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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

“Drowning, hope” by Salmah Ahmed

Submitted to Contest #162

CW: natural disasterAslam sucked on his lower lip, concentrating hard, as a rogue wind lashed against a glossy pamphlet in his scrubby hands. It was a menu card from the recently pulverised Rose Honeymoon Hotel in Swat, Pakistan. He had memorised it better than the multiplication tables he was made to rote learn in school under the auspicious rosewood cane his tutor, Shahab Gul, (known tyrant for all ten year old dissidents like him) held like an extension of his arm. It was auspicious because Aslam had so far escaped its imminent wrath.He r...

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“The Meal with Repercussions” by Hannah Barton

Submitted to Contest #162

It was the meal that would change everything in my life. I remember everything so very clearly, as if it were happening right this very minute. At the time, I thought it was saving my life, I needed sustenance so badly; I needed my thirst to be quenched like nothing I'd ever needed before in my life. Unfortunately, the meal was but a temporary and fleeting happiness, for the sadness and misery it bore lasts a lifetime. I remember my brother seating me at a large, old table. The ornate decorations on it were beautiful, I'm sure, but I was t...

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“Just a Dinner” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #162

When Richard mentioned going out for dinner on Friday, Leslie was more surprised than excited. Richard rarely made any plans for the two of them. She couldn’t remember the last time that he’d spontaneously suggested anything. Their marriage was in a place her mother warned about the night before the wedding. Mom said that marriage wasn’t a bed of roses, and there would be times when life was stale. But Leslie believed with all her heart that her marriage would be different. But that was fifteen years ago. Life threw them a lot of curve b...

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“Ridding Themselves of 'The House He Built'” by Mike Panasitti

Submitted to Contest #162

“Justin Chase, you love yourself a Clayton’s Deli grilled cheese sandwich, but I know you find the variety I make with Kosher pickle chips, veggie bacon and a side bowl of creamy tomato soup to die for,” says Mother. She always refers to you by name when she is trying to rouse you out of one of your down moods.And you most certainly are in a funk. Mother doesn’t want you stewing in depression after the manic swing you rode before sunrise this morning while putting the finishing touches on the motionless hallucination of vivid color...

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“Last meal.” by Mel Dingwall

Submitted to Contest #162

Trigger warning: Swearing. Descriptions of violence, death, mention of suicide and the end of the world.I hadn’t even finished my breakfast at the diner when my whole life, the whole world, changed. Sometimes I wonder if I did actually die that day and the past twelve months have been my own personal hell. Especially on days like this. When the screaming goes silent and there’s just that clicking. That incessant, aggravating clicking. I’m not gonna miss that.Man, I would give everything, every last thing I have, to relive one single moment o...

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“Talking to a Toastie” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #162

I had to go mad. It was the only sensible option. The weekly grilled cheese entered under the door.“Thank you, Dory. You make the best cheese toastie in my world. Then again. My world extends from this wall to that,” I gave the painted door a smile. It smiled back as it always did. Stoic would describe the metal door. It was always there to listen, never said a word.My withered hands picked at the paper around the toasted sandwich. “My, aren’t you beautiful.”“Hands off, buddy. You’re not my type.” It was the grilled cheese, toasted slices ba...

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“Dinner Theatre” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #162

“You’re going to love this. I can guarantee it. My grilled cheese sandwiches are world famous. Once you take one bite, you know deep down, you’ve tasted the best-grilled cheese sandwich in the world.” “Sure Dad. Sure.” You had to give it to him. My dad didn’t have any illusions about being anything less than the best. He told me that anything and everything he did was ‘the best.’ Since my mom died two years ago, it was just me and Dad against the world. We had to learn how to do the laundry, run the vacuum, and properly load the dishwasher....

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“Rhoda’s Hot Buns” by Sharon Hancock

Submitted to Contest #162

“You are not a pretty girl, Rhoda. Best you know the truth now.” Her mother made sure she understood her limitations, which Rhoda appreciated. “Learn to cook. Food’ll take a man’s mind off your face.” She took her mother’s advice, throwing herself into the art of baking. Turned out, she had a knack for it. While other young people her age partied and dated, Rhoda honed her skills and fed her passion for creating the perfect croissant. When she opened “R...

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“Special Ingredient Must be Butter.” by Brian Rains

Submitted to Contest #162

They stood around, competing with ideas, by the kitchen stove and arguing about what would be the best grilled cheese in the world and who could make one. Eventually, both Sara Miller and Josh Brewer decided a friendly cookout competition would solve this 'grilled cheese' dilima. After grabbing frying pans and placing them on the stove, they dashed to the refrigerator excited about this cookout in unison."Hey! I got here first." Sara blurted out. She got pushed back and she raised her hands, followed by rolling her eyes in annoyance.Josh sna...

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“The Misery in El Rábano” by Maddie Culwell

Submitted to Contest #162

Luis grabbed the menu the waiter had placed in front of him. His week had been particularly hard and he had been looking forward to this dinner for a long time. He was at his favorite restaurant, El Rábano, the only place in Huntsville where he could get an authentic Mexican dish that wasn’t sold out of a truck or some woman’s apartment. He didn’t get to come to El Rábano often; his wife, Taylor, was from a highly anglicized suburban neighborhood, and she had been raised to believe that Mexican food was the food of poverty. Luis had explain...

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“Family Dinner” by Theresa Fox Turner

Submitted to Contest #162

"Hey, Mom! What's for dinner?" Beatrice kicked off her shoes, pulled off her backpack, and tossed them towards a corner of the mudroom. She padded through their family room into the kitchen."Mom? I'm home. School was so…" Her words trailed off as she walked into an empty kitchen. Usually, her mother, Sunny, would be there at the large island prepping dinner, or standing at the stove stirring pots that bubbled or sizzled.Beatrice never knew what to expect with her mother's adventurous palate and endless online recipe scrolling. Today the stov...

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“The Gift ” by Cynthia Prokarym (Scott)

Submitted to Contest #162

One more ring and the call would've gone to voice-mail. Perhaps I should've let it go, but it was my boss.I'm her right hand, but also her number one flunky.Being the assistant manager isn't all its cracked up to be, especially at this particular convenience store, but at least I don't have to drive far to work. It's only a half mile from our house. The back and forth there is sometimes unbearably different from my life at home with my wife. Susan is the one who restores my heart when I've lost hope in the world.As I pick up the phone, I bar...

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“Susana in Recovery” by Melissa Taylor

Submitted to Contest #162

TW: Mental health; addiction; abuse of powerThere were too many choices, it was overwhelming. I thought about the advice Gordon Ramsay always gave the owners of the restaurants he was trying to rescue. Trim the menu down, do fewer things and do them well.When the waiter came to take our orders, I panicked and ordered a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Pretty hard to screw that up. Lance ordered a rare ribeye steak which would undoubtedly be over or under cooked. I would have to listen to him complain about it all evening. Fantastic. T...

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“Tap, Tap, Tapping” by Elliot Moss

Submitted to Contest #162

I sat in the hard chair, my eyes staring straight forward. His nails tap, tap, tapped against the table. That's what I could focus on. The nails. Almond shaped and constantly Tap Tap Tapping. They were long and almost elegant. Almost, if he wasn't a terrifying skeleton of a man. Sweat began to pool against my temple. Cool, sticky sweat that clung to your body and your soul. The room was growing hotter, I swore, but he seemed unphased as his beady eyes fluttered between my eyes and what was in front of me. A platter ...

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“Flavored People” by Jarrel Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #162

tw: dismembered body parts He kept his gun pointed at her even as they sat across from each other at his little wooden table in his little apartment living room. He held his weapon against the table, between his wine glass and a single lit candle centerpiece. “I promise you,” she said, “I won’t tell a soul if you let me go right now. Not the cops. Not my friends. Not even my deaf grandma.” A little old man shuffled toward them holding the handles of a silver serving tray. He transferred in front of each of them a bowl of steaming soup. “Th...

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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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