If there is anything I enjoy more than gardening it is books. And eating. Therefore you can imagine my pleasure when I made an unscheduled stop at the Forbes Library in Northampton last week and found this Edible Books contest display near the circulation desk. According to the Books2Eat website “The International Edible Book Festival is a yearly event on April 1 throughout the world .This event unites bibliophiles, book artists and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion of culture and its fulfilling nourishment. Participants create edible books that are exhibited, documented then consumed. April 1st is also the perfect day to eat your words and play with them.
One purpose is to celebrate the April 1st birthday of the great French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 – 1826), famous for his book “Physiologie du goût”. Of course, I cannot help noticing that April 1 is also April Fool’s Day, and this celebration and contest is full of delicious foolery.
Homemade bread is a staple at my – and so are books.
The Magic School Bus is sometimes a bookmobile – bringing me all the stories I can read.
Books and kitchens are all the wonderland I will ever require.
I am marking my calendar so I can enter an edible book next year. Anyone can. You don’t have to wait for a library, or anyone, to hold a contest. Glory is waiting for each of us, And a party. I’ll have to invite all my friends to come and eat my edible book – after I have photographed it. I have a whole year to consider what book to interpret in flour and sugar.