Diet and Food - Character ER

I am on Unicorn Bell today with Dear Lazy Writer. Do you think writing/publishing is too much work?

Something that writers don’t often think about is their character’s diet. But why not? Food is a big part of our lives. We need it to survive. We eat an average of three meals a day with mid-day and nightly snacks.
I’m sure your characters have eaten something during the course of your story. If they haven’t, give them a sandwich because they are starving! :P With that said, you don’t have to be so diligent as to describe each and every meal. That would be overkill, but an occasional breakfast, lunch or dinner date would be nice. And some readers actually really enjoy reading descriptions of food. I am one of them.
One thing I wanted to discuss was vegetarians (a person who doesn’t eat meat) and vegans (a person who doesn’t eat meat or diary including milk and cheese). I have never come across a vegetarian or vegan character. I’m sure there are some out there but I haven’t found them.
When I became a vegetarian, I turned Avrianna Heavenborn (introduced in Ghost of Death and the MC in my unpublished series) into a vegetarian. I did it because she took after me in many ways and I wanted her to be different from all the other characters out there.

Now you don’t have to have a vegetarian or vegan character in your book just because I say so. In fact, there are many other diets out there that your characters could have instead such as: diabetic, glutton-free, Kosher, Weight Watchers, high protein, no-carb, detox diets, and juicing.
Then there is specific diets for certain religions such as Hindu and Buddhist, fasting for a medical procedure or Ramadan, and Lent. A character could give up something they love such as chocolate coffee for Lent.
You don’t even have to use a diet like these but simply talk about what your character eats. Maybe your MC has a craving for cheesecake or has a fetish for orange soda.
Including a diet can make your character different, and talking about what your character likes to eat can add something fun to your story.
Taking this a step further...if you have zombies in your story then right about that cannibalism. Yum?



QUESTIONS: Have any of your characters had a specific diet or fetish for a food or drink? As a reader, do you like food descriptions? 

If you’re participating in the A to Z Challenge, can you share the blurb, image and links for Seismic Crimes on its release day (April 22nd which is for S). I don't expect anyone to have a theme to fit my book, just to maybe add it to the bottom as a bonus S. :)

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