Literary Food Moments In Young Adult Books Slideshow

But don't get caught up in all of that heavy, British cuisine. There are plenty of foods eaten in Harry Potter that don't even exist in the British muggle world. The lunch trolley on the Hogwarts Express offers Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Liquorice Wands, Jelly Slugs, and Chocolate Frogs. Meanwhile, students can sip on some Butterbeer at Hogsmeade. 

While Hagrid may be a friend to Ron, Hermione, and Harry, his living arrangements suggest that he doesn't have very many other friends. Since he lives all alone on the edge of Hogwarts, the half-giant hasn't really honed his culinary skills. His reputation for being a notoriously bad chef makes sense, considering that Hagrid doesn't exactly cook for many people on a day-to-day basis. 

The Hardy brothers' friend has a weak spot for food, that's for sure. His love for food is often mocked throughout the series, as he is referred to as chubby, and called a "big boy." In The Secret of the Lost Tunnel, Chet was late because he had to stop off for a triple-decker sandwich. In Dungeon of Doom, Chet stopped by a police station with his arms full of food raided from the vending machines. His love of food somehow explains his reluctance to join the boys in their detective work. 

The Princess of Genovia avoids meat at all costs, opting to nibble on Tofurky burgers and falafel during lunch. Her strong loyalty to vegetarianism doesn't fade throughout the entire series, and comes to define Mia as a character. However, the princess threatens to abandon her vegetarian principles, after hearing the news that her boyfriend was moving to Japan — she joked, "If ever there'd been a day I could have used some spicy beef, it seemed like today." 

As Bella chops and dices chicken in the kitchen, she proves that she has some culinary skills. Eventually, her father begins trusting her abilities in the kitchen, even when he walks into the house one day and smells green peppers — a surefire sign that she is whipping up some Mexican food for him. He may have seemed suspicious, but Bella understood that was because "the closest edible Mexican food was probably in Southern California." She even equated his willingness to try the dish to the braveness required to do his police duties. After Charlie comes home from a fishing excursion, Bella makes a mental note to pick up a cookbook filled with seafood recipes. 

Every summer, Lena, Bridget, Tibby, and Carmen, who have been friends since their mothers attended classes during their pregnancies, sneak into the studio where their mothers met to hang out. However, the night isn't complete without snack foods. Fortunately Tibby was on the job, bringing along "raw cookie dough from a refrigerated tube, strawberry Pop-Tars with pink icing, hard, deformed cheese puffs, sour Gummi Worms, and a few bottles of Odwalla" to share with everyone. 

Talk about a stressful family dinner. Carmen plans to spend the summer with her father, until she discovers that he is engaged to a woman who has two daughters of her own. As soon as Carmen receives this information, the family has to sit down for dinner. The tenseness of the situation draws attention away from the elaborately set table of white covered dishes filled with lamb chops, sautéed zucchini, and warm bread. 

Wealth is mostly concentrated in the hands of those residing in the Capitol. While the wealthy can afford to eat luxurious, satiating foods, the poor are fighting to survive. The residents of the Capitol are definitive consumers; any kind of food is available to them with the simple press of a button. Food symbolizes wealth, plenty, and comfort, a convenience that the wealthy take for granted. 

Meanwhile, the residents of District 12 are fighting for scraps, and Katniss cannot understand the constant availability of food in the Capitol. Food is scarce in the poorer districts, and starvation is always a serious threat. Her entire existence revolves around gathering food for her family to eat. She wonders, "What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by?" The absence of food from the other districts only further emphasizes the inequality between the rich and the poor.