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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 – 201 stories

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

Fluff – 152 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 Night To Remember ” by Muskaan Aggarwal

Submitted to Contest #100

Ringggg……..ring……...ring……..ring…...A loud ringing sound made its way into Mia’s ears, waking her up from her deep slumber. Slowly, her left hand made an appearance from under the navy blue blanket, switching off the alarm. Peeling away the duvet from her body after five minutes of tossing and turning in the bed, she slowly climbed out, checking the time on her phone on her way down the hall. 5:30 P.M. Perfect. Mia grinned. Making her way into the kitchen, Mia tied an apron securely around her body, protecting her clothes...

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“The Mind's Eye” by Chloe :)

Submitted to Contest #100

The witch was at work. Work she loved. Work she was born to do. The witch was at work with a meal, you see. A very special meal that needed a very special chef. With this special chef came a certain amount of...special ingredients. Special how, you ask? Well, she is indeed a witch, and what is a witch without her magic? That was one of the reasons she was hired. Her magic. Not only does it enhance the foods’ deliciousness, but it changes oneself. Change oneself how, you may ask, the curious thing that you are? Well, she is inde...

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“Devons Day.” by Marsha Webb

Submitted to Contest #100

“Bring the cake, bring the cake” eight cackling women chanted. The women were a strange sight to the average person, all very different in height, weight and shape, an odder looking bunch you would be hard pressed to find. It was that time of year again, Devons Day, when witches got together and celebrated all the evil they had done in the past year. They told their twisted, terrifying stories and ate, drank and boasted. The climax of the night, on the stroke of midni...

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“The magic ingredient in my meal” by Chinnu Kutty

Submitted to Contest #100

THE MAGIC PORTION IN MY MEAL The family that eats together and prays together. Stays together. This quote was an apt fit to my family. It was a family custom that has been followed for generations down the lane. Every member, was supposed to eat at least one meal with the family and pray every morning with the family, before starting the day. Thus, every meal was not just to fill our stomach, but a time for the entire family to share, care and exchange emotions. Well, the meal in the family was always cooked by the family member. Not by any ...

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“What Are You Going to Eat?” by Megan K

Submitted to Contest #100

Jenna's phone dinged with a text notification; it was from Chris. "I got a here a little early, so I got us a table. When you walk in look to the right. I'm at the corner table. Can't wait to meet you." Jenna caught her breath. She hated first dates. She too arrived early but she was not ready to go in yet. She still needed to prepare herself before stepping out of her car. She gave herself one last look in the rearview mirror. She did not wear a lot of makeup day to day but added a little more to her face when she was on a date. She l...

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“Dinner” by Heather Mayson

Submitted to Contest #100

A combination of smells teased his nose: freshly baked bread mixed with the aroma of mushrooms and onions sautéing on the stove. From outside, a hint of smoke drifted inside, bringing with it the flavor of the steak being charred on the barbeque. It had been a long time since a family meal had been prepared within these walls –some might argue it had been too long since they had come together as a family. The smells nearly made Nick forget the reasons why they had not gotten together in nearly a decade. But Father was dy...

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“The Prom Queen” by Yara Haydar

Submitted to Contest #100

Keefe grumbled as he slid into his seat beside his best friends, Fitz Vacker and Dex Dizznee. He was pissed off and was having a pretty mediocre day until a few minutes ago. « So what are you gonna do now? » Fitz askedKeefe and Fitz didn’t exactly have the best friendship. It wasn’t the kind you’d see in the movies. Some would call it a toxic friendship, but he’d learned to live with it after years of being told who his friends should be. See, Fitz was who was considered to be in his ‘type of people’ : snobby, rich and selfish...

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“Even at the End of the World...” by Tee Stories

Submitted to Contest #100

It all of a sudden started to rain. The weather called for thunderstorms all week but the downpour was so unexpected. By day 3 it seemed as if a month of rain had already fallen. Very bizarre for a July. But we weren’t worried. It kept the 2 of us inside. We were already working from home for the last year since the pandemic started but this time it was something about the storm that kept us in concentration mode. We’d spend most of our days in front of our computers aligned with our huge bay window that overlooked the...

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“Supping On The Edge Of The World” by Cole Wander

Submitted to Contest #100

My mother once told me that every truth in the universe could be found in her locket. Heart-shaped, a single ruby at its tarnished centre – nothing more than a cheap trinket. But her eyes were so filled with love when she told me, that for a brief moment, I dared to believe her. I have carried that love with me ever since. Years later, I tore that same locket from her withered neck. She wasn’t dead. Oh no, not quite. Not as she wished she was. Not as I wished she was. The first sign had been the ice entering her eyes, blue flooding the ord...

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“last breath” by Melo Hale

Submitted to Contest #100

“Jamie?” the old woman called out. “Yes mom”, replied Jamie. He walked from the kitchen to tend to his mother. He sat next to her and took her hand in his. “Please don’t tell me about the wife thingy again” he leaned back into the couch. Looking away from her to watch the outside world which seemed more interesting. The old woman grinned from ear to ear knowingly. Her wrinkles became even more evident and her eyes beamed with love for her dear son. She knew that her time was near, she soon won’t be able to hold her son. He would be alone wit...

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“Alfonse” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #100

I was supposed to meet him at “Randy’s,” a bar restaurant kind of place. Mostly neighborhood folks. Once in a while some wayfarers, bikers, those passing by and seeing the sign and figuring, “Why not!” There is this cowboy, like the Marlboro man type you see along the road on the building’s roof. A silhouette of a figure cut out of metal just standing there head down, as if waiting for the hangman to show up and read last rites. It has a revolving thing like we used to have on our Christmas tree that splashes it with the color...

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“The Prodigal Daughter” by Anje Campisi

Submitted to Contest #100

I stared at the mirror. This couldn’t be the same face that had stared back at me for 26 years. Just a few days ago, it was the face of a young professional, content at home with her crime dramas on tv and a latte in her hand. Now, this same face was the granddaughter of a biblical figure who ruled Hell, daughter to a demon, kidnapped by some 500-year-old serial killer, and family to a plethora of snake people. No way we were the same person. I looked away, not sure what I was looking at anymore. Dinner ...

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“Broken Bread” by Craig Grant

Submitted to Contest #100

“You must be famished.” The man that sat across from Seren Fane was gaunt, with dark rims around his eyes and his cheeks were drawn and skeletal. An audible growl had resonated when the plate of bread and cheese had been placed before him. His enemy had shown great restraint and poise by not instinctively devouring the food the moment it touched the table; as decorum dictated that the meal would not start until the host took the first bite. The man’s silence stretched as he unflinchingly met Fane’s gaze, refusing to look at the meal...

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“Blue Saskia” by Rebekah Marriner

Submitted to Contest #100

Why she is blue I do not know. Her face glows bone white in the moonlight. She turns her face toward the moon and closes her eyes slowly to bask in the lunar glow. When she opens her eyes again they become portals swelling open across her face. The iris’ glow solar orange and spin like Saturn’s rings around the dense black holes of her pupils. Whereupon the moon is reflected, pock filled and cratered, in near perfect accuracy. There is nothing in those vast eyes that can give me a clue as to why she is blue, save the imagery of everything sh...

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“Short Stack ” by Ashton Newland

Submitted to Contest #100

My secrets were suddenly split open when a cloaked man approached me with my birth name that was written somewhere safe, secret in the forest. There weren’t many of us in these recent times, those who honored the trees. The young man approached with a jar full of opaque, gold, thick liquid; companioned with a glimmer of knowing in his eye. His vibrant, green eyes bored into me, making the hair on my neck stand on end. I felt as if he was a wolf and I a rabbit. He had not yet spoken anything to me, yet I felt the nearing of ...

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$50

Prize money

891

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!

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