At War in the Kingdom of Foodies

Beth Cato, A Thousand Recipes for Revenge

Ada Garland has lived as a fugitive on the kingdom’s periphery for years, surviving by her wits and her cooking skills. She’s a Chef, a form of supernatural guardian whose capabilities combine the roles of cook, general, and priest. Officially, every Chef in the kingdom of Verdania belongs to King Caristo, but Ada’s wits have kept her free for decades—free, but alienated from her lost husband and child. Then an assassin appears in her lodgings.

Author Beth Cato is as famous on the genre convention circuit for her cooking as for her fiction and poetry. This, Cato’s sixth novel, combines her two loves. She creates a world where love of food is a gods-given gift and terrible responsibility. Cato’s writing also shows the influence of George R.R. Martin, particularly his fondness for the impersonal, violent politics of medieval Europe. And nothing provides a richer political target than a wedding.

Princess Solenn knows she doesn’t look or think like other royalty of Braiz. Only when she’s shipped to Verdania for a politically useful marriage does she discover why: she’s a Chef, an ability that supposedly only travels in one’s bloodline. Though lacking training, her innate Chef abilities uncover a plot to assassinate her callow young betrothed. Solenn doesn’t love him, but she definitely loves the peace which Prince Rupert’s assassination would disrupt.

Despite alternating between these two viewpoint characters, Cato hasn’t created a conventional character-driven novel. Both Ada and Solenn are beholden to political forces and old vendettas they might stem, but never completely prevent. Poisonings and regicides are simply extensions of the political horse-trades that make royal court life possible. Cato’s characters want simple, honest lives, but late-medieval politics refuses to let them sleep easily.

Please understand, I don’t make the GRRM comparison lightly. Like Martin, Cato creates a kingdom where magic exists, but isn’t central. Political logrolling matters more than the Chefs’ food-based wizardry. Our characters desire simple, honest lives, but court intrigues keep intruding. This doesn’t stop our viewpoint characters from describing their sensory circumstances in rich detail; Cato’s prose includes multiple lush descriptions of ingredients and the cooking process.

Beth Cato

Though a Chef’s responsibility manifests primarily through food, political exigencies define what that actually means. Ada previously commanded troops in battle, though she lost faith in the corrupt king she served, and deserted to save her soul. (Exactly how food magic translates into strategic command is left implicit.) Now somebody is clearing the ranks of Ada’s fellow disillusioned generals. Ada must apprehend her assassin’s employer before it’s too late.

It spoils nothing to say, since Cato reveals it early, that Solenn is Ada’s long-lost daughter. Though her politically expedient marriage would cement peace between Verdania and Braiz, if her actual parentage ever comes out, the political consequences will be severe. Until then, though, somebody wants to not just assassinate Prince Rupert, but frame Solenn for the crime. Solenn must survive the intrigue in order to prevent the war.

Besides the focus on politics, Cato also shares GRRM’s casual attitude toward historicity. She describes Verdania’s Bronze-age religious rituals and downright Roman attitude toward antiquities, while musketeers with rapiers and flintlock pistols struggle to keep peace within the palace. Like GRRM, Cato cares more about creating the feel of her setting’s historical parallels, than about remaining scrupulously realistic. It’s casual, but it works.

Cato’s two heroines reflect two different approaches to conspiracy and intrigue. Ada, the wanted fugitive, must actively pursue justice through Verdania’s byways, knowing that if she ever lapses in vigilance, her enemies will destroy her and her family. Solenn, by contrast, is trapped by her royal circumstances. Her greatest aspiration is to survive, which isn’t always guaranteed. She occupies a hall of enemies, and must remain forever vigilant.

This novel does require a certain dedication. Though Cato’s characters both act and are acted upon, the forces acting upon them aren’t always clear. Therefore, her storytelling involves occasional breaks where characters explain circumstances to one another, which sometimes slows the momentum. Pushing through these occasional dry breaks, however, rewards audiences with the suspense and drama they expect from similar political novels.

Ultimately, Cato shares GRRM’s interest in politics, but lacks his cynical fatalism. Her characters frequently lack control, but not agency; they aren’t prisoners to circumstance. They want what we all want: liberty and simplicity. But like us, they can’t have it, because they live in a world of humans and their dependencies. Therefore, Cato offers us the ultimate resolution: just stay alive until you find answers.