10 Food Writing Prompts to Try

Now that you have more spare time, how about a fun writing exercise? Think of it as a break from making sourdough bread, or searching for toilet paper.

People love food writing prompts. Readers give me good feedback about my food writing exercises in each chapter of Will Write for Food. And when I give out a prompt during

a live class, students get going. They hunch over their paper and scribble away, absorbed in their task. Many want to keep writing when I say it’s time to stop. 

So now it’s your turn. I found these prompts below in a file drawer I cleaned out. I’d give credit if I knew who created them! These questions are interesting to me because they’re not the usual. They create emotion in the writer. Provoking emotion in readers is a sign of good writing — maybe that will be a natural consequence of your experience? 

Memories are some of the most rewarding subjects to write about, regardless of whether they’re good or bad. That’s because we love to write about ourselves. We are experts on our own behavior and back story. We have endless fascinating material. Now’s your chance to get some of it down.

So pick one or two of these. Allow yourself to write whatever comes up. Remember that food writing can be sensuous. Try to engage touch, taste, hear, see and smell. Set a timer if you like, for maybe 10 minutes. 

Need a reason to write? Try a few of these food writing prompts:

What do you eat to remember?
What do you eat to forget?
Which food is your enemy?
Which food is a symbol of your childhood? 
What must you consume in a ritualized manner?
Which food have you forbidden yourself from eating and why?
Which food defines you?
What do you eat to bring up bittersweet memories?
What do you eat too much of, every time?
Which food gives you the strength to go on?

If you tried this, did something unexpected come up? Let me know about your experience.

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You might also like:

Q&A: How Pie guru Kate McDermott Found her Voice
Speaking Your Truth
Molly Wizenberg: “Let Your Writing Speak for Itself, and Be Proud of It”

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.)

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