Okay, you must not read "HUNGER!"  & "MEHR HUNGER!"  to know that I'm a Foodie. I absolutely love to cook and bake.

This will be a huge element in my novel, too.

Food serves so many purposes beyond survival and shut up a rumbling stomach:

- culture (Your Prot's / Anta's (family) background, his origin when he's somewhere else)
- unites (Friends & family come together and share or reconcile, etc.)
- comforts (no explanation necessary, eh?)
- facilitates bonding, like between estranged friends/family or lovers (in the making)

And since Vince is (at least half) Italian & Laura a cooking / baking buff, who loves to eat herself, it would be a SIN to not exploit this for world- and word-making.

There will be a lot of

- Italian food, also from the Alp region of South Tirol (where Vince's Nonna is from), some
- German food (from Laura's side), some
- Pumpkin (after all it's fall - really and in the novel), and some
- Fast Food (healthy because handmade).

And poor Laura will have a lot of time for cooking and baking (in Vince's kitchen OR helping in his grandparents' restaurant, like making pasta with Nonna Stella) as Vince is bound at work.


So will you use the advantages of food in your stories, too?