5 Tips for Writing a Foodie Romance Novel Your Readers Will Love

It’s nearly impossible to write a romance novel that doesn’t include at least a passing mention of food. After all: If you send your main characters on a few dates, a restaurant is bound to pop up eventually. But as any romance fan can tell you, foodie love stories just hit harder. Why is that? What makes food and romance such a perfect pairing? And how do you write a foodie romance novel that balances food and passion in equal measure?

(What Is a Cozy Subgenre in Fiction?)

After writing two food-forward contemporary romance novels (Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year and Effie Olsen’s Summer Special) and one romantic memoir punctuated with recipes (The Call of the Farm), I’ve picked up some tricks for mixing up the ideal, uh, ingredients. These are my five top tips for writing a romance that’ll satisfy the lovers and the foodies.

1. Consider the Main Characters’ Professions

Just about everyone I’ve ever met enjoys food. Even my friends who don’t love to cook enjoy a good meal. I mention this to say: If you want to write a foodie romance—as opposed to a romance novel with a bit of food on the side—it’s probably not enough that your main characters just love to eat. 

Instead, give one or both of them a career that centers around food. While “chef” is the obvious answer, there are so many more professions that put food in the forefront. Some other ideas for your MCs: farmer, waiter, winemaker or beer brewer, owner of a specialty food shop, caterer, butcher, or baker.

Foodie jobs aren’t typically the kind of work you fall into by happenstance, so there’s a good chance that if your main character is working as a line cook, it’s because they really love it. It’s because they’re passionate about it. And I think we all know that passionate characters make the best kind of lovers.

2. Make Food the Focus of a Scene or Two

In my most recent novel, Effie Olsen’s Summer Special, the female main character (FMC) Effie works as a professional chef. While there are a few scenes that showcase Effie doing her thing at work, the most important food-focused scenes involve her and her love interest, Ernie. As I edited the novel, I decided to send them on a date where food was the main event: About a third of the way through the book, they meet up to work at a local shop for the evening.

The act of scooping up ice cream and serving milkshakes gives Effie and Ernie something to connect over—it’s a tangible task that helps them navigate their increasingly flirty feelings for each other. It’s also a refreshing change of pace from a typical restaurant date, where the characters don’t do much but sit in chairs for a couple of hours. I’ve found that giving your characters something to do helps them shake off their nerves. 

Here are some other ideas for an interactive foodie date: gardening, attending a cooking class together, and working at a bake sale.

Check out Rochelle Bilow’s Effie Olsen’s Summer Special here:

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3. Remember That Food Doesn’t ALWAYS Have to Be Sensual

We’re writing romance, so naturally, all food mentioned should be chocolate-covered strawberries and whipped cream, right? Well… not so much. Readers value plots, scenes, and characters that have a strong sense of authenticity. Real life is definitely not all four-course candlelit dinners, so reading about a character who sometimes eats cereal straight out of the box is refreshing.

Foodie main characters can come off as a little unrealistic—especially if everything that passes their lips is worthy of Ina Garten’s cookbooks. As tempting as it may be to make every food scene in your romance novel sumptuous, a story will be more successful when peppered with real-life moments, like cold Pop Tarts, burnt lentils, or just a good old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

4. Let Food Say What Your Characters Can’t

As anyone who has ever been a human can understand, saying what you feel is hard. The main characters in your romance novel are no different. It may solve a lot of problems to sit your characters down and have them share exactly what’s on their minds, but where’s the fun in that? (Additionally, your editor will probably have some notes about that scene!) Luckily, in times such as these, there’s food.

If your hero is working through some complex emotions, maybe revisiting their favorite childhood treat will spark a kernel of understanding or healing. If their love interest is struggling to share how they feel, cooking dinner or baking cookies can act as an unspoken declaration. 

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As a bonus, as you write those scenes, you’ll end up learning a lot about those characters! What type of pancakes did your main character love best as a kid? Does their love interest own a rolling pin, or are they forced to roll out the cookie dough using a half-empty wine bottle? In my experience, the food-focused scenes are the places where my characters—and I—experience the greatest growth.

5. Have Fun With It

Oof, when did we get so serious about food? Scroll through any social media app these days and you’ll find influencers and content creators warning about the dangers of carbs (or the benefits of carbs), the “toxic” additives or preservatives, the right and wrong times to eat, and so, so much more. 

If you’re feeling less fun around food lately, I totally get it. And I invite you to use the romance novel as a place to shake off that stress and reclaim some of the fun around food.

Our main characters have plenty of challenges as it is. (Have you ever tried falling in love? It’s tough stuff!) Hands down, the best part about a foodie romance novel is that food is no longer the enemy… instead, it’s another avenue for passion. And that makes for some very delicious reading.