The language of recipes is incredibly rich in verbs and nouns, ingredients are peppered, shaken, and pinched mixtures are whisked, blended and beaten, concoctions are steamed broiled and baked.
This last week I’ve been running writing workshops @discover_story summer school. We’re using ‘The Unforgotten Coat’ as inspiration and at one point in the novel the protagonist mongolian brothers make a ginger bread man to confuse the demon that makes things vanish. At summer school we discussed what special ingredients would have to go into such a recipe to make a ginger bread boy realistic enough to fool a demon! The children spoke of using ‘handfuls of eyeballs’, ‘buckets of snot’, teaspoons of teardrops’ and ‘whisking in anger’. How could you use the language of recipes in your sessions?