Title: The Snacking Dead: A Parody in a Cookbook
Plot Type: Zombie Apocalypse Parody with Recipes
Ratings: Violence-4; Sensuality-1; Humor-4
Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Publishers: New York (10/2013)
I highly recommend this book to any fan of The Walking Dead—either the TV show, the graphic novels, or the print novels. It would make a terrific holiday gift. I laughed out loud in a number of places and chuckled at many more. The author (and I'd love to know his or her [or their] real name) does a great job with the narration of the story, taking a calm, matter-of-fact approach to the end of the world as we know it. Everything comes down to a 30-something woman who snacks her way through the devastation, fighting the dead and feeding the living.
This book comes in both print and e-book editions. In addition, an interactive version is available for download with iBooks for Mac or iPad, and with iTunes on your computer. Click HERE for more information on the interactive version, which has a few bells and whistles missing from the print and e-book versions.
Click HERE to read a lengthy excerpt on The Snacking Dead's amazon.com page. Just click on the cover art at top left. D. B. Walker is a pseudonym for the same person(s) who wrote Fifty Shades of Chicken under the pen name of F. L. Fowler.
WORLD-BUILDING
Yes, this is a cookbook with a mythology: a zombie apocalypse mythology that mostly mimics the world of The Walking Dead. Although, there is a passing reference to Game of Thrones when a character warns that "Winter is coming," and I'm wondering if Charlie, the growling, half-pint dog, just may be an oblique reference to the skinny-but-snarly character in Revolution.
WORLD-BUILDING
"…in a world ruled by the hungry dead,
it was snack or be snacked on."
Yes, this is a cookbook with a mythology: a zombie apocalypse mythology that mostly mimics the world of The Walking Dead. Although, there is a passing reference to Game of Thrones when a character warns that "Winter is coming," and I'm wondering if Charlie, the growling, half-pint dog, just may be an oblique reference to the skinny-but-snarly character in Revolution.
The "Introduction" is a photograph of a smart-phone displaying a news feed with the headline, "Mysterious Outbreak Causes Restaurant Havoc" and warning people not to attempt the Heimlich maneuver on restaurant patrons exhibiting these danger signs: "bluish skin color, bulging eyes, inability to speak, and/or noisy breathing."
The book is divided into three story/recipe sections:
1. "Appetizers for an Apocalypse" (64 pages)
2. "Eating on the Run" (51 pages)
3. "Messy Bites for the Newly Dead" (28 pages)
Unsuspecting Pigs in Blankets |
The final section ("Epilogue: Last Call," 2 pages) contains several beverage recipes.
THE STORY
"Appetizers for an Apocalypse" starts at the very beginning of the zombie pandemic as neighbors turn on neighbors and the babysitter tries to eat Pam's children. (Pam's rant on Velveeta as an undead food product that is perfect for the Apocalypse is one of the highlights of the book.) Pam and the kids are, at first, separated, but they soon find one another. Unlike most of the other survivors, Pam is a foodie—a good cook who spends a lot of time foraging for groceries in zombie-infested supermarkets and rooting for herbs in weed-filled gardens. All the while, though, she daydreams about the true love of her childhood: Daryl, the boy who taught her how to kill and skin a squirrel and vowed to protect her from chupacabras. (There's a squirrel recipe or two in the book, but you can substitute any type of protein you run across—or run down.) "First you chop the head…Her first love had taught her that many years ago. She wondered where Daryl was now. Still tracking squirrels in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Even now she could see his sleepy sexy eyes, his sleeveless shirts, the way he'd only steal quick glances at her. Once when he'd killed a squirrel with his hatchet, he had seemed almost embarrassed for the exposed little creature. Then he ate its liver.…'Once we cut this squirrel up," she had said, 'how about we melt some cheese on it?'" (p. 31)
pizza peel |
Saving Grace Grilled Pimento Cheese (with zombie hand in background) |
"Messy Bites for the Newly Dead" moves back and forth between Pam and Daryl as they find one another in a fateful finale. Eventually, as Daryl heads back to his group, he muses, "In a world where we're all on the menu, you grill together or die alone. The apocalypse was no picnic, but you didn't have to starve either." (p. 152)
THE RECIPES
Each recipe bears some relationship to the preceding story scene. For example, after the diabolical King Philippe enters the story, we have a recipe for Secret-Ingredient Cheese Fingers. I didn't try making any of the recipes, but they seem plausible—some even sound delicious, like the Angel of Death Brown Sugar Bacon Bites. Most of these recipes are high in fat, sugar, and starches—because it's the apocalypse, for heaven's sake. Who has time to worry about counting carbs, calories, and cholesterol levels?
Each recipe page contains a "Pro Tip." For example, the recipe for Medievaled Eggs includes this Tip: "A piping bag for the egg filling makes a cheery, pre-outbreak touch. In a pinch, make a piping bag from a pillowcase and a spent shotgun shell." (p. 64)
Here is a list of some of the recipes:
> Sweet-ish Fleshballs
> Nachos of the Living Dead
> Elbows Casserole
> Crabby Prepper Puffs
> Survivalist Hero (a sandwich)
> Dire Ham Biscuits (These look delicious!)
> Cold-Blooded Ice Cream Bread Sandwiches
> Gratuitous Violence Jell-O Mold
> Squirrel Poppers
> Guac and Load Guacamole
> False Sense of Security Blueberry Muffins
The "Epilogue" contains three heavily alcoholic drink recipes, and the beverage Pro Tip provides instructions for fashioning a swizzle stick from a chicken bone.
Click HERE for the rules of The Drinking Dead, a drinking game devised by the creators of The Snacking Dead.
Sweet-ish Fleshballs |
Here is a list of some of the recipes:
> Sweet-ish Fleshballs
> Nachos of the Living Dead
> Elbows Casserole
> Crabby Prepper Puffs
> Survivalist Hero (a sandwich)
> Dire Ham Biscuits (These look delicious!)
> Cold-Blooded Ice Cream Bread Sandwiches
> Gratuitous Violence Jell-O Mold
> Squirrel Poppers
> Guac and Load Guacamole
> False Sense of Security Blueberry Muffins
The "Epilogue" contains three heavily alcoholic drink recipes, and the beverage Pro Tip provides instructions for fashioning a swizzle stick from a chicken bone.
Click HERE for the rules of The Drinking Dead, a drinking game devised by the creators of The Snacking Dead.
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