Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

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

“Salty-sweet Bread” by Akanksha Dhiman

Submitted to Contest #100

The clinking of cutlery coming from the kitchen diverted my attention from the movie I was about to play. I made it clear I wouldn't be cooking today. No wonder he couldn't handle his hunger anymore. He has always put his needs before mine, and my anger is almost comical to him now. He has always turned me into a wolf because of his childishness. The thought of him being so laid back towards my anger boiled my blood even more. “ He is so done now.” In a hurry, I hopped off the bed and walked over to the kitchen to yell the hell out a...

Read story

“A One Stop Shop” by Elisabeth Germain

Submitted to Contest #100

“Brian, how the heck are ya? Take a seat. How’s the fam? Happy wife happy life, am I right?” Brian remained silent as he pulled out the hightop bar stool and took a seat as directed. Almost everyone in their industry was aware that he had suffered a very public and expensive divorce the previous year. Brian reasoned that it was a fifty fifty shot whether Randy, ever the eccentric, had absolutely no idea about the split or was ironically amusing himself with no regard for the comfort of his guest. Randy gra...

Read story

“The Cryptic Message ” by Ellie Vazquez

Submitted to Contest #100

Sarah sits down on the empty seat across from Gavin. She looks around, quietly taking in everything, but missing almost everything important. Her eyes finally meet Gavin's and he smiles. She offers a smile back, but hers is twisted and confused. The lights above their table are twinkling and low, setting a romantic mood. The sky outside is dark, way past sunset, the stars and moon visible in this part of town. Sarah stars at the stars, nervously twisting the plain ring on her pinky finger. The metal catches in the light and her Sarah's eyes ...

Read story

“Miss Cat's Unexpected Dinner Visit” by M.D. Smith

Submitted to Contest #100

When our grown children, grandchildren, and spouses assemble at our house for Thanksgiving, it’s a large party unto itself. We sometimes have one of several of my wife’s close single friends join us. This year two of our neighbor ladies were coming. Thanksgiving day was here. “Great, everybody, I got plenty of digital shots with the camera remote, now let’s all go inside and enjoy a true Jones family feast.” It was chilly but fair with overcast skies near noon in Alabama. Perfect photo lighting. I finished up the full family photos on the...

Read story

“Goodbye to Gracie May” by Samantha Pereira

Submitted to Contest #100

The images saved on my boyfriend's phone flashed in my mind, they were of a petite blonde woman lying seductively on a bed, as well as the photos I had taken of their conversation together. I pushed through the pain and continue to get ready for the dinner we had planned for tonight. There was no chance I was going to let him off the hook easy and do a clean breakup at home. I was going to attend the dinner and make him realise what he had lost. I picked up my red lipstick and pouting I applied it along my lips. I gave myself a reassuri...

Read story

“Strangers” by Sanjoy Chakraborty

Submitted to Contest #100

The world is full of surprises and men have different ways to react. Tarun encountered such a practical shock two years ago, In those days he was working as an M.R for a reputed pharnacutical company in Mumbai. His parents had high expectations of him and they wanted to make him a doctor. But the sudden death of his father due to a massive heart attack had put an end to that dream. He was forced to take up this job to get both ends to meet. However, he is quite happy with his job. The only problem is that he had to travel extensively as a pa...

Read story

“6 Sisters later” by Faustina H.a.F

Submitted to Contest #100

I look at my sisters, then back to our parents. I know how mad our father is going to be, and our mother is clearly disappointed, not that I even care. That’s the things about being the Sunday of the sisters, I was always the one my parents got to take it easy with. My name is Iradessa. Yes, I know, my parents well... I don’t even know. Iradessa Pearl Blythe. My parents love to tell me I was never trouble. In fact, I was a very obedient toddler, child, pre teen, and teen. So of course I’m a very obedient young adult as well. 28, what a won...

Read story

“The Final Supper” by John Harnois

Submitted to Contest #100

It was just a few hours ago at one of those faux cafes on the corner of Atlantic and Fifth that I began to have a premonition which had such weight that its conception sent my head deep into the dark recesses of the earth. George Berkeley tells us that perception is nothing but essence; it is in this sense that I knew the world must have ceased in its existence of ‘being’ sometime between then and when I must have fallen away. Premonitions like these are too powerful to tell us anything other than that which already happened. With all this i...

Read story

“Avenge at the dinner. ” by Ruen Roven

Submitted to Contest #100

Spark December - Her smile is violet, prettiest to be called. Aresco Fade - His smirk is monochrome, known strange yet marvelous. ****** Wandering around, my gaze caught the undeniable view. Mr. Driver? A firm posture rested against the back of the chair, his toned torso covered in a navy blue tuxedo. His eyes were facing his opposite who has a wavy brown hair that has been scattered all over her chest, her hooded eyes gazing back at him. Her dress ends at the top of the thigh, flaunting her slender, pale legs. Her hand ex...

Read story

“It's the Thought That Counts” by Ed Westhoven

Submitted to Contest #100

It’s the Thought That Counts Millie carefully laid the last strip of pastry across the apple slices which had been meticulously arranged in the bottom crust of the pie. Then she placed the tin on a baking sheet and slowly slid it into the oven. Okay, I need to check that at five o’clock. Writing it down in her notebook, her attention shifted to the top of the range. Each burner had a pan on top of it. The plan was coming together...

Read story

“When the Popsicles Melt” by Daisy Torres

Submitted to Contest #100

They escorted my children and I into a room we'd never seen before. The walls were grey and cement, there were no windows, and only a faint glow of the lights above lit the room. "Will someone just explain what's going on?!" I asked for the hundredth time. "Please, we haven't done anything!" "Mommy, please don't be scared," Addison whispered quietly, tightening her hold on my hand. "I'm right here." In any normal situation, I might have laughed. Addison was usually the easiest to frighten of my two children, so that must have said so...

Read story

“The Surprise” by Oyinkansola Samuel

Submitted to Contest #100

I had lost my mother since I was just a baby. She died giving birth to me. I never got to see how she looked like or know the kind of person she is aside from the pictures and stories told to me by my dad which in all honesty wasn't much. It seemed to hurt him every time he talked about her so I kept my curiosity at bay.Living with just my dad didn't seem to have much of of a negative effect on my growth. He gave me his love and for me, that was more than enough. Unfortunately, my peers at school thought otherwise. They went ahead to call me...

Read story

“Life is too short ” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #100

Anesu was busy in the kitchen, concentrating on putting the last-minute touches to the lunch on the patio when the back door was flung open, letting in a warm gust of air. Her two boys rushed in and charged upstairs like a herd of elephants and, in fits of giggles, tugged each other's shirts as they raced into their bedroom. "Can you please make less noise! I'm stressed as it is!" "Sorry, Mum. We’re going to get ready for Grandma's visit!" Anesu hadn't seen her for a week after their tense phone call when her mother had been snappy and so...

Read story

“Dawn of Spring” by Chest Of Wound

Submitted to Contest #100

Dawn of Spring[1]Triggering warning: suicide, violence and blood Bleak moonlight paled the mottled shade of sycamore trees, along the Huangpu River, whirled several melancholy shadows, flittering, wavering, quivering, as if an obsolete wrecked ship in the vast ocean, or a ramshackle shanty in the windy plateau. Among all the lightening windows of thousands of buildings in the vintage Shanghai, there was one particularly somber, in which a girl wept sorrowfully, black hair smoothly flowing like a river, phoenix eyes shining like pearls, slim ...

Read story

“A Dinner For Goners” by Aseel Murtada

Submitted to Contest #100

Glass flew everywhere! The density of the situation itself caused a ringing through Emily’s ears. Her brother laid unconscious on the ground while father and Nick strangled each other. The dinner table was ruined. Food, glass chairs, chunks of wood and much more inanimate objects laid themselves in disorganized syncs. How did this happen? It had only been an hour? An hour…… What had happened in the last hour? Emily found herself asking. She racked her brain to remember the events that took plac...

Read story

Load more stories

$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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢