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Not too long ago I read in Writer’s Almanac that Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner favored eggs, broiled steak, and generous servings of coffee every morning before writing novels in his study. It made me curious about other writers’ diet habits and if there is a thread that holds them all together. Here are the highlights of what I found:
Mark Twain liked buttered biscuits and fried chicken.
Truman Capote was a fan of potato salad.
Marcel Proust loved madeleines and espresso. (He drank 16 cups in a row at one time!)
Charles Dickens loved baked apples.
For me, I looooooove bread. With the cool fall weather I’m baking up a loaf of pumpkin bread this weekend. Do you find yourself falling to routine cravings when you write?

Pumpkin-sunflower bread I made last year.
It’s interesting to see what famous authors like to eat. =D Personally, I always crave chocolate when I’m writing. Or else a cold drink like lemonade or juice.
I am a constant fan of chocolate–dark! Funny that a cold drink appeals to your writing routine. Writers are always associated with coffee shops! Maybe it depends on climate too and not just coffee-writer cliche? 😉
That’s so great! I love that Proust drank sixteen cups of espresso in one sitting. He must have been wired! Thank you so much for sharing, this was really interesting to read.
Thanks, Natalie! I have yet to have my first cup of espresso, I’m itching to try it. 🙂
Ah, the 16 cups explains so much. When I’m in the engrossed-with-writing-zone, I don’t think about food or drink at all and coffee tends to get cold or the coffee machine turns off because I’ve forgotten about it, and there was an occasion when my baked apple chips turned into shriveled apple chips because I forgot about them in the oven, etc. Later, though, I’m always starving and will eat just about anything—except liverwurst. Or shriveled apple chips…….
I’m the same way with tea! By the time I remember I made it, it has to get heated again!