A Celebration of Food Through Fiction

Greenpoint writer, Scott Stabile, has found his most recent muse in neighborhood cuisine. In his food-centric short story series, Brooklyn Bites, Stabile weaves tales of human intimacy around his edible love.

“Food becomes a character,” Stabile explained. “It becomes relevant to the experience.” The narrator of Truffle Fries nearly has an adulterous affair with rich truffle oil while she and her boyfriend share a plate. A Little Taste of Chocolate centers on a couple whose morning ritual of sharing a square of chocolate is a respite from their otherwise destitute lives. Cream Crumb is set at the counter of Peter Pan Bakery, where a man is lurched out of depression by a donut.

“In Williamsburg and Greenpoint, there is so much good food,” Stabile said. But instead of birthing yet another food blog, he tried a different approach: food-fiction. Brooklyn Bites offers two fictional short stories, self-published as an e-book every five to six weeks.

Self-publishing allows independent writers to easily distribute their work. With e-readers, authors can circumvent the printing press and digitally deliver content directly to readers. “It’s so easy to get work out there,” Stabile said. “I could upload [writing] tonight and have it published instantly.” Stabile said he knows authors who have walked away from book deals with publishers because the royalties from self-publishing are markedly better.

Stabile has written in a wide range of styles including children’s books and numerous screenplays. The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure is an interactive musical children’s film for 3-7 year olds. “[It is] meant to get kids out of their seats and dancing,” Stabile said. “It’s supposed to be a party.”

Stabile wrote the lyrics, aided with melody composition, and spent 7 weeks in Michigan during filming. He is crossing his fingers for the feature length film to hit theaters soon.

Raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Stabile graduated from the University of Michigan in 1993 with a degree in English Literature. After attending the New England Literature Program, a Transcendentalist nature immersion course, he began jotting down his thoughts in a journal. He hardly anticipated that those scribblings would later blossom into a career. After spending a year in New York, in 2002 he went west to work as a director of development for a television studio in the San Francisco Bay area. Last November, he returned to Brooklyn.

“I was ready to come back,” Stabile said. “[I thought] New York was going to change me creatively, and it has.”

On Wednesday, February 29th, Stabile will begin teaching a writing course at New York Open Center, a holistic learning institution in Manhattan. “[The course is about] self-discovery and healing through writing,” Stabile said.

Brooklyn Bites is available as an e-book on Amazon and the Barnes & Noble Nook store. It is also available in PDF format on Smashwords.com.

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