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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

“Maneuvering” by Brittni Bergstrom

Submitted to Contest #100

I don’t know why I put myself in these kinds of situations. I came out of the womb awkwardly and I’m positive I will go to my grave just as awkwardly as well. I even make myself feel awkward sometimes—it’s one thing to be odd and unaware, but a whole different ball game to be the “weird one” and to be fully aware that you are making everyone around you squirm, including yourself. And yet, here I am. I dropped my toddler off at his grandmother’s, boarded my beautiful chocolate black lab, and drove for 7 ½ hours yesterday to arrive in backwood...

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“Home and Away” by Paul McDermott

Submitted to Contest #100

Preparing a Meal Preparing food for yourself or for a group of people are two completely different situations.. Whether the task involves a ‘one-off’ single meal or is part of a longer, planned series of meals is one point which needs to be considered. Cooking for yourself would most likely be influenced by personal likes and preferences, whereas cooking for someone (singular OR plural) else would have to allow for other factors, which might have to include dietary needs, known allergies etc. This applies to planning one single meal, but a...

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“Relapse” by Joy Wood

Submitted to Contest #100

The brussels sprouts were large, firm, and fresh. Melissa nearly squealed with delight when she saw them, with good reason. She had been to three grocery stores so far, and none of the previous brussels had passed her careful scrutiny. The first ones had been limp and nearly wilted. Those in the second batch had been far too small. But these - these were magnificent. Checking the time on her phone, Melissa realized she had been shopping for longer than she intended. She loaded the brussels sprouts into her basket and hurried to the cash re...

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“THE CHICKEN SOUP TONIC!” by Kathy Berlouis

Submitted to Contest #100

Annie was moping around the flat. How could she help her friend, she wondered? She had looked so sick this morning when she left. She hated to see her so sick. It was really worrying. Her best friend Mary had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and had been going through chemotherapy for the past few weeks. She'd lost all of her beautiful auburn hair and had been very depressed and wondering 'why me' at every turn, although lately, after the worst of the procedures were over, she'd developed a sort of calmness about her. E...

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“Snapped” by Bettina Karpathian

Submitted to Contest #100

As anyone could tell from the raucous laughter, the mimosas had been flowing freely at the ladies’ monthly Sunday potluck brunch. Bella broke off in the middle of the punchline of her joke about the bishop and the pole dancer as the doorbell rang. “That must be Phyllis,” said Lucille, the hostess. “I was beginning to worry. She’s never late.” Sure enough, when she opened the door, Phyllis was standing there clutching her signature quiche. She was trembling and seemed in danger o...

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“Banchet” by Nadia Uribe

Submitted to Contest #100

I couldn’t help but to think of my mother, the opinions she’d have about my choice of side dish, surely she’d think it’s inadequate, she always pride herself on giving very balanced meals and, in some curious way that seemed to only made sense in her head, make those meals to fit every guest in a specific way; as a recurrent guest I never had any complain on the infinite meals she placed in front of me, but as an extension of her I have the little grouse on how that part of her genetics didn’t manage to manifest on me, being that why now I’m...

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“The Beach House” by Joseph Garland

Submitted to Contest #100

I NOTICED HER WHEN I was getting lunch, conspicuously sitting on the sand without a blanket or towel and wearing street clothes that were totally inappropriate. It rained hard overnight and though it laid off in the morning, it was drizzly and the air was a mixture of the saltiness of the Atlantic and the brightness of the Nor’easter. She sat there. Just sat there with her knees up and her arms wrapped around her legs. She was in shorts and a windbreaker with some sort of baseball cap on her head and even from my house’s deck where I sat b...

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“Cutting the cake” by V RB

Submitted to Contest #100

Third tablecloth of the day and it’s only two in the afternoon — they get so stained, and all the napkins. So many napkins and all with the Barnum name embroidered on. Neat work. Wonder who did all that? Forks and knives are fine, Irene can just lick ‘em and use again. The plates, not so much.Wish it didn’t smell so bad. It gets worse when we roll up the canvas at the front but it makes my head ache anyhow. Must affect Irene but it sure doesn’t put her off her food. Thank god.Time for a dozen iced buns. The frosting come...

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“Have apple pie with me” by Nyambura Mwangi

Submitted to Contest #100

TW: cannibalism You have beautiful skin you know. Our skin has a way of being endless in the sense that you can never quite locate an edge to jump off of. There is no hem to find. God was very ingenious with that. I wonder if he did it so we couldn’t peel each other like bananas. I wonder if he knew we might like to. Are you religious? Or are you spiritual? You know a lot of young people these days, I hear them talking, about how they don’t believe in religion. That it is corrupt, deceitful and other vile things. They say we should open our ...

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“The Wedding Banquet” by Trevor Grinde

Submitted to Contest #100

Servants!” The king yelled “The banquet is ready. My son is to be married. I need you to go to those that have been invited and let them know that the feast is nigh. The fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Please, bid them to come.” Malchion loved the king and loved being a servant for the king. Without the royal family Malchion would have stayed a street urchin, begging for food and money just to live. The day the prince laid eyes on Malchion and welcomed him into the castle was the day everything chang...

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“Bones Like Broken Bread ” by Shawn Jordan

Submitted to Contest #100

I spent Pride in a cemetery in a storm. My rainbow was consumed by vibrant, natural greens and greys. My senses were overwhelmed with rain hitting the grass and the sky rumbling and rolling overhead in a summer tantrum. I’m here because often the only time I feel safe is under a sheet of rain in a secluded space. I can marvel at the way my skin turns blue and gray under the storm and I nestle privately to the way my brain feels separate from the body it controls. This is...

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“Closing Time” by Alan Tong

Submitted to Contest #100

It was dark by the time Aubrey Smith flipped around the small wooden sign hanging in the window of her small Brooklyn bakery from “open” to “closed.” She made it herself with the thought that it hopefully made the shop just a little more homier. Tonight, her mind was miles away from such things. Above, the sky loomed as a hulking block of blue-black through which only the most stubborn pinpricks of starry light could shine through the clouds and light pollution. She stepped into the humid night air, breathing in the acrid night scents of th...

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“Strawberry Sponge Cake With Cherry On Top” by Sara Moon

Submitted to Contest #100

Janet stole a few glances at the clock before rechecking the temperature of her oven. She was hyperventilating over the cake that was still in the process of baking. What if it wasn't moist enough? What if the top layer turned out to be a little too crunchy? No, she wouldn't think of the million things that could go wrong! She was an exceptional baker, and this strawberry sponge cake would be another of her mouth-watering creations! Little Harry used to gorge on cakes and make such a mess! Oh, he'll love the overly-sweetened cherry on top, s...

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“Better Than Miss Nancy’s” by Daniel Hybner

Submitted to Contest #100

Steak. Porterhouse. Medium rare. Potato. Baked. Butter. Sour cream. Chives. Bacon bits. Cheese. Dinner roll. Yeast. Garlic butter. Iced tea. Unsweet. I knew my father’s favorite meal by heart. When I was a kid, any time we went to dinner at his favorite place, he always ordered the same exact meal the same exact way. “You remember when we would go eat at Miss Nancy’s Diner after church on Sunday?” “Yeah, Pop. How could I forget?” “You remember what I got there?” “I remember that, too.” “Best me...

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“Outsiders” by Aria C

Submitted to Contest #100

The apple tree's rough bark rubbed Autumn's cheek. Her heart thumped in her ears. She made the mistake of looking down. The blossom-covered ground was a dizzying twelve feet below. “I- I can’t do it!” Lucas smiled down on her from the canopy. “Just grab my hand!” Autumn eyed his calloused, golden palm. To grab it, she’d have to dislodge her right foot from the trunk. She reached up, and… grabbed his hand. She shrieked. Her legs were dangling in the air; Lucas’s hand was the only thing supporting her. The veins in Lucas's arm f...

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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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