If you’re a foodie and haven’t read Jessica Tom’s debut novel (and maybe soon to be movie) “Food Whore: A Novel of Dining and Deceit,” you’re seriously missing out.
Let me introduce you to protagonist Tia Monroe, a Yale graduate and food fanatic who wants to make her mark in the culinary scene of NYC. After struggling with her internship at the prestigious restaurant Madison Park Tavern, she stumbles onto an opportunity of a lifetime: writing restaurant reviews for the New York Times.
Michael Saltz, a legendary NYT food critic, loses his sense of taste and recruits Tia to serve his palate, and to write his reviews for him. At first, this exchange is mysterious, exciting and rewarding for Tia; she finds herself fine-dining at some of the most reputable restaurants in the city and writing about her experiences, in exchange for an unlimited amount of designer clothing.
But she’s not getting any credit for her reviews. Because of this, Tia struggles with keeping her new identity a secret and discovers that with all of the glamour of her new, lavish lifestyle, she must also face the unanticipated consequences.
Photo courtesy of @carnivorr on Instagram
Described as “Devil Wears Prada meets Kitchen Confidential,” Food Whore dives right into the center of New York City’s dining scene, featuring restaurants based on actual NYC dining hot spots. Jessica Tom serves up mouthwatering recipes and a mouthful of love, lies and deceit. If you’re interested in food porn, sexy foreign chefs or a plot full of twists and turns, then this is the book for you.
Spoon: When did you first think about writing a novel, and when did you come up with the idea behind “Food Whore?”
JT: After graduating Yale in 2006, I was living in New York, and I loved to write and go out to eat. I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be amazing if I could go out anywhere as a food critic and just charge it to the company? I could write down all of my opinions and people would read them and care about them. So I was like, hmm, how could this ever happen to a 23-year-old girl? That’s how I started with the seed of the story.
At the same time, I had a friend who had a friend who couldn’t taste. She was telling me how this friend would eat fried chicken and spicy things because those were the only things that could stimulate her palate. And, I also had a friend who went to Harvard and was working in coat check and 11 Madison Park, which is what the restaurant Madison Park Tavern is based on.
So between those three things, I came up with this idea of a girl who secretly writes for the New York Times because the food critic has lost his sense of taste. And I liked it because it was a really simple hook, easy to explain and understand, and it was really inspiring to me.
Photo courtesy of jessicatom.com
Spoon: Where did you come up with the ideas for dishes, restaurants and chef names?
JT: Madison Park Tavern is partially based on Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park. Bakkushan is loosely based on Momofuku Ssam Bar, and Le Brittane is loosely based on Le Bernardin. In terms of the dishes, I’ve had versions of some of them. Even before I started writing the book, I loved reading Eater and Grub Street, reading about restaurants and reading their menus, and I’m also a home cook so I read about them to get inspired, not only for my novel, but also to make things myself. Throughout the book, I was creating my own dishes, if not actually in the kitchen, in my head.
Photo courtesy of @foooodieee on Instagram
Spoon: Did your own life and life experiences with food influence the development of the characters, especially Tia, who also went to Yale?
JT: Yes and no. A lot of what happens to Tia emotionally happened to me, if not those exact scenarios. I abide by the notion “no tears for the writer, no tears for the reader.” And so every moment that makes you cringe, makes your heart fall, you see these prickles of self-identification because I’m summoning those exact feelings in me.
At the same time, it’s fiction, so I didn’t have a recipe featured in the New York Times in high school, I didn’t really cook in college, I obviously didn’t write the NYT review, I didn’t have an affair with a chef… but I think the grounding motivation of Tia to make it in New York, to figure out what she wanted to do in her life, making mistakes on the way, being seduced by what is glamorous, cool and exclusive at the expense of things that are more humble and authentic, those are things that I have experienced.
Photo courtesy of jessicatom.com
Spoon: How did your passion for food and food writing begin and evolve?
JT: In college, I wrote for the Yale Daily News magazine. I wrote a food column: some reviews, some columns, personal essays, recipes. I also immersed myself in a writing project for the restaurant Union League Cafe, and it was published as a cover story for the Yale Daily News.
I kind of just took a high-level look at my life, at what I liked to do, and what I was good at. I loved to read, and when I was at Yale, I trained to be a better writer, and of course, I loved food. I could have written non-fiction magazine articles or blog posts about food, but I didn’t really know what my angle was. I knew I could write stories, and I was putting together two things I really loved.
Photo courtesy of @thedelicious on Instagram
Spoon: Any words of advice for aspiring foodies and food writers about what steps to take?
JT: My advice is to take a look at what you’re interested in. Now is a really exciting time to be in food, I think, because there are so many different directions in terms of media, whether you’re interested in cooking, teaching, the sociology of it, the visuals of it. Don’t be afraid of carving your own path because if you look at your life and see what you are really good at, that’s going to be the thing that takes you the farthest even if it’s not the most popular or well-paved path. The thing that you love and the thing that you are good at is what you’ll make your mark with.