On Thursday, Hubs and I spent the day savoring Dutch food, like
boerenkool stamppot (mashed potatoes and kale), gehaktballen (meatball and
gravy), saucijzenbroodjes (like pigs in a blanket), and olibollen (a big
deep-fried ball covered in powdered sugar) or Hollandse boterkoek (almond
flavored shortbread) for dessert. Makes me hungry thinking about all the
wonderful flavors.
Each year, Holland, Michigan celebrates their Dutch heritage
with the Tulip Time Festival. I remember when my sister and I drove across the
state to watch our siblings in their high school marching band in a parade. We
saw President Gerald Ford (when he was a representative) riding in a
convertible and waving to the crowd. Now we go to watch our grandchildren.
Celebrating heritage or founding comes easily for us in the
United States. We’re such a young country, and most of our citizens come from
all over the world. Many of my own ancestors came from The Netherlands, so I
especially enjoy Tulip Time. Since I’m a “melting pot” like so many in the
U.S., I could easily join in festivities for German, Polish, Irish, British,
Scottish, Welsh . . . you get the picture.
As part of the world building for our stories, we should think
about celebrations and festivals—secular and/or religious. Where did the
inhabitants come from? What do they hold dear? What are their celebrations
like? How long do the festivities last?
In my Switched
series, the planet Serenia was founded by a group of colonists called the
Intrepid Ones. Like most world-building, I knew so much more than what appears
in the book(s) where small but significant details are dropped into
conversations or the narrative. The reader doesn’t need to know as much as the
author, but I made up an entire scenario about the Intrepid Ones: who they were, how they arrived, what
they found, why they left their home planet.
It made sense to me that the Serenians would hold an annual
celebration to honor those who settled their planet. At the
beginning of Switched Resolution, the crew of the starship Freedom are supposed to serve as an
honor guard at the opening ceremonies for Founders' Day. Not good when the captain and officers don’t show up. They had
other priorities, like retrieving their ship stolen by rebels.
Hmm. I wonder what foods they served during the festivities.
Blurb:
Actions have consequences as Space Fleet Captain Marcus
Viator and NASA reject Scott Cherella discover when they switched places. Does
the reserved Marcus have what it takes to imitate his smart-aleck twin? Despite
help from his love, Veronese, Scott’s already been outed by two of Marcus’ best
friends.
When rebels steal the ship with part of the crew aboard,
Scott has to rescue them and retrieve the Freedom.
The stakes increase when he discovers the rebels are heading for Earth. They know
he’s a fraud and they want Marcus. The safety of the Alliance of Planets depends
on Scott and his allies.
Switched
Resolution, which wraps up the Switched
series, takes the reader from Earth—where Marcus adjusts to a pregnant
Jessie—to the starship Freedom
commandeered by rebels, to the chase ship with Scott and Veronese aboard.
6 comments:
Diane, I have stayed in Holland, Michigan several times in summers past and like you, have always found it delightful and delicious! Loved your ideas about using celebrations in our world building to help ground the story line and characters. Thanks much for your insights. Hope you shared that big pastry with Hubby!
Francesca Q.
Your post made me hungry hearing about all these delicious foods. Enjoyed the post!
Those heritage festivals are so much fun - and with all the food you mentioned, now I'm hungry! I love the idea of including such festivals in stories too.
I'm glad I tickled your taste buds, Maureen & CJ. Addings foods to celebrations in our stories could do the same thing to our readers.
Francesca, the west side of Michigan is so beautiful. I'm glad we ended up over here. Who me share that delicious dessert? LOL Hubs got his own.
Wow what interesting information! Those Olibollen sounds like our beignet's :-)
Good luck and God's blessings
PamT
Oh my gosh, how awesome! The food sounds sooo yummy. And what a fun day. LOVE the Switched series. Excellent world-building in all your books!
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