every food in: something wicked this way comes (and a return to the blog)
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Fun fact: Ray Bradbury is my favorite author of all time, but I’ve actually never reviewed one of his books for this blog. I think a good portion of that is because it’s easier to define food that he describes as part of a simile, than food characters actually eat. Even when rereading it for this review, I had a surprising amount of trouble finding specific food items consumed during the plot of the book.
So, given that, I’m allowing some exceptions here - if it’s a specific food memory, sense comparison, or consumed food or drink, I’ll include it here.
Firstly - hello, everyone!
I haven’t been posting a lot for the past few years because up until relatively recently, I only had a work-provided laptop and I don’t particularly enjoy typing on my iPad. I intended to start writing again once I bought a laptop that was for personal use, especially given how much I’ve been reading again (thanks, library card!), but I sort of fell out of the habit between working a lot of regular design job hours and working for a lot of volunteer arts organizations. While I redesigned my website, I temporarily took this blog down to copy edit some posts and update the layout a bit.
However, I got a lovely email from reader Šimon, who told me how much they enjoyed one of my older posts, and it prompted me to start taking some of my half-baked posts and lists of food out of my notebook and to get back to writing properly. So, thank you Šimon - I’m glad you like the blog and I hope you and the other readers enjoy this post.
Some brief thoughts about Something Wicked This Way Comes - I love this book so much that I truly cannot have an impartial review in any sense whatsoever. When I worked at a library as a teenager, I checked out an enormous quantity of Ray Bradbury books solely because of how much I loved this and the Halloween Tree (which I will certainly be posting about closer to October). I love circuses, I love Halloween, I love magical realism, this book is clearly tailor made to appeal to my specific sensibilities and make me obsess over it. I’ve even collected perfumes about it, to try and get the exact mood I felt when I first read it. The closest I’ve gotten to achieving the exact feeling I get from the carnival in it was working for Theatre Bizarre for a number of years, so it might be accurate to say this book is the direct reason that I’m a (volunteer) clown and costumer now.
There’s a few quirks in the food mentioned here, though it’s mostly bog-standard Americana diner fare - firstly, honey grass was completely foreign to me. It isn’t really specified where the book takes place, but usually Bradbury sets his books in the midwest, which is where I live, and I’m fairly certain I’ve never seen or heard of it. I did some research and I think it’s likely a regional term for molasses grass.
Secondly, it is made very clear by the longer description that the lemon cake is not pound cake, which would be more likely nowadays for my area, but a layer cake with frosting. I’ve included a link to Grandbaby Cakes’ excellent recipe, which I’ve tried myself and can personally recommend.
Thirdly, he mentions chokeberry and quince as flavors that Will’s mom would be familiar with - as readers in 2026, this is not as much the case for most of us. I’ve linked some background info on the fruit themselves, and recommend trying to grow both or either. They’re very underrated garden additions, especially if you’re interested in home canning and preserving, and fairly affordable as well.
So, without further ado, here’s all the food mentioned.
“Fire-water, the elixir of life” (Will’s father’s one nightly drink - unspecified on what his exact order is.)
Licorice and Cotton candy (scented on the wind)
Peaches, plums, apricots, and “the sourest apples”
“sick-sweet candy wind” that tastes like ice cream
Cornflakes
Bacon and eggs, hot dogs, and pancakes (sold at the carnival booths)
Food (unspecified, “shoved at” them by Miss Foley)
“warm food in cold rooms”
Supper at Miss Foley’s (unspecified)
Chocolate chunks hidden under the mattress for later
Clover, honey-grass and wild mint
Monster meringue-paste mushrooms
“too much candy” eaten at the circus show
The last piece of lemon cake waiting in the icebox
Mint-gum wrapper
Iron popsicles
A chewed lump of pink bubblegum
WIll’s father’s second coffee (And third coffee)
Custard pies thrown at clowns
Quince, peach, chokeberry, mint and lime
Spearmint gum
“A white and pink paraffin candy toy he no longer had an appetite for” (I had a little trouble with this one, because I couldn’t actually find any contemporary images of white and pink wax candy. It’s entirely possible he’s just taking a good bit of creative license here and mostly referring to the texture and sensory experience.)
“A wincing like lemons in his throat”
