Good enough to eat!

The feasting season is a good excuse to peruse through all the delicious children's books about food.

The Grand Chapati Contest

Ever since I was a kid, food mentions in books have driven me to distraction. For instance, a picture of a man in Tinkle magazine sitting before a plate piled high with rice, with a dollop of pickle on it, meant that I just had to recreate it during dinner that night. This has continued into my adulthood. When I read about Charlie floating down a river of chocolate in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I just had to put the book down and make myself a cup of hot chocolate.

Festival season brings with it so much talk about food that of course, I just had to draw up a list of food-themed children’s books.

I Can’t Eat That by Lavanya Karthik, illustrated by Pia Alize Hazarika: A story with delicious words (and food) in which Chinna’s father cooks all sorts of interesting dishes for her, but why does Chinna want to eat only bread and butter?

What’s Neema Eating Today? by Bijal Vachharajani, illustrated by Priya Kuriyan, beautifully introduces the concept of seasonal foods.

The Grand Chapati Contest by Asha Nehemiah, illustrated by Chetan Sharma, is a Hook Book, a fun new series of books to hook the young reader. This is a hilarious story with laugh-out-loud illustrations, about a king who loves fluffy-puffy chapatis and a little girl who knows just the very person who can make them for him. At the end, it had me craving fluffy-puffy chapatis.

Thukpa for All by Praba Ram and Sheela Preuitt, illustrated by Shilpa Ranade: Tsering invites everybody he meets to his home to eat his grandmother’s delicious noodle soup. But, there’s a power cut! This lovely picture book tells us how Tsering helps his grandmother cook Thukpa in the dark.

The Good Indian Child’s Guide to Eating Mangoes by Natasha Sharma, illustrated by Shreya Sen: A rollicking adventure with mangoes — and detailed instructions on how to eat them.

Machher Jhol by Richa Jha, illustrated by Sumanta Dey, contains the most gorgeous illustrations combined with a beautifully layered story about a boy who sets out into the busy streets of Kolkata to arrange for fish curry for his sick father.

The Deadly Royal Recipe by Ranjit Lal. This is for older kids, a book that I’m convinced would be great as a movie. It is populated by a fabulous princess and her friends, a top-secret book with highly coveted royal recipes, scheming kings of neighbouring lands, lots of action — and the most delightful descriptions of exotic food.

Bookworms and Jellybellies by Ranjini Rao and Ruchira Ramanujam: After reading about food in your favourite books, if you wished you could make some of those at home, then this book is for you. It contains recipes inspired by Winnie the Pooh, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Peppa Pig, Diary of the Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson, Malgudi Days, Petu Pumpkin, A Series of Unfortunate Events — with notes about all those books and easy-to-follow instructions.

Bon Appetit!

The author got a master’s degree in energy engineering and worked in the IT industry until her daughter dragged out the writer lurking inside her. She has written eight books for children and can be reached at www.shruthi-rao.com

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