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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#162: Bon Appétit

With National Tofu Day, International Bacon Day, Cheese Pizza Day and World Salami Day (I promise I’m not making these up) coming up in the next 7 days, it’s only fitting that this week's prompts take inspiration from one of our greatest sources of happiness — food.

From being barely nibbled on over a first date, to being wholesomely prepared and wolfed down at a family gathering, or shared between friends meeting for the first time in years, food sits right at the heart of our cultures, relationships, and memories. So, time to dish out your most delicious story — after all, some of the best ones are told over a plate of food!

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking at a restaurant menu.

Middle School – 80 stories

Write about a character whose love language is making food for others.

Adults – 37 stories

Write a story where a character’s life completely changes over the course of a meal.

Adults – 71 stories

Write a story in which too many cooks spoil the broth — literally or metaphorically.

Adults – 10 stories

Start your story with one character trying to convince another that they make the best grilled cheese in the world.

Middle School – 36 stories

Stories

“If It's Not on the Menu...” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #162

Most places you learn if it’s not on the menu, then it’s probably not available. It makes sense, because if it was available then it would be on the menu, right? Even when I was just a kid, I learned that if it wasn’t there then I wasn’t going to order it. If you go to a fish place, you are not going to order a pizza, right? Sure, sure, common sense one would think. But that was before Togals opened its doors a few months ago. And all the rules changed after that to the point, I’m not sure about anything anymore. My ...

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“Home Cooked Love” by Heather Peace

Submitted to Contest #162

Sofia gulped a little as she took the menu from the waiter. This was torture, but she was determined to go through with it. The menu made a creaking sound as it opened. The restaurant hadn’t been broken in yet, still brand new as a baby. “People do this right?” She murmured to herself. It was not so much that she came to try the new restaurant but of what was here before this place. It was a lot filled with ghosts and memories of ghosts no matter how many times it was torn down and rebuilt. She sighed with a slight disgust at the...

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“Another Paradise ” by Ian T. Smyth

Submitted to Contest #162

Clarence poured over the restaurant menu, his brown fingers running down the list of choices, unable to decide. He was to meet his good friend Lawrence for brunch, which happened to be Clarence’s favourite type of meal. Lawrence was running late, as usual, so Clarence went ahead and perused the menu. As he was perusing, and waiting for his friend to arrive, he was suddenly overcome with an appalling sense of disgust at the very nature of his situation. “Why am I sitting here, waiting like a fool?” he asked himself. “Nobody din...

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“Turkey Burger” by Kathryn Bryant

Submitted to Contest #162

C/W: ProfanityHamburger Cheeseburger California Burger California Cheeseburger Turkey CheeseburgerVeggie BurgerThere should be a Turkey Burger and a Veggie Cheeseburger. “Why don’t you think they listed a regular Turkey Burger?” Eddie doesn’t look up from his menu. “I don’t know, man. I’m sure they could make you a turkey burger without cheese.”“That’s not the point. Why are they listing California Burger and California Cheeseburger but not Turkey Burger and Turkey Cheeseburger? It’s inconsistent.” “Ju...

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“Cheese is an Ally” by J.J Park

Submitted to Contest #162

I am going to do it. Dear God, I made the reservations at Maria’s for this very moment. Why do my palms already have to start sweating while I readjust the menu in my hands? I lick my lips and take a slow deep breath through my nose. My eyes are boring a hole through the pasta section, and my stomach almost collapses with thunderous growls when reading the cheesy descriptions. I know what I want. I really do. Dancing into place, our waitress arrives with a ‘click’ of her pen. “Welcome to Maria’s- so glad you both could join us. I’m Danielle...

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“Makes a change from popsicles” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #162

Thirty-four-year-old Danielle yanked open the kitchen drawer and began rooting around amongst the motley collection of batteries, utensils, creased envelopes, and sandwich bags, until at the bottom, below the crumbs, paper clips, and tweezers she found what she was looking for. Triumphantly, she pulled out the Chinese takeaway menu. Twenty-four minutes earlier, she had tumbled in her front door. Laptop bag in one hand, keys in the other, handbag over her shoulder. As she did so, her fourteen-year-old son, Matt, slunk downstairs. ‘What’s f...

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“The Bittersweet Reality” by Tímea _

Submitted to Contest #162

You know how people sometimes tend to choose their food based on price? Not me. No. Even though I look at the numbers, I look at those little ones which are usually placed under the name of the food. Yep. The allergens. Do I do it voluntarily? I would rather let Satan drag me down the hell hole. All I'm trying to do here is not to die. And why am I trying so much to hold onto life I don't entirely desire? I am way too stubborn to quit. But who knows? Maybe one day I will make a decision to join The 27 club. I hope they will...

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“The Buffet” by Pam Lonsdale

Submitted to Contest #162

Sally peers over the top of her menu following laughter from the other side of the restaurant. “They’re having fun,” Paulette observes as she, too, watches them. Margie follows their gaze to a table where eight young men, teenagers, are eating, talking, and generally enjoying themselves. Soon, Patty and Karen join their friends in watching this raucous group. ...

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“3 cherries” by SJ Miller

Submitted to Contest #162

The little pictures of food began to swim as Amber stared intently at the oversized menu, coming to grips with the possibility that the worst had happened…her date had stood her up. She refocused her eyes on the familiar options just to maintain the pretense of calm. She had no need to look at the menu. Since her New Year’s resolution to find a spouse by the end of the calendar year, she had eaten nearly everything on it and knew exactly what she planned to order. This hadn’t always been her first date testing ground. At the start of this qu...

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“The Gardener and the Roses” by M.M Parke

Submitted to Contest #162

August pretended reading the Dark Rose cafe’s menu, though she had memorized every sweet and savory pastry down to the bitter espresso when she found this hidden gemstone a year ago. In the downtown sector of a small farming town, the cafe sunbathed on the corner of a four-way street during the afternoon. August sat at a high table by the floor to the ceiling window, with faded remnants of children’s fingerprints. She listened to the soothing jingle of customers gliding in and out of the cafe, the strumming of the harp playing softly through...

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“What's Eating You?” by Debra Porter

Submitted to Contest #162

What’s Eating You? “Can I take your order?” “Definitely, not too hungry today. Just the ribeye steak, medium with baked potato, lobster tail, chicken a la king and…the veal parmesan, just the sandwich, I don’t need the full meal.” The server looked at me, her eyebrows raised so high, they disappeared into the 50’s beehive she was still sporting. “What, no appetizers?” I was almost positive she was being sarcastic. “No, not today, gotta watch my figure, you know,” I responded patting the paunch which people insisted gave me a “dad bod.” I was...

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“Shepherd's Diner” by Elise Lockwood

Submitted to Contest #162

Patsy Hayes remembered when it first happened, she was sure of it, down to the specific date and time. She was getting older and increasingly forgetful, but the others had to concede that she was right on this point. The deliveries had begun late last winter, just as the bitter nights were lengthening, giving way to sunny mornings that drew tender, green shoots from the soil. “It was March 3rd, I know it was,” she said, distinctly remembering that it was her niece’s half-birthday. “First thing I saw when I went outside to do my morning water...

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“Mama's Mix” by Sway Dodson

Submitted to Contest #162

A pinch of salt, a dash of pepper. Add more milk. Stir until it thickens. Most people, I’d guess, can say nice things about their mother. She’s beautiful, she’s funny, she makes the best chicken pot pie. Well, in our house, we don’t eat chicken pot pie, and the extravagant things we say about our mother are actually true. My mother is the strongest person I know, and I don’t say that because you’re supposed to say nice things about your mother, I say that because she has been through the deepest pits of hell and climbed her way back...

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“This is Good” by Amanda Leach-Beeching

Submitted to Contest #162

Trigger Warning; mention of substance abuse and physical violence Now, you’re going to want to baste as often as you can. You may feel glued to your oven, but this is more than a Thanksgiving Turkey. This is love, pure and simple. It wasn’t thanksgiving. Not in a November-sense. It was a day for giving thanks, truly, and the growing feast was evidence enough of that. Beverly basted, running her hands lovingly over the family recipe as though she hadn’t memorized it for two decades already. Her thoughts drifted with a lazy smile back to ...

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“A Visit from Julia” by Jennifer Brownstone

Submitted to Contest #162

It was a bleak morning in March. Dark and gloomy. A nor’easter was skirting up the coast – typical for a beach town at that time of year when it’s not quite spring, or not quite anything for that matter – the sidewalks rolled up for the winter and one bar in town open for those on unemployment to commiserate together. And it was a Tuesday. I was sitting at my desk on the third floor of the building where the town’s newspaper had published its weekly for over 150 years. It was a dusty old building w...

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$250

Prize money

234

Contest entries

97

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Sep 09, 2022 EST

A winner will be announced soon.

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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