Whenever graphic designer Dinah Fried reads a book, she always seems to remember the scenes involving food best — from Oliver Twist's gruel dinners to Holden Caulfield's lunch counter stopovers. Fried thinks she’s probably not alone.
Culinary imagery from literature became the inspiration for Fried's Fictitious Dishes series, which comprises five minimalist-style images of meals: Along with "Oliver Twist" and "The Catcher in the Rye," there's "Alice in Wonderland," "Moby Dick" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." The project developed from the 31-year-old's MFA thesis project at the Rhode Island School of Design, "Novel Reading," which explores new ways of reading and thinking about novels.
![\"She made three big open rye-bread sandwiches with cheese, caviar [capers], and a hard-boiled egg.\" – \"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo\"](f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2/streams/2012/July/120731/287634-danika-fearsFFF8AFA9-D3B8-B61A-CF8C-06F75BED3002.jpg)
“I think you can tell a lot about somebody by what they eat, and the same goes in books,” Fried, who graduated in June, told TODAY.com.
To re-create each scene, Fried paid special attention to details that reflected the novels' distinctive time periods. Limited by an art student's budget, she hunted around thrift stores and flea markets for special items, and even raided the homes of family and friends.
One object proved particularly troublesome to track down: a pewter beer mug for her "Moby Dick" spread. “That one took me a long time because I was obsessed with something I saw in my mind,” she said. But Fried didn’t need to look too far — her “foodie” father found one in an old box in the basement.
Like most people, Fried's interest in food (and novel reading) started in childhood. Though she doesn’t consider herself a “foodie,” the artist does believe her father’s longtime interest in cooking has had something to do with her own preoccupation with fictional (and real) meals.
“I grew up in a family where both of my parents cooked a lot,” she said. “Cooking is my father’s form of creative relief when he comes home at the end of the day — he always emails me about what he’s had.”
Fried now finds her own creative relief by connecting the sensual experiences of eating and reading in her art.
“They both transport us in really magical ways,” she told TODAY.com “Reading is basically like eating literature — you’re consuming something.”
Do you have a favorite fictitious meal?
Danika Fears is a TODAY.com intern who vividly remembers savoring food passages as a child (and dying for a nibble of Turkish delight in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe").
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