Food in Fiction

Here in South Carolina, we are trying to create a new book discussion series to accompany our tour of Key Ingredients: America by Food. We are looking for five fiction books in which food plays a central role but that are highbrow enough for a scholar to be willing to discuss them. (i.e. The astonishingly large number of food-themed mysteries with corny titles, such as Bread on Arrival and Roux the Day, would probably not work.)

So far, my list consists of the following possibilities, although no group of five seems to gel together very well as a themed set. Moreover, the two books that appear to be out of print are two of my favorites!

• Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
• The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood
• Hunger, Elise Blackwell (out of print)
• Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
• Winter Wheat, Mildred Walker
• The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
• The Good Earth, Pearl Buck
• The Devil's Larder, Jim Crace (out of print)
• A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
• A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway

Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? What is your favorite food-centric piece of fiction? (Suggestions of short stories and poetry are also welcome!)