‘Eat
the scroll’ has firm biblical authority. For Ezekiel, to consume the word is to
be able to speak it again to Israel. In prophetic terms, the act is transformative.
We are told the text is sweet as honey. The Book of Revelation also contains
the instruction, but even though the taste is sweet, the words leave a sour
effect on the stomach. The message of John will be bitter. These profoundest
experiences were the last thing on my mind when I playfully googled ‘most
edible book in the world’ only to discover, very much to my surprise, the
existence of the International Edible Book Festival. Normally held around the 1st
of April each year, predominantly in North America, it combines the spirit of
two philosophies: “we are what we eat” and “we are what we read.” Book artists
wear their chef’s hats. Not surprisingly, cakes are common entrants, being similar
in shape and decorative potential to the squarish book. Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales may be easily transformed into a chocolate cake called ‘The Cadbury Tales’.
Would anyone like some more of ‘The Rocky Road Not Taken’? ‘The Jungle Book’
may turn into a complete pop-up book, with caramel tracks, marzipan ruins, and foliage
of sweet green icing flowing down (pictured). ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ is
a regular and popular entrant wherever and whenever the Festival is held
(pictured). But the Festival is not all cakes and ale. Given the nature of the
binding, an entry for the works of Bacon could better be titled ‘Heart Attack
City’. ‘Green Eggs and Hamlet’ could be a bit rich, too. The judges were no doubt
happier tucking into the healthwise ‘The
Lord of the Rings’, constructed from regal staircases of sliced sushi roll.
This buffet of edible books gives the general idea: https://bookriot.com/20-incredible-edible-books/ The date of the Festival coincides with the
birthday of the person to whom it is dedicated, the French gastronome Jean
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), regarded by many as the inventor of food
writing. He believed that “the discovery of a new dish does more for human
happiness than the discovery of a new star,” something that could be said of
some of the edible books in his Festival. “Let them eat cake!” say the
librarians, generally aware that with these kinds of books we will soon be
hungry again. Jovial Anglican clergy of my childhood used to enjoy elaborating
on Thomas Cranmer’s collect for the second Sunday in Advent by saying that with
Scripture we should “hear, read, mark, learn, inwardly digest, and be ready to
regurgitate.” They sometimes delivered this message from the pulpit, whereat
they weekly proceeded to do the same, leading by example with spoken words.
Words that could be utterly absorbing.
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