How readers digest

To make a good book great, stir in a tasty treat. These 10 foods are pretty much inseparable from the stories they inhabit

- Christalle Fernandes

1 Avocado and crabmeat salad. The hipster-cafe favourite has also had its moment in the literary sun. In The Bell Jar (1963), Sylvia Plath's story about a woman struggling with her identity, avocados are the main character Esther Greenwood's favourite. The "yellowgreen avocado pear halves stuffed with crabmeat and mayonnaise" is a summer salad enjoyed by 1950s American high society.

2 Apfelkuchen. Tricky on the tongue, but crumbly and gooey to taste, the German apple cake appears in Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed (1911). Edna Ferber's book is about a girl who sees humour in all sorts of situations. In one scene, she visits a confectionery shop, its shelves groaning with treats of every kind, but zeroes in on the apfelkuchen. You would too if you noticed "juicy fruit stuck thickly into the crust".

3 Pork belly with rice. In The Kamogawa Food Detectives (2023), a magical restaurant that serves up foods that linger only in memory, a diner, Hideji, orders "pork belly simmering in Kyobancha tea". As he lifts up a braised slice, dripping in sauce, and places it on a spoonful of hot rice, he smiles wide in contentment. As do we.