Without Food This Wouldn't Be A Novel
Cakes, Cambodian Cuisine, and Kitchens in The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Structurally, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley is like a gloppy sandwich. Between two thin depictions of starvation (one in the past, one in the far future) present-day gluttony oozes.
The novel opens bleakly in 1847 when 126 polar explorers get stranded in ice-choked arctic seas, their rations dwindling. Then, toward the end, the novel reveals a food-scarce future. In 2200, we learn, all of humanity is starving because of the climate catastrophe.
Given the novel’s dreary opener and apocalyptic endgame, it’s sort of disgusting how much food fills the middle of The Ministry of Time. We’re talking a stack of cookbooks, endless cups of tea, some endearingly burned onions in Bolognese, kitchen table chats (and strip teases), binge-eating pickled onions, one deflated cake, supermarket runs, and courtship through food.1 I think this plenty vs. nothing setup is compelling artistically and thematically.2
It’s certainly intentional. The novel’s food-driven narrative is powered by a main character: Lieutenant Graham Gore. A former polar explorer now Victorian “expat” in the 21st century and the book’s romantic lead, Graham unexpectedly thrives in a modern kitchen. He teaches himself to cook, hosts dinners, and tries to woo the narrator with homemade Cambodian cuisine.
The irony is that Graham—the enthusiastic lover and cook—is the reason everyone starves and suffers in both 1847 and 2200. He’s the book’s most influential time traveler, but not in a good way.
It’s intimated in the text that he is responsible for the conditions leading to starvation in both 1847 and in 2200. Here’s how:
In 1847, he goes hunting. He mistakes an Inuit man for a seal, shooting him dead. Graham’s manslaughter is the reason Inuit stay far away from the explorers’ ships. (In previous expeditions, trading knives and goods with Inuit was a way to supplement food stores when rations got low.) 3
In one of the parallel universes/timelines in this book, Graham becomes a top-level Ministry of Time bureaucrat. The policies he champions make him one of the architects of the world’s climate catastrophe.
In between the flashbacks that show us the impact of Graham’s manslaughter, we learn he can’t bake a cake. The scene doesn’t seem important, but it is. Because time travel is “like making a cake.”4 In the cake scene, the narrator messes up the time-travel recipe big time. She blunders and mentions Auschwitz, one of three pivotal details from world history with the power to radicalize Graham and thereby change the course of everyone’s future1
Graham’s cake recipe and The Ministry of Time’s time-travel recipe never should have left their respective test kitchens. The recipes aren’t up to snuff. Both result in unstable, soupy messes.
Next Wednesday, & discuss The Ministry of Time on The Stacks Podcast!
Cookbooks: Chapter 6, page 183
Tea: Chapter 1, page 11 / Chapter 2, page 48, 54, 55, 60 / Chapter 3, page 94 / Chapter 4, page 128, 133-5 / Chapter 5, page 159, 152 / Chapter 6, page 185, 195, 199, 201-202, 214, 215 / Chapter 7, page 236-8 / Chapter 10, page 318: “I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, because why not make a cup of tea at the end of the world?”
Bolognese: Chapter 4, page 119-120
Kitchen Table: Chapter 6, page 195, 199, 212 / Chapter 7, page 226, 229 / Chapter 10, page 320-321
Pickled Onions: Chapter 6, page 212
Botched Cake: Chapter 6, page 202
Supermarkets: Chapter 2, page 56 / Chapter 5, page 170 / Chapter 8, page 258
Bradley did cause me to reflect on how the growth of the British Empire was so entwined with food trade (sugar, spices, tea) and agricultural labor exploitation. We need to pay attention to food and water equity globally now because the former colonial powers are still in control of a lot of those resources.
Graham’s Manslaughter: Chapter IV, page 103
No Trade: Chapter VII, page 221
Chapter 10, page 323