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Culinaria

Finalist Year 9/10 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Young Writer Competition
Eddie Nagul Age 14 Year 9 Carey Baptist Grammar School
"The Best Meal I Ever Had - Adrianis of Culinaria"

To the humble reader who may encounter this journal, make no mistake in that I am a victim of this society. You will likely share the same fate, judging that you discovered this journal in my prison cell. I shall dismiss the details of my demise, and instead strive to educate you about this way of life, and the greatest glory of my time, and our history – the ultimate meal.

I hail, dear reader, from a land known as Culinaria. Our society, as you may have gathered, is structured upon food, and the greatest delicacies, at that. Culinary perfection, the bountiful harvest and the word of our Lord And Master High Chef Adrinas are the tenets of life. Adrinas is personally served by his Disciples, who are the hand-picked masters from across what is left of mother Earth. They are his assistants in the Kitchen of Elders, our ancestral hall of worship. But as you may be thinking, dear reader, why is not a Lord served by others? ‘Twould be heresy to live as such. Our Lord’s cuisine is the finest to exist, and the most exhilarating to ingest. His word of authority, although harsh, is respected by all.

Now, dear reader, I believe I should explain to you the divine task that Our Lord Adrinas was charged with – The Ultimate Meal. Our Lord Adrinas’ definition was that the Ultimate meal was to be the one most pleasing to our senses of taste and wellbeing. Our Lord Adrinas began to formulate the plans for the feast. He believed that the populace of Culinaria were oblivious to his intentions.

You see, dear reader, on the grounds of past discrepancies, my Lord Adrinas was determined to settle a score. A belief of his that I was unskilled grew over time, and therefore unfit to live as a personal Disciple. He saw me as a vile destroyer of culinary talent. Adrinas failed to realise that my skill lay not in the preparation of fine food, but in the life behind it. He would remove this ‘spanner in the works’ by subtly removing me. Yes, dear reader, the journal that you currently read is the journal of a Disciple, a personal acolyte of Adrinas.

It was at that stage that my plan began to accumulate substance. Unbeknownst to our Lord, I had taken a secret hand in the oversight of the great feast preparation. I had seen through his private snare. The meal that was to poison me was an ancestral specialty of mine; that of fine chicken overset with a wine and truffle sauce. Adrinas’ perversion of this involved precisely undercooked chicken (fatal if the food poisoning is not treated with a certain degree of urgency) covered with not truffles, but a similarly coloured fungus that was well known for its potent poison.

I publicly unveiled Adrinas’ murder plan, and brought the Chef Lord to his knees. I shall simply state, dear reader, that the former High Chef was officially banished from society. I finished the feast preparations that he had begun, and yes, it was more than worthy of the title ‘divine’. Mastery of sauces, creativity in preparing meats and subtle flavour additions were the cornerstones of this ‘Ultimate Meal’. The populace rejoiced.

Due to my lawful and honest efforts, I was promoted to the title of High Chef. The memory of that fateful night shall remain with my soul always… but I digress. The night of my ascension to power, I enjoyed the most delectable meal ever to grace a human soul. My self-prepared ancestral chicken and truffle dish was the main focus of the evening’s dining, and my loyal Disciples contributed well. Exotic fish, lavishly garnished potatoes, creatively prepared vegetables and luscious fruits added much to the most exhilarating, incredible, creative and sumptuous meal to ever fire the human heart and satisfy the spirit.

My downfall, dear reader, was on that very night. By the time my meal was properly ingested, I had been arrested under ambiguous circumstances. I could already feel it within my stomach that something was amiss. Once I was barbarically dragged to this cell you stand in now, dear reader, the venom had already taken effect. And nailed to the wall was a note. Before my mortal coil expired forever, I managed one last fleeting glance at the familiar handwriting.
“Your life is forfeit, foe. I, dear brother, have had my vengeance after a life of pain and power. Yours sincerely.”
It was signed ‘Adrinas’.

What the Judges said:
Very elegant prose in true fantasy style and generous use of food adjectives. A bit over the top but still a worthy finalist.
Excellent. Great imagination. Works well. Terrific story centring on the meal. Often fantasy doesn't work, but this attempt succeeds.
Didn't get the deux et machina (refer below) for the ending - a bit too overblown.
Found this didn’t quite explain itself, despite the enormous potential and terrific writing style. I was left unsure as to what it was about.

Deux Et Machina or Deus Ex Machina is a Latin phrase with the Dictionary definitions:
Deux/s: God
Et/x: From
Machina: Machine
So, literally- 'God from Machine'..

1. In Greek and Roman drama, a god lowered by stage machinery to resolve a plot or extricate the protagonist from a difficult situation.
2. An unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.
3. A person or event that provides a sudden and unexpected solution to a difficulty.

You write your characters into a corner with no way out but divine intervention. It might be OK if it were foreshadowed but usually it isn't.

WebRefs:
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/deus+ex+machina
http://www.inreview.com/archive/topic/13559.html

growing up / cooking food / knowing how / feeling good