Story Starters: Food Glorious Food

In my 4th grade ‘Anything Goes’ writing book, almost every story was about food. Lollies mainly. Food is an important aspect of stories for kids and by kids. In my latest book Galactic Adventures: First Kids in Space there is a giant food-fight scene at the spaceport and in ‘Hot Dog Eat’, a short story in My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up Tom Weekly tries to defend his grandfather’s honour and break the world hot dog eating record. Here’s a food-based story-starter for you from the My Life teaching materials.
All illustrations escaped from the kooky mind of Gus Gordon.

The Story Behind the Story
I heard about the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition held at Coney Island, New York, and I was fascinated by the concept of ‘professional eating’. I am also an enormous fan of Stephen King’s fantastic story The Body, made into the film Stand By Me. In that story there is an unforgettable “pie- eat” scene. ‘Hot Dog Eat’ is kind of my homage to it.

Activity
What is your favourite or least favourite food? Tell a story about it. Set yourself five or ten minutes on the timer on my Create page and go for it. Don’t think, just write. The story can celebrate the beauty of food or, like Hot Dog Eat, it can be a little bit gross.

Resources
Google ‘Nathan’s Hot Dog Eat’ and click on a video of the famous Dog Eat that inspired my story.

Good luck. Let me know how you go.