Monday 12 July 2021

An Exhibition of Superlative Books: The Most Edible Book in the World

 
‘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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