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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#228: Yummy

I always find it fascinating how food captivates us; not just as a practical necessity, but as a cornerstone of our life experiences. Food can embody cultural heritage, traditions, and the art of sharing. It’s a medium through which we build and nurture social connections — be it cooking for lifelong loved ones or nervously gathering around the cafeteria table on the first day of school. Eating can also elicit all kinds of emotions, like pleasure, guilt, and desire. It can be a medium for new experiences, creative expression, or sometimes a bridge to our past. 


In light of food's powerful role in our lives, this week’s prompts will explore how it may influence a character’s journey, and shape their life experience.

This week's prompts

Start or end your story in a bustling street food market.

Narrative – 24 stories

Include in your story a scene about a family's last meal before a significant change.

Dramatic – 58 stories

Write a story in which a character eats something that they shouldn’t have eaten.

Mystery – 64 stories

Write a story in which a certain food makes your character travel back in time.

Character – 51 stories

Write a story in which a character cooks up something to impress someone.

Romance – 34 stories

Stories

“Changing Nature (inspired by Dinosaurs)” by C.B. Chribby

Submitted to Contest #228

The oven gave a gentle roar, like a purring kitten. The fire crackled. Outside, an iIcicle snapped but made no noise as it punctured through a mound of snow. The rhythmic wagging of Sir Bently’s tail against the hardwood floor syncopated with the ticking clock. Though no one noticed, a man fell to his knees across the street.  Lauren took a sip from her warm cider. It was taking forever. Just when she thought it couldn’t be any longer, the timer went off. Mother opened the oven and pulled the roasted turkey out. She was wearing her ...

1 comment 1
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“A Sunday Recipe: A Grandma's Secret” by Shy Jenkins

Submitted to Contest #228

The house smelt like pinecones, just how Micah always remembered it. Memories flooded her mind as she traced her fingers along all the picture frames edges, remembering as many faces as she could before heading back into the dining room.  She stopped at a picture of a woman with frizzy blond hair. “Aunt Moony,” she laughed to herself, her favorite aunt and clearly her grandmothers favorite daughter. Everyone knew it but never mentioned it out loud. Micah’s mother knew very well to which ends of the earth grandma Whitney would go for...

3 comments 3
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“The Spread” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #228

“Tell me, how do you think I ended up here, in prison?” Lourdes leaned against the heavy metal door, muffled voices echoed from the hall outside; shouting, laughing and cursing. Lourdes wore a clean and pressed inmate uniform, her white tennis shoes glowed white. She pushed her thick framed glasses tight against her face with a knuckle. Gloria sat on the bunk, her attention on her wine red nails, picking invisible fluff off her bed, anything to not look at Lourdes. Her few possessions, still lay crumpled in a pile on...

15 comments 15
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“Gingersnaps” by Connie Whitely

Submitted to Contest #228

“Just let me off here”, she urged. The yellow cab pulled abruptly to the curb. Ginger stepped out into frigid slush, thoroughly sopping her ankle height boots. It had been a gruelling day. Wet ankles and pelting rain provided zero improvement. Grandma had not lingered. For that she was grateful. A life well-lived. She ruminated to keep the dull pain at bay. It simply had to wait until after the holidays. Christmas Eve, eve. She and grandma loved the holidays and there was no way that Ginger was going to let her down.Arriving at her...

3 comments 3
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“6 Months Of Tears ” by Khadija S. Mohammad

Submitted to Contest #228

Natalia's last words echoed through her head. I have no one to stay for. And the pain she had felt when her brain added Not anymore. The future held more knowledge than she could dream of, and a chance to explore and develop it - what more could a scientist want? she tried to tell herself, but there was one thing missing that she couldn't get back."Brace for time-warp," came the pleasantly nonchalant voice of the spaceship - shuttle, Natalia corrected herself. She had a lot to learn.She braced herself, straining her ears and t...

13 comments 13
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“The Food Blogger” by Amanda Rautio

Submitted to Contest #228

Thank you for stumbling onto my blog, The Fuggin Foodie! IMG Smiling as I stir a pot. Here is my recipe for the best-ever Le Puy Lentil Soup. It's my own original recipe, perfected from my grandma's recipe. Love you, but mine's better. XO. Many of you have been begging for this recipe, featured extensively on my Instagram (@TheFugginFoodie<3) and I honestly couldn't have done it without you (I mean, I did do it without you; this recipe is mine, but you guys blew up my channel which is more what I meant). It ...

0 comments 0
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“Chatter at the Market” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #228

Another event in the desert where it’s 100 degrees in the shade and by shade he meant the canopy that he himself had struggled to put up. The website had shown a lot of chatter regarding that food market, so he had submitted his application and rented a booth.It was an annual event, always blistering hot and always packed to the gills. He had been there as a customer many times over the years indulging in the comforting Tex-Mex cuisine, but this was his first time as a vendor. Being a computer programmer by profession and not ...

8 comments 8
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“Jeremy” by Bruce Callahan

Submitted to Contest #228

I can still smell them. Sloppy Joes. The simple combination of sauce and ground beef. The steam rising off of the stovetop. Sizzling beef, cracking and popping, my mouth still waters at the sound. It was a Thursday. Payday. Sloppy Joe night. They were a family favorite. We didn’t have much. Mom was raising three kids all on her own. She did her best on a teacher’s salary. The money was stretched to its limit. We never knew. The mark of a great parent. Your kids may not hav...

6 comments 6
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“The Divorce” by M.R. Simon

Submitted to Contest #228

It all started on a perfect Christmas Eve. The lighting is right, the table is beautiful, the wine glasses, the fork, and knife. Everything is perfectly placed. The dining room is like a photo in a magazine. Mother cleaned the house all day long crying. We are all waiting for Dad to come back from the store, last minute shopping he said. Mother waited for him all day long, she made sure to let him know she wasn’t happy about the shopping. I think there something else, ornaments are flying everywhere and breaking on the bed room wall. Usua...

11 comments 11
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“Thyme Again” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #228

This time, Max tried some bay leaves and more thyme. Even had he known to remove the former at the final stage, he knew it was yet another fail. He rose dejectedly from his knees before the pale jade Crane Mauretania that had at the beginning of his convulsions been a jet-black Kohler Highline Elongated Comfort Height Two-Piece, and started down the narrow staircase. It was the first time he’d left something behind, and Max wondered vaguely about the consequences of puking across the temporal rift. Grandma’d introduced him to Ray Bradbury an...

8 comments 8
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“Silica Packet” by Lukah Roser

Submitted to Contest #228

POSSIBLE SENSATIVE CONTENT: Mental Health, implied purposeful consumption of toxic substances, NO DEATH. ‘You're like a silica packet,’ she’d said, her eyes scrutinizing the nutritional information of a bulk pack of instant noodles, ‘Not made for human consumption.’It was one of those comments that hurt more for the fact that she had said it in such an offhanded manner, her attention split between me and the dried goods she held, as if by association I was of equal or even less value than her choice between chicken or beef flavouring.It had ...

1 comment 1
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“Mushrooms and Mice” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #228

I am only little. The Wizard says that if I were good, I would be bigger, but because I am bad, I will be little forever. I cannot see what's on the table unless I stand on my tiptoes and stretch, but I must clear it anyway. I cannot add wood to the fire without being singed, but I must stoke it anyway. I cannot reach the windows without first putting a heavy box on a heavy chair, but I must wash them anyway. Sometimes, I talk to Mouser, the cat. Sometimes, Mouser talks back. Mouser says that the Wizard has the wrong word. Inste...

6 comments 6
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“Wizard Meets Witch” by James Lane

Submitted to Contest #228

The Magi Weekly Classifieds. Ad #1610Single Wizard, 42. Enjoys good books, star charts and deep conversations. Seeking a star-crossed sorceress with a passion for discovery. If you value serious research during the day and playful observation at night, please write back.“Playful observation,” Albert Limerno read aloud from his ad. “What a buffoon.”Albert tossed the issue of the Magi Weekly atop a heap of star maps on his desk. It took him a week to make those charts - plotting two new celestial bodies and calculating their apparent diam...

4 comments 4
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“Anaphylactic Sleep” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #228

Nursey always said, “it’s all fun and games until someone loses an arm!” Well, he didn’t always say that. In fact, he only said it a few times. I would say a handful of times, and even then I’m probably overegging it. Sometimes, there is something that is said, or that is done and it stands out in a way that makes it seem like it’s always been there and it’s been there a lot. Significance attaches itself to a thing and gives it a whole other life.  Naughty significance! I used to laugh at big old Nursey and dismiss his s...

2 comments 2
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“Have a Nice Day?” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #228

Twisting the phone cord around my finger, I didn’t know what to do. I stood still for longer than I would have liked before I decided to dial the number. “You ok?” My mother’s voice sounded breathless as she answered.  “Yes. Fine.” I heard her exhale. “Ok. Good.” “I’m just scared.” “Aww I know.” “Can you come over? I’m afraid to be alone.” “Sure. How about I take you to breakfast?” “That sounds great. Thanks!” *** Sitting in the tight booth at IHOP I felt anxious but safer than...

6 comments 6
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$250

Prize money

231

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 15, 2023 EST

Won by Molly Jenkinson 🏆

Title: Cooking Lessons

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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