Writing Journal Worksheet – Food (PDF)
One of my favourite prompts from Writing Down the Bones is Goldberg’s advice to write about food…
“If you find you are having trouble writing and nothing seems real, just write about food. It is always solid and is the one thing we all can remember about our day… From the table, the cheese, the old blue-eyed friend across from you, from the glasses of water, the striped tablecloth, fork, knife, thick white plate, green salad, butter, and glass of pale pink wine, you can extend yourself out in memory, time, space, thought, to Israel, to Russia, to religion, the trees and the sidewalk. And you have a place to begin from, something concrete, palatable, clear, right in front of your face.”
– from Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Try some of the prompts in this worksheet, or some of the scene ideas below. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by how much you have to say about food!
Ideas for Food Scenes
- A dinner date
- A business dinner
- A victory feast
- A wedding reception
- A school cafeteria
- A prison cafeteria
- A family reunion dinner
- A refectory
- A last meal on death row
- A picnic
- A takeaway
- A TV dinner
- Breakfast in bed
- A food fight
- A solitary meal
- Lunch in the car
- Hunting for food
- Storing/packing food
- A cooking/baking contest
- Grocery shopping
- Cooking dinner
- A pot luck
- Hunger
- A food delivery
- An airplane meal
- Feeding
- A hospital cafeteria
- A packed lunch
- A barbeque
- Ordering food
- Picking food
- Serving food
- Sharing a meal
- Baking
- Snacking
- Throwing away food
- Scavenging/foraging
- Playing with food
- Waiting for food
- Setting the table
- Queuing for food
- Clearing the table
- Growing food
- Washing dishes
- A soup kitchen/food bank
- A food shortage
- A cookery class
- Food poisoning
- A dinner party
- A food offering/sacrifice
- Synthetic/ersatz food
- Making preserves/pickles
- Illegal/forbidden foods
- Trying a new food
- A feast for the gods
P.S. You may also enjoy the Description and Senses worksheets.