After a delicious prose piece from novelist and memoirist Antoinette Carone, Emily Linehan, Managing Editor, catches up with the writer to discuss her passion for food and travel, and how it bleeds into her work.
Let me say how mouth-wateringly savoury Remembering Parma is! You have also written about your time in Naples -one of the food cities of the world- in Scrapbook of Wandering in Naples. How much importance does the role of food hold in your writing?
Now that I think about it, the role of food is sometimes integral to my writing, even though I am more drawn to relationships and emotions that to food writing in and of itself. I don’t necessarily believe the “food is love” platitude. Food – its being forced on one or the denial of food – seems to me sometimes like a form of controlling another.
I think in writing I use food as a way of revealing a feeling or a character
In your piece, cooking and food is a conduit for expression, for example, cooking a meal as an apology. Do you find that food catalyzes communication in your life as well as in your writing?
Possibly. I grew up hearing tales of food abundance and scarcity. I observed my family’s relationship to food as part of their personality. Really, I felt character was dictated by food, its sharing, its preparation, its ethnic roots. And I really like to cook and share meals with friends. It’s always festive.
Memory is closely associated with food in this piece. Do you find this true in your own life?
Yes. Mostly happy memories. Like the time I was baking Halloween cookies when my son was about a year-and-a-half. I sat him in his highchair, gave him a huge cookies and all the trimmings. He worked at it for a long time for a baby. It was full of stuff by the time he was through. Then he gave it to his father who promptly ate it.
Your language is poetic and meaty with meaning. How would you describe your style of writing, and are there any writers who inspire you?
I don’t know. Maybe a bit of magic realism. I’m drawn to the supernatural in everyday life. The author who made me want to be a writer was Daphne du Maurier. The others who have deeply affected me are Martha Grimes and Maurizio de Giovani.
Antoinette Carone
Antoinette Carone’s latest book is Hotel of the Siren (Scantic Books), succeeding her memoir, Ciao Napoli. Her work has appeared in Ovunque Siamo, Foxglove Journal, Ellipsis ‘Zine, Fudoki Magazine, Real Women Write: Living on COVID Time, The Thieving Magpie, and Kitchen Table Stories.
Emily Linehan
Emily, a Tipperary native, has shown a great interest in all things literature from a young age. She has been published in the anthology Cork Words 2, Icarus, and is a 2021 runner-up in UCC's Eoin Murray Scholarship. After completing her M.Phil. in Creative Writing with Trinity, she is currently in TEFL teaching, and submitting furiously to literary journals.
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