Caviar And Toast

Nicholas van Rijn, Dominic Flandry and James Bond are all gourmets but there is a difference. The Bond books are exotic travelogues. Detailed descriptions, even instructions, about high living and expensive dining are part of their subject matter. This blog has grown a food thread, partly describing meals consumed by Anderson's characters but mainly listing menus from SM Stirling's works. However, for Anderson and Stirling, meals are a part of life to be described like the seasons and the scenery whereas, for Fleming, there is an agenda: this is how the elite lives. I have just read Bond's loving discussion of caviar with toast and champagne but do not propose to start adding Fleming's recipes to the food thread!

I always read Fleming's series for action and adventure and later learned to my surprise that some readers tried to model their life-style on Bond's. Anderson's characters rightly enjoy life but without elitism.