Pat Nolan Blog

Eat, Drink And Be Merry

A new book, 'Eat, Drink And Be Merry... Foodie Short Stories', serves up a satirical buffet of brief stories about the connections between evolution and what humanity has eaten and drunk along the way.

Written by former journalist Michael Gannon, Eat, Drink And Be Merry spans from Adam and Eve to the present day. The tome serves up religion, cannibalism, famine, war and the disparity of modern culture – all through a lens that true foodies will appreciate.

Michael Gannon uses the short story format to satirically look at how humans, history and food have always found themselves around the same table.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry is an eclectic short story collection with the theme of food and drink at its core as can be witnessed by the following short excerpt:

 

Going Cold Turkey

While taking three orders at once, the Kerry barman reached for the bell and rang it, shouting gruffly: “Last orders gentleman and biddies, please!”

The bell rang loudly but everyone in the pub knew that the festive occasion was not going to end at 10.30 with the publican in good spirit and singing like a bird.

The Three Hens had done a roaring trade at lunchtime and had shut for everyone to have their roast turkey and trimmings, But the customers had returned for more in the evening and who was he to deny them a little more cheer? In the public bar the jukebox with its favourite songs of The Green Fields of France and Bad Moon Rising was silenced and the singing was well under way as the predominantly Irish clientele belted out a mixture of sentimental songs from the Mountains of Mourne to marching off to Dublin in the Green.

One little fellow with thick-rimmed glasses and a similarity to an old Hollywood star, Barry Fitzgerald, decided to sing all of the Auld Triangle as the bar fell into respectful silence. It was when he got to: “Oh a hungry feeling came o’er me stealing…” that he paused and asked the Kerry barman whether the turkey sandwich was ready which he’d ordered.

“Now, stop yer laughing,” he complained as the bar collapsed with mirth. “I’ve been working all today while ye lot have been stuffing your faces.”

The merriment died down as the man resumed, standing upright, grasping both suit lapels tightly and finishing off the remaining verses to a thunderous applause of appreciation accompanied by cries of: “Fair play to you, Jimmy” and “More, more, Jimmy”, quickly followed by “Jesus, don’t encourage him, ye fecker”, from the assembled when he’d finished.

…. Well, anyway, Eat, Drink And Be Merry… Foodie Short Stories is available for these dark January nights.

'Eat, Drink And Be Merry... Foodie Short Stories’ serves up a satirical buffet of brief stories about the connections between evolution and what humanity has eaten and drunk along the way.

‘Eat, Drink And Be Merry… Foodie Short Stories’ serves up a satirical buffet of brief stories about the connections between evolution and what humanity has eaten and drunk along the way.


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