Casey McQuiston’s latest queer romance The Pairing couples its juicy bi4bi storytelling with delectable descriptions of food and drink, as its central characters embark on a food and wine tour across Europe and get up to slutty, delicious hijinks along the way. Food, drinks, and sex — all my favorite things! If you haven’t had a chance to check out Autostraddle’s review of the novel, make sure to do so! Ashni declares it’s for queer hedonists everywhere.
If you’ve recently finished or are about to finish The Pairing and want to line up another queer book that features food, well do I have news for you! There are approximately a bajillion queer romance books centered on food, many of them featuring cooking or baking puns in the title. A list of all those foodie romance books would be massive, so instead, I’ve concocted something a little more curated that also includes some literary fiction, in addition to select romance titles that come highly recommended by Autostraddle writers. While food isn’t quite as central to the worlds of all of these books the way it is for The Pairing, I selected some titles in which food at least plays a role in who the characters are and their daily lives, such as working in the restaurant industry. I stuck to novels for this list, though there are many great queer memoirs that revel in food and drink, too, so maybe I’ll work on that next.
Got more queer novel recommendations you think a foodie would love? Drop them in the comments!
Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
Sara Foster is a hot bartender crafting trendy drinks in Los Angeles when she encounters florist Emilie Dubois at the chic restaurant Yerba Buena where they both work. At once a coming-of-age, a romance, and a journey of self-discovery for its two characters, LaCour’s adult debut is a sneakily meaty book, tackling addiction, trauma, sexuality, complicated feelings about home, and more.
Read the Autostraddle review (in which Yash writes, spicily: “Yerba Buena accomplishes in one novel what Sally Rooney attempted in three.”).
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
A wonderfully complex and poetically crafted romance, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty has a cast of characters that includes Alim, a celebrity chef. Food is one of the many rich details adding texture to this novel, and in an interview with their publisher, Emezi said the following about how they approached writing their lovely descriptions of food: “My rough draft of the book had a hodgepodge menu I’d created from watching cooking shows, but it would have been incoherent to an actual chef, so I commissioned one to make a menu specific to Alim’s character. For me, if I’m going to put art in a book, then the art has to be as good as my writing.” Food in the novel is indeed a visceral, immersive experience. In another interview, Emezi said the following, which made me laugh because they’re correct: “I wanted the love interest to be sexy and I was like, ‘What’s a sexy career? Oh, a chef.'”
Read the Autostraddle review.
Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
Our protagonist here is the titular “pizza girl” — a pregnant, 18-year-old, flailing pizza delivery worker who becomes obsessed with the stay-at-home mother she delivers weekly pickle pizzas to. The food in this novel isn’t the fussy stuff of Michelin-starred restaurants. This is food that drips and oozes, that leaves grease and stains behind. “There need to be more Hot Cheetos in fiction,” Frazier said in an interview. I couldn’t agree more! (On that note, it’s a great time to revisit the excellent micro piece Hot Cheetos: A Chorus, by K-Ming Chang.)
Beebo Brinker by Ann Bannon
Perhaps my most chaotic choice for this list, the pulp classic doesn’t make food a focal point, but I can’t bring up Pizza Girl and its queer protagonist pizza delivery girl and not mentioned THEE pizza delivery dyke of the mid-20th century: Beebo Brinker. Beebo runs away from Wisconsin and strikes up a friendship with a gay man who helps get her a job as a pizza delivery worker in Greenwich Village. It’s the job that brings her into the wild life of dramatic movie star Venus Bogardus, with whom Beebo begins a complicated and often volatile affair. One of my favorite scenes in the novel involves Venus throwing an entire pizza. If you’ve never taken the plunge into lesbian pulp novels, this is a great place to start.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Again, food isn’t necessarily focal to the plot here, but the immersive details with which Lo paints Chinatown in the 1950s make this novel one of her best, and food plays a key role in that. The food descriptions are delicious. It’s the kind of book that’ll make you hungry.
Read Autostraddle’s interview with Malinda Lo about the novel.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
A classic! Ninny Threadgoode grew up in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the cafe run by her sister-in-law Idgie. Now an old resident of a nursing home, Ninny recounts tales of the cafe and home to Evelyn Couch. Serving barbecue and iconic Southern dishes like the titular fried green tomatoes, the food of the novel is the kind to instantly make my mouth water.
Family Meal by Bryan Washington
Washington is the patron saint of queer food fiction 🫡. His previous book Memorial could also be on this list, and the only reason Lot could not is on a technicality: It’s a short story collection rather than a novel (but if you like short fiction that prominently features food, it’s a must read). Washington writes food, place (usually Houston), and gay sex so beautifully. He’s one of my favorite contemporary queer novelists as a result. Family Meal follows Cam as he leaves LA following a tragic loss and returns home to Houston and to his past life, suddenly finding himself in the world of his childhood best friend TJ and TJ’s family’s bakery again. Also check out Washington’s most recent short story for The New Yorker, which prominently features a coffeehouse.
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
Just a note that disordered eating factors into this novel. Rachel, whose obsessive food rituals are inherited from her mother, becomes obsessed with Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish woman who works at the froyo shop she frequents. Many kinds of cravings make up the themes of this novel, from the twisted, hilarious, horny mind of Melissa Broder.
Read the Autostraddle review.
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
This wild ride of a queer and trans sci-fi novel includes an intergalactic romance sparked at a donut shop. Yes, you read that right! The donut shop is run by a lesbian alien space captain. It’s a read for donut lovers and weirdos.
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
Okay, I hesitate to put this novel on this list, because the queer characters in it are quite minor, and I remember being frustrated at how the lesbian character was written in particular, but if there’s one thing to love about this not-super-queer but definitely super-food-packed novel, it’s the food and drink descriptions but also just its portrayal of a toxic restaurant work environment.
The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta
We’re moving into the more strictly Romance Novel portion of the list! This one features an agender baker named Syd who works at a queer bakery and community space in Austin called Proud Muffin. There’s a genderfluid love interest named Harley, and there are magical brownies. No, not the pot kind. These are brownies that cause people to BREAK UP!
A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen
Two foodies fall in love in this sweet and savory sapphic romance. In Sài Gòn, Lan runs a food blog called A Bánh Mì for Two that she stops updating after losing her father. Vietnamese American Vivi does a study abroad program in Vietnam during her freshman year of college and is determined to try everything featured on her favorite food blog — yep, you guessed it, A Bánh Mì for Two. Paths cross, and sparks fly!
Read the Autostraddle review.
Love and Hot Chicken by Mary Liza Hartong
PJ Spoon goes home to small Tennessee town Pennywhistle for her father’s funeral and ends up impulsively deciding to stay, abandoning her PhD program at Vanderbilt. She takes a job as a fry cook at Nashville-style hot chicken joint Chickie Shak, where she eventually hits it off with coworker Boof. It’s a book steeped in grief, romance, and finger-licking hot chicken.
Read the Autostraddle review.
Love at 350º by Lisa Peers
Tori Moore is a divorced mother whose poet wife cheated on her and whose twins Milo and Mia, unbeknownst to her, sign her up for reality baking competition series American Bake-O-Rama. Kendra Campbell, meanwhile, is a pro chef and mean judge on the series, known as THE CHOPPER. The series films on location in Sonoma wine country, so the lush landscapes, cutthroat competition, and sweet treats all make for a perfect recipe for romance.
Read the Autostraddle review.
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
Amy Chambers owns and operates a struggling restaurant called Amy & May’s. After becoming enamored of reality TV show contestant Sophie Brunet (and a strong negroni), she emails Sophie’s agent to see if she’ll become the restaurant’s new head chef. She agrees, and while the two butt heads frequently, a romance simmers. There are a lot of strong personalities in the restaurant biz, and these two characters definitely showcase that as the novel alternates between their perspectives and fleshes out who they really are beneath their tough exteriors.
Read the Autostraddle review.
Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond
Set in Tulsa, Queerly Beloved follows a not-quite-out queer baker and bartender named Amy who gets fired from her job at a Christian bakery. She hits it off with new-in-town Charley, an engineer. This is a romance deeply about chosen family and features fun wedding shenanigans.
Read the Autostraddle review.
Mangos & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera
Kiskeya Burgos travels from the Dominican Republic to Scotland in pursuit of winning the Holiday Baking Challenge and immediately has tension with competition teammate Sully Morales. For the foodies who like holiday romances! It’s also a novella, so clocks in at under 200 pages, making it an ideal bathtub read.
The Chef’s duology by TJ Alexander. Cute romance series that centers trans identities in a way that few other books in that genre do.
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang.