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This article contains discussion of cannibalism
Last month, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Rachel Denham-White, the author of
“Mock Turtle Soup”. This story revolves around a researcher whose experimental drug grants people to experience the tastes and smells from their favourite books; however, when a participant’s disturbing reaction forces the project to shut down, she is left questioning the moral consequences of her work.
We started talking about Rachel’s writing, which turned to talk of historical foods, fantasy foods, cannibalism, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
If that sounds as fascinating to you as it did to me, read on!
- What inspired you to write “Mock Turtle Soup”?
- How did you choose the title for your story? What significance does it hold for you?
- Speaking of food, if you could eat any fictional or fantasy food, what would you eat?
- What about fictional or fantasy foods you would not eat?
- What did you enjoy about writing “Mock Turtle Soup”?
- What about the concept of cannibalism fascinates you?
- Does “Mock Turtle Soup” explore that concept?
- If the title was “Mock Turtle Shop” what would it be about?
- Have you cooked any historical food before?
- How do you handle writer’s block or moments of creative doubt?
- Do you have any advice for writers looking to be published?
What inspired you to write “Mock Turtle Soup”?
I truly couldn’t tell you where the idea came from. I had this really fun idea about what would happen if you could try food from your favourite book, because reading can be a sensory experience if you really think about it. My favourite part about any science fiction or speculative fiction technology is always thinking about how many ways people would use it—and misuse it. So, I just started going through my head: “When does this start getting weird and scary?”
How did you choose the title for your story? What significance does it hold for you?
Well, the Mock Turtle is a character from the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and mock turtle soup is actually a name of a Victorian dish. Turtle soup was a really popular recipe, but because the supply of turtles began to run out, they started to replace turtle meat with a calf’s head to get the same sort of fatty quality. Mock turtle soup ended up becoming even more popular than turtle soup.
So, I had the idea of this mock taste that replicates the feeling of eating from your favourite books. But I was also like, the Mock Turtle is also a character, so you can eat the Mock Turtle. Then I got my idea for the rest of the story and how the nastiness pans out.
Vinessa: Oh, so the title has definitely got some sort of historical aspect to it as well!
Speaking of food, if you could eat any fictional or fantasy food, what would you eat?
That is a really hard question, because I have so many favourites! I love fantastical food. So, probably a lot of things from Priory of the Orange Tree, because every time Samantha Shannon writes about that food, I’m salivating whilst reading the story.
Vinessa: A lot of fictional food seem to taste really good, especially when authors describe it really well!
What about fictional or fantasy foods you would not eat?
Well, obviously the first thing that comes into mind is Soylent Green. It’s a story about cannibalism, but we won’t get deep into that. However, I don’t like pumpkins, so I probably would not like the food from Harry Potter—like the pumpkin pasties and the pumpkin juice. I remember reading about those and thinking, “that sounds quite rank.”
Vinessa: Oh yeah that definitely sounds horrible! Especially the pumpkin juice!
What did you enjoy about writing “Mock Turtle Soup”?
Definitely experimenting with how the technology would be utilised. I just kept thinking, “Okay, you’ve got the base level of you’re using it to try nostalgic foods,” and then people start experimenting and trying more abstract foods—well not even foods, but drugs as well, like spice from Dune and soma from Brave New World. I kept thinking, “People aren’t just gonna stop there. How do you really push that?” And then I decided that the tipping point where the technology becomes dangerous to sell to the public, is when people go one step further and eat their favourite characters.
I think you can look at it on a few different levels. Like there’s the morbid curiosity that people will have, and there’s also the need for connection, because people have grown up with these characters; they love them—they love Alice in Wonderland. There’s that need to feel a connection. That’s the same with a lot of cannibalism media where there’s a lot of levels and layers you can read into it.
I also wanted to play with the idea of the “unassuming threat”; that the main character who causes this cataclysmic decision change on the main character’s part is very unassuming. He’s a family man, he looks nice and you expect, “Oh he’s just going to waltz in and the whole thing’s gonna be innocent.” But sometimes, it’s the most unassuming people who will cause the most destruction. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
What about the concept of cannibalism fascinates you?
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of layers to this. I love how cannibalism is a metaphor for queerness. There is a really great book by Camille DeAngelis called Bones and All (that was turned into a movie). It’s about young cannibals finding a small tight-knit community, and kind of like expressing how they feel as this marginalised group. Then there’s the entire discussion around questions like, “How old were you when you knew?” and “What was your first time like?”. It’s a really great way of expressing an alternate side of your personality, because, of course, queer people feel disenfranchised from a world around them that just doesn’t fit with them on the same level. In this sense, cannibalism is a great allegory for that.
Does “Mock Turtle Soup” explore that concept?
Not really, because that’s mainly Bones and All. “Mock Turtle Soup” explores the concept of morbid curiosity. My main character is concerned with the money and fame side of things, and it takes her colleague to make her think about, “What is this technology going to do with people’s lives? And how far can people take it?” And it’s only when she’s faced with something so deeply uncomfortable that she realises, “Oh I have a responsibility to recognise that this can be used for evil,” which I feel like is very relevant to a lot of technology.
Vinessa: I have something to admit to you actually. So, when I first read “Mock Turtle Soup”, for some reason I kept on reading it as “Mock Turtle Shop”.
If the title was “Mock Turtle Shop” what would it be about?
Oh goodness! I keep on going back to the meaning of the name. So, I think it would be like a Victorian grocer where you buy Mock Turtle calf’s heads. I don’t know—I like historical food, it’s one of my passions!
Have you cooked any historical food before?
Yes! When I was in Year Eight, I made marchpane for a school presentation; marchpane was a historical recipe for marzipan.
How do you handle writer’s block or moments of creative doubt?
I think I just need to take a break from it. There have been so many times when I’ve been working on a piece for around five hours, and I keep asking myself, “Am I going to make this better?” But the answer ends up being, “No,” because I can’t expend the energy. This is not the right attitude to have. So, I just need to take a day, take a few hours, and then come back to it with a fresh face.
Do you have any advice for writers looking to be published?
I’d say to write a lot. Keep writing! People will read your work if you just keep on practising. Don’t be swayed by the criticisms or setbacks. The biggest thing I’ve learnt is just because you’re sick of your work and you don’t think you can do well, doesn’t mean others feel the same way. You’ve spent the most time with your work more than any other person—picking out all the plot holes and doing all the editing—and you’re probably ready to hate your work at this point. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good; it just means that you’re tired of it. So that is my biggest takeaway. Receiving feedback is also important because it helps you to improve your work. Also don’t forget to take some breaks!
Go and check out Rachel Denham-White’s story, “Mock Turtle Soup”.
Brittany: Thanks to Vinessa for this first entry in what will hopefully be an ongoing series of author chats. If you have been published in Banksia Journal, and would like to be featured, please reach out!
And, if you’re craving more fantastical food, Lauren and I share our own thoughts in “Do you want to feast on fantasy foods?” Not addressed in that blog post: I quite like pumpkins, and would try pumpkin juice if offered. I think it would be nice and sweet.
Vinessa is one of the Social Media Managers at Banksia Journal, and she is studying Professional Writing and Publishing; Marketing and Graphic Design. She tends to buy more books instead of reading the ones she already has, hence why her TBR list continues to grow. When she’s not reading nor writing, you will find her busting some moves at the dance studio, or on adobe programs creating graphic design-related projects.
Rachel Denham-White
Rachel Denham-White is an emerging writer living in Boorloo/Perth. In 2022, she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts (Hons), with her dissertation on the Postfeminist Gothic movement in the works of her favourite author, Angela Carter. Since her graduation, she has been featured in Westerly, Voiceworks, Haunted Words Press and Good Reading Magazine, and is currently on the editing team for Limina Journal. In her spare time, Rachel can be found playing reading and writing horror, eco-horror, Gothic horror and pregnancy horror.