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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

“Dinner with the Madigans” by Gunnar Ladd

Submitted to Contest #100

“Could you see who’s calling me, hon? The shade’s going to fall if I let go of it right now,” Ryan called from the living room. “That’s not how I want our first day in this house to go,” I called back. I set down the plates that I was putting away in the cupboards and made my way over to the island. It was a selling point for me, I’d always wanted a big island like this in my kitchen and I found it hard to contain my excitement when the realtor showed it to us on our first open-house visit. I grabbed Ryan’s phone, “I don’...

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“A Meal with Not Totally-Strangers” by Vailor In Dark

Submitted to Contest #100

A Meal with Not Totally-Strangers Is it weird that you're eating with someone you know–but actually is a stranger now to you? Kia's POV: We're staring at each other's eyes, measuring each other's gaze to know what will happen next. "Waiter!" "Waiter!" We laughed on our misery. . .we looked so awkward in here. Aldrin and Jace called the waiter simultaneously causing the only one waiter here to abruptly nonplussed. "Do we really did this...? After years! Where eating here like we're all strangers. . . It's you know–awkwar...

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“The Assassin, The Agent, The Heir” by Carly Pierce

Submitted to Contest #100

The assassin had a job to do. He knew that, and repeated it over and over in his mind as he stalked through the gathering snow drifts close to the house. Despite the infernal white flakes starting to come down harder above him, this was a job he was confident he could execute. Sasha would be out by then, the children asleep in their beds, leaving him free to take care of his target once and for all. It was past sunset, though in the winter that meant little. In daylight, the house might have been something to behold, but then, with most of ...

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“The Women's Epicurean Wallflower Social” by Joan McMenamin

Submitted to Contest #100

Yes friends, I have found myself in that place, where there is no escape from the potluck and the store-bought stuffs, intended to encourage the bolstering of one’s ego and the demise of one’s hotplate. Here I am, a women’s social that is not the bar downtown, but has enough booze to require a liquor license surveillance on the residence that is hosting the event. Gals have gone so far as to purchase super special miniature quad Crock pots with bubbling Vienna sausages, beans with brown sugar, teriyaki dip, and some sort of brothy ...

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“Learning To Please” by Jane Curtis

Submitted to Contest #100

From the time we are born, even minutes old, we start learning to please someone. We are unaware of our surroundings. We feel heat, cold, and we hear loud sounds. Crying and screaming are our only means of communication. We know nothing about love or how to please someone into feeding us or keeping us warm. That warmth and the feeling of belonging is a feeling we spend a lifetime trying to recapture. I think I was an hour old when my mother put me in that trash can. Within minutes my big brother's tiny hands pulled me out. I cried and he h...

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“Food Coaching” by Euge Fernández Hayón

Submitted to Contest #100

"I literally cannot. I mean, I literally said I was a vegetarian and they give me chicken? Like, really?" blurted out the 17-year-old teenage girl named Lola. “Say literally one more time and you’ll literally see your eye go purple,” stated 21-year old Jane, who sat on the opposite side of the table. “Shut up! Don’t talk to her like that!” screamed John, a middle-aged man that sat right beside the 21-year-old woman. “What are you, his daddy or his sugar daddy?” mocked Jane. “Ugh, that’s disgusting. No wonder you dress up like that, eve...

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“ENstrangement” by Poweful Music

Submitted to Contest #100

Dear diary,So yesterday was a memorable day and I forgot to share it with you. Though I wished it would never have come, it did and it’s behind us now. Siz Nel felt the family needed to come together; just like old times before we grew breasts and knew we needed to cover our bosom; so, she organized what should have been a family get together. Immediately she informed me, I was sure it was a bad idea that would not be received well by the rest. Surprisingly, everyone else was on board and she was informing me last, to be certain it would be ...

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“Family, But Not Quite” by BEE Writer

Submitted to Contest #100

There was a storm raging war right outside. Against what, it’s not exactly clear. Had the wispy clouds of white finally had enough of being ousted and pushed aside by the rich fluffiness of marshmallow cream? Had the sky decided to eliminate the dirt and stain littering the crystal blue it was supposed to reflect? Maybe it was all of that and none of it. It was preposterous in the first place to assume that a simple combination and mix of chemicals and earthly elements would have a mind of their own to wage something as humane as war. Oh...

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“Rice Pancakes” by Shelly Gray

Submitted to Contest #100

The day started as it always did— with the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster across the street, chanting music the next block over and below our bedroom window, the neighbor whistled as he watered his newly planted fruit trees. Dawn was typically when people were beginning their day, with exercising and buying their food for the day at the market or, for seafood, the wet market. It was our last day in Vietnam and I suddenly felt the pressure to make every moment count. My husband and I planned to spend our last night in a luxury hotel and vis...

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“Purpose” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #100

“We are gathered here today to attempt a new approach to weight loss. Many of us have over the years grown more than fond of ourselves, if you know what I mean. Eating disorders come in all shapes and flavors.” That is when everyone laughed and I began to dream about the days when metabolism could be blamed for everything. No longer an option for weight loss, weight gain, weight manipulation, all are fair game when it comes to indoctrinating us with the notion we are not perfect. We of course know we are not perfect and that i...

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“New Beginnings” by J.L. Anderson

Submitted to Contest #100

"Ah. Nothin' like a fine meal after a hard day's work," Rhogar sighs contentedly, sitting back in his corner of the booth as he sips his dark ale. Dishes for two meat pies sit on the table in front of him, licked clean. "Aye, and no finer place for a meal than the Felnuth Tavern in all of Thradnyss," Vladislak agrees. His eyes scan the other patrons of the tavern, doubtless looking for a woman who might be persuaded to go home with him. However, his roving eyes find no one more interesting that his companions at his own table, and so his att...

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“We Fall Apart” by Krystal Estipular

Submitted to Contest #100

Today is my high school's homecoming, and as I drove to school, I reminisced about all that had occurred previously. High school, they say, is the finest time in your life. Yes, I had a lot of good experiences, thanks to my friends and classmates for making it so memorable and enjoyable. If you do it with your buddies, violating the rules may be much more enjoyable!! Friends, wow FRIENDS Believe me when I say I had the finest high school experience because I had the best buddy. Well, I used to have four greatest pals back then; they call...

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“In between the meal” by Sonita Chizaram

Submitted to Contest #100

There was Sharon, Gift, Hezekiah, Miriam, Tony, and then me, Anna, so here is the deal, we said something to ourselves years back that brought us to this awkward situation, yes I’m talking real awkward, so we used to be close friends, back then in the first year of our university, we even used to have a name for ourselves, “the churches” yes I know quite awkward, and stale but, I just couldn’t think of anything better that year. So we wait for the waiter too come around our eyes each glued to our menu, but I can’t say the same for Sharon, ...

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“What’s Four Dinner” by Anna Kerr

Submitted to Contest #100

What’s Four Dinner? Sweat dripped down my face, my muscles began to ache. I stopped what I was doing for a moment to catch my breath and allow my body to relax. “You’re almost there” I whisper to myself, getting back to work. “You still have lots of work to do” I tell myself, knowing I was running out of time. I shouldn’t have waited this long to make my last preparations, but sometimes things don’t go as you expect. Sometimes, curve balls are thrown your way, and you have no choice but to adapt. I felt that I adapted rather well, ...

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“29 for Dinner” by Lauren McLaughlin

Submitted to Contest #100

29 for Dinner From her vantage point at the kitchen counter, Addison could see that the conversation on the patio was flowing smoothly. A promising sign since eight virtual strangers were meeting for the first time. They were all neighbors on one cul-de-sac in a newly constructed community, and Addison had made this grand gesture, a dinner party to get to know her those who would be living closest to her family. So far, it seemed to be going well. She removed a pan of warm canapés from the oven, transferred them to a serving plate,...

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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.

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