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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#100: Breaking Bread

One of the most intimate things you can do with someone is sit down to eat together. The idea of friends and foes, families and strangers breaking bread has been a recurring theme in art and literature for a very long time. It’s something that can bring us together against the steepest of odds; to quote Oscar Wilde, “after a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations”. But things don’t always end quite so harmoniously — food fights, anyone?

 

This week, we’re reflecting on the joys (or pains) of eating together or making a meal. Whether the dinner table is a place for communion or conflict for your characters, I look forward to sitting down to a hearty portion of food-themed stories with you. Bon appétit!

This week's prompts

Start or end your story with two characters sitting down for a meal.

Middle School – 264 stories

Write a story where a meal or dinner goes horribly wrong.

Thanksgiving – 202 stories

Write about a group of strangers — or people who know each other, but may as well be strangers — eating together.

Fluff – 153 stories

Write about a character preparing a meal for somebody else.

Fluff – 157 stories

Write a story that involves a secret or magic ingredient.

Halloween – 116 stories

Stories

“A meal fit for a King” by J D Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #100

Time and repetition are supposed to make everything easier and more fluid. So after 15 years of being in Lord Verks' services, you would have thought Elliot would have a hang on his choirs and the amount of time needed to complete them. However disappointing it is to hear you would be mistaken. The long to-do list only ever slowed down the loyal minion. Elliot raced from room to room, restoring order to chaos. Lord Verks' people had been staying with them for the past few weeks and had just left. A huge mess in every room. To most, this woul...

3 comments 3
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“A makeshift last meal” by J D Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #100

At the start of Friday morning, August 17, Tampa county cheerleaders age 15 -18 were excited to be heading to Florida for a competition but everything went downhill as they entered a winding valley. The bus driver had tried to stop but the freshly fallen snow sent them plummeting down the hill into a clutch of trees and grass below. Twelve girls were hopelessly lost. For the past seven hours, twelve city stickers wondered about being scared and alone. At some point, they circled back around finding the bus once again. Deciding to stay, they ...

14 comments 14
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“The last day on Earth ” by J D Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #100

It was a beautiful day in a small tourist town. A young man was seated at a prime location staring out at the party-goers with disdain. As he was about to voice his anger A huge pile of appetizers and various drinks lined his table. Slightly appeased by the food he began to eat. His broad shoulders slumped back in annoyance. The man who was of tall stature leaned on the table in annoyance as he stared at two similar looking men with dark skin and black hair. Both were strutting around like peacocks. Something James could never understand. Th...

7 comments 7
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“The legacy of the hagstone” by J D Hernandez

Submitted to Contest #100

Harper Stone had always been told that her great-grandmother was with who threw herself into the ocean from the highest point and became one with the sea. Completing her connection with her element. Harper usually tuned her grandfather out when he rambled like that, there was no way her pencil-pushing mother was a witch. Tiredly she made her way out to the coastline where the fishermen were already bringing in the catch of the day. As usual, she was all alone or so she thought when a dog ran past. At her feet, he dropped a stone. Barking hap...

3 comments 3
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“Dinnertime ” by Rustys Logic

Submitted to Contest #100

'It's Sunday again,' John thought. 'It's roast day.' It was the one day a week where he was welcomed into the main house, that had once been his. It was now occupied by his son, daughter in law and their two daughters. It had been decided that rather than putting Granddad into an Aged Care Home, the family would move in to the main house 'to help him out' and he would vacate to the granny flat to 'have his own space', which admittedly in some ways, he was quite thankful for, because he actually preferred his own company these days, now that ...

13 comments 13
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“The Curiles Conundrum” by Kristin Neubauer

Submitted to Contest #100

I will be sick. There is no way I won’t be sick.You have to eat it. I look down at the bowl. It’s plastic and turquoise. A dull turquoise. Perhaps a sea foam green. It’s hard to tell in the dim light of this street-side comedor.  I’m vaguely aware of salsa music playing from a radio. If I could hear it above Tegucigalpa’s groaning and squealing traffic, I may be able to identify the artist. After four months traipsing around Central America, I’m starting to know the music.  But none of t...

29 comments 29
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“Sea under my feet, love on my tongue” by Wilke Kewitsch

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #100

I was ten the first time I stayed over at my grandmother’s house. Since I was a fearful child, everything new caused me to hide behind my mama’s back, and I did the same when I first saw her. Maybe I was petrified by her round glasses that made her eyes five times bigger and gave me the impression that she could look down right into my heart. Or maybe her bony fingers reminded me of the witch from Hansel and Gretel, an old German fairy tale. Of course, I soon learned that I had nothing to fear from her. In fact, she was one of the kindest pe...

6 comments 6
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“Chlorine Steak” by ☠️฿ⱤɆ₵₭ł₦ ₦ØⱤ₮ⱧⱤɄ₱😎

Submitted to Contest #100

I was awakened by the sound of my dog chewing on his favorite toy in my bedroom.I took a shower, got dressed, then headed downstairs for breakfast.My mom was in the kitchen making up some eggs and bacon for us.A few minutes later, my older brother came downstairs with his electric guitar in his hand. He was a huge rock fan even though he couldn’t play the electric guitar.He sat down next to me and right after that Larry and Harry came down. Larry and Harry were twins and looked identical. We all had breakfast then got ready for our...

5 comments 5
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“Family Dinner” by Ash W

Submitted to Contest #100

The last thing that was on Serenity’s mind was eating dinner with her family. She would have done anything else. She would have thrown herself into a volcano to burn to death rather than have a sit-down dinner with her family. But the closest volcano was too far away and she was stuck.  Serenity’s family wasn’t the worst. By no means was it the worst. But to her, they were too proper and fancy. Unpleasantly pleasant. Every day, expect for weekends, they were forced into eating dinner together.  “Serendipity, could you set out the...

5 comments 5
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“The geometry of truth” by H L McQuaid

Submitted to Contest #100

[Content warning: beaucoup d'insinuations]**apéritifs**The plump curve of Cathy's lower lip leaves a pink crescent on the rim of the champagne glass as she takes tiny sips. The angles of her diamond engagement ring catch the light cast from the tasteful candelabras.Beads of sweat roll down Joe’s forehead, mimicking the drops of condensation drawn by gravity toward the bottom of his pint of pale ale.He lays his hand on top of Cathy’s, the hard edges of the diamond imprinting on his soft palm. “It’s a lovely restaurant,” he says.Gabe leans bac...

24 comments 24
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“Lying to sleep” by Sabeela Asmal

Submitted to Contest #100

The daylight begins to fade as the hours get older and the night approaches. The sun has already set in the far horizon stretched above the roads over at the mountainside far off the city. A few clouds awkwardly gaze over the tall skylines. My stomach grumbles and instinctively my hand cradles the starved flesh. It's been eleven hours and thirty three minutes since our last meal.  I shift my weight and Ntombi wakes up rubbing her freckled eyes and sitting up. 'Will we eat?' She asks. No greeting. No how are you. Only concerned about w...

4 comments 4
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“Pie & Mash” by Colleen Christi Willett

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #100

Beauty is like the eels our old cook, Mathilde, would purchase at the market: slippery, sinuous, but delicious, when contained. As a girl, before life and my own ugliness had pressed me into the resentful shadow I am now, I would sneak down to the kitchen in late morning, when she’d return with a basketful of them. “Miss Ana, you’re not supposed to be down here, yeh know,” she’d gently chastise at me. “Yeh’re missing yer lessons, letters, numbers, pianoforte.” “They’ve finished,” I’d respond, pressing my thumb into the still glisten...

5 comments 5
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“A Change that Changed Everything that was to be Changed” by Dhwani Jain

Submitted to Contest #100

You sit down to eat dinner. Your pet dog by your side and a video-conference with your family ready to take place soon, you feel that this day can never get better. After all, this is one of the last days you spend here in this country. Your business is slow and you decide to go back home.You take a bite of the food, the food that you relish and serve to your customers with pride, or rather, SERVED.Within a minute, you start to mindlessly eat your food and your mind wanders off. It starts to go to your hometown, the place where you started y...

56 comments 56
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“My Covid-19 Experience ” by Retee Satish

Submitted to Contest #100

Hi there! My name is Anita, and right now I am sitting with three other people eating at a restaurant, and chatting as if we've known each other all our lives but have only known them for like three days. How did this happen? Well your about to find out... 12 hours earlier... The person who tested me for corona spoke over the phone, "Miss... You tested... positive, and you need to get admitted now." My eyes grew wide, I felt as though I'd just been hit in the head with a huge hammer. I dropped my phone, and collapsed on the cou...

32 comments 32
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“The secret is in the sauce” by Margarita Escobar

Submitted to Contest #100

 Chiara gathered what she needed to start cooking. She peeled onions with no hurry, layer by layer. As the tears flowed down from her face, she thought of Nonna Giulia. “When you’re sad bella, it’s a good idea to cook, you can cry all you want while you peel onions.”  Cooking relaxed Chiara. The aroma of fresh herbs and ripe tomatoes from her grandmother's orchard brought to her memories of happier times. Every Sunday her family had dinner at her mother’s place. This time it was a special occasion; her mother’s seventieth birthda...

17 comments 17
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$50

Prize money

893

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 02, 2021 EST

Won by Rayhan Hidayat 🏆

Title: mie goreng

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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