will post my review when I finish!

Two books, this month. I enjoyed both of them.

Castle Rock Kitchen by Theresa Carle-Sanders: A cookbook inspired by Stephen King. Wonderful photos that make you want to cook. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I intend to. The food seems legit, a selection of down-home Maine recipes, paired with Stephen King quotes. Interestingly, there is the conceit of the cookbook actually being authored by a King character, the mother from The Long Walk. Recommended for King fans.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder: Chosen for the cover, and the eating of raw steak does play a significant part in the story. This stream-of-consciousness novel really spoke to me, but it may not be for everyone. It is told from the point of view of an unnamed stay-at-home mother who seems to be turning into a dog (a la Metamorphosis). The feelings and experiences described really hit home for me, as they mirrored a lot of my feelings when I was a new mother. The book expresses so well the hidden dark side of motherhood, the isolation and loss of identity, the devaluing of "women's work," and it perhaps offers a way out. Recommended if you don't mind magical realism and grotesque imagery often involving dead animals.

>47 sturlington: Oh, you got me with Castle Rock Kitchen! I really like both Stephen King and reading cookbooks, so this might be a really good fit for me! Thanks!

Karen O

>47 sturlington: I was able to peruse Castle Rock Kitchen online a few months ago and liked it a lot. I also like that King would do something unexpected, like get involved with creating a cookbook.
You had me with Nightbitch until your last few words ;-D

>48 klobrien2: A lot of times, these themed cookbooks seems like afterthoughts and the recipes don't seem like anything you'd like to make, but this one has a lot of recipes that sound really good to me, and the quality itself is what you'd expect from a well-done cookbook in terms of photography. I like the food. Reminds me of Southern home cooking, except with different local ingredients.

>49 mstrust: Yeah, I think that was a turnoff for a lot of reviewers. For me, it's all about context, and in this one, it worked for me. Slight spoiler: I have read so many books recently where rabbits don't fare well that it doesn't really faze me.

Famine / Graham Masterton
3 stars

When some kind of blight starts taking over Ed’s wheat field in Kansas in a matter of hours, he soon learns this is affecting many areas of the U.S. and many different types of crops. Meanwhile, Ed’s wife Season has decided that she does not like life on a farm and misses the city; she packs up and takes their daughter with her to California to be with her sister.

I could have done without the stretch of politics at the start; I kind of lost interest through part of that. The story itself of the food all going bad was good, and to what lengths will people go to get (and/or stockpile) food. Even more so, I could definitely have also done without every female character having big boobs and a ton of sex; and all the derogatory comments toward the woman characters. I almost rated it lower due to this, but decided the story itself was enough for me to rate it slightly higher, so I decided on a middle ground at 3 stars (ok).