The New York Times had a great visual piece in its Sunday Review of Books by illustrator Wendy MacNaughton that charted the favorite snacks of many authors. Best-selling writer Mark Kurlansky, author of two of my favorite books — Salt and Cod, likes to write under the influence of espresso, “as black as possible.” Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma likes tea out of a glass with a side of roasted almonds.
It made me think. What do I eat while writing? Do I have such a habit? I looked around at the stacks of food piled in my writing office and realized that when on book deadline, this is what I eat and drink:
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
- ak-Mak sesame whole wheat crackers
- Iced coffee with milk
- Ramen in miso soup
It’s a short list, but I mix it up. Sometimes, I put peanut butter and jelly directly on crackers. Sometimes I pair the ak-Mak crackers with cheese and white wine if I am writing in the afternoon. The appeal of PB&Js on deadline is two-fold. One, it’s a comfort food that reminds me of my kid life. Second, it’s easy to make and won’t distract my train of thought to make one at noon or 3 a.m. When I get sick of PB&Js, I eat ramen noodles. But I throw out the flavor pack and settle the noodles into a bowl of steaming miso soup with tofu and seafood.
(At this point, Mike insists that I tell everyone rather than let me subsist on these items, he frequently cooks me dinner when I’m in serious crunch mode.)
I asked a few of my favorite food writers what they eat while writing:
- Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook, co-founder Food 52): “Depends on the time of day, but I’m generally more interested in drinking than eating. (I prefer to eat when I read and drink when I write.) At night I like to sip on something like Lillet on ice with a slice of citrus, or a bourbon. Sometimes with roasted, salted nuts, or good potato chips. Or I will have cookies and milk, like a five-year-old.
- Kim O’Donnell, The Meat Lovers Meatless Cookbook, founder of Canning Across America: “Cereal, often without milk.”
- David Leite, The New Portugese Table, founder of Leite’s Culinaria: “My go-to is cheese. Stinky, stinky cheese.”
- Nicole Aloni, Secrets from a Caterer’s Kitchen, founder A Conscious Feast: “Always something Mexican”
- Cynthia Nims,Game Night Gourmet, blogs at Mon Appetit: “Coffee and a bowl of bing cherries … and PB&Js!”
- Jaden Hair, founder SteamyKitchen: “I come up with the best ideas when my body is in motion, unfortunately, that sometimes means walking en route to kitchen. Crushed, plain potato chips eaten out of a bag with a massive Chinese soup spoon so that I can eat while walking and my hands stay clean. It’s not pretty.”
- Joe Yonan, food editor at The Washington Post, author of Serve Yourself: “I don’t have one thing I turn to, but, and this might sound a little silly, but I always try to eat something related to what I’m writing about. You know, so i can be in the mood, use the tastes to inspire memory, etc. So I wrote a memory piece about learning to make chicken fried steak while eating… chicken fried steak. Helps make it feel immediate. “
Originally published in 2010. Updated August 2018.
I usually write my blog entries late in the evening so I usually just drink ice water.
I mostly write about baking, but if I ate everything I wrote about I’d be 500 pounds! So it’s funny, I’ll be writing about scones or cake and I’ll be eating my usual thing: seaweed salad and iced tea. An Asian market near the house makes it and I’m addicted!
It’s always stress eating. Salty things. Pretzels, nuts, etc. I curse myself for being too smart to stock them in the pantry, so I have to MacGyver it sometimes. Toasted seaweed and dduk, rice with furikake, toast…
I like the idea of drinking wine or bourbon, but alcohol just makes me sleepy. I drink tea so that if I fall asleep, I’ll wake up alert.
Pretzels are my weakness, I can’t have them around the house. I get sleepy, too, which is why I frequently alternate between wine and coffee, which makes no sense because if you achieve perfect balance, it’s as if you didn’t drink anything, right?
Billy Tea (loose, black from Australia) and Mother’s English Tea Cream cookies. Very little variation.
I only aspire to write about food! But I love this post. 🙂
Larry, isn’t that funny? I wonder if it’s the repetition that’s a key part of the whole thing…
I have a tendency to eat crunchy foods like peanut butter-filled pretzels, apples or crackers. I, too, have very little variety in my choices. Interesting and yes, I got a chuckle out this, thanks.
I wish I were so virtuous to drink only ice water late in the evenings… I either go for wine if I’m wound up or pound iced coffee if I’m sluggish.
LOVE Joe Yonan’s answer. Makes a lot of sense.
Also, love the idea of miso soup.
I don’t write about food, but when I write I find I gravitate to the same kinds of things: slightly guilty pleasures that remind me of a time I didn’t have to worry about my sodium intake.
When i’m doing a post, I tend to be focused on the thing i’m writing about…
But if it’s a post about a non food item or issue I tend to do a good fresh brewed iced tea during the day and some type of veggie or low carb thing during the evening.. That way I dont get carb loaded and get sleepy half way through the writing…
I was just flipping through the New York Times book and then I saw this post about Amanda. Gosh, I love her. Great post.
Very cold blueberries, straight up. Also, green tea. My snacks have to take the Hippocratic oath and Do No Harm (to me or my treadmill desk). I adore rice crackers but cannot have them in the house, as I will binge and go to bed with a sinus headache, and therefore miss my deadline.
I’m impressed with your snacking discipline!
Iced coffee in the summer, hot coffee from a thermos in the winter; when I remember to bring snacks, it’s usually some variation of almonds, Trader Joe’s dried white peaches, granny smith or some other tart apple or cucumber slices. But mostly, since I write at the office, I just think about how much I’d like a snack, especially when I’m working on the review of a really good restaurant.
When I wrote restaurant reviews, that’s when I’d either think “ugh, can’t even think about food” or “damn, those ribs were delicious.” I found it (please forgive the pun) quite feast or famine.
If I eat I get too sidetracked from my writing. Although, of course this happens all too often. But generally, iced coffee, kombucha, or green tea are my go-to drink options when settling down to write. They all give me a little pep!
Someone once said, “Write drunk, edit sober:. Works for me.
I veer for crunchy for my munchie: salted almonds, rice crackers, grapes. To drink, I like ice-water and hot tea with lemon & honey. Notice I specified “hot” tea (living in the south, you have to specify, or you’ll get ice tea…very sweet…too sweet!!!)