By: Michael Daswick
In the realm of juvenile literary characters, we find almost everything: 13 year-old wizards; youngster time-travelers; space-invaders; kid pirates; spies; sleuths; pet-detectives; dragon masters; explorers of lost islands and haunted houses. There’s even children who tote guns and hunt big game! Harry Potter begat a literary ark which filled with daring kids from Artemis Fowl to Percy Jackson to Captain Underpants.
So one day I asked myself, “Wait a sec. Given the popularity of celebrity chefs and TV cooking shows and the vast food phenomenon, why isn’t there a fictional series about a 13 year-old genius chef?”
Exactly 31 days later, my series was born. Today, it’s three books long with more in the pipeline. With the help of our special-needs daughter and the rest of my family, here’s the story behind the books, and how we mixed food and fiction to create the tales of Zin Mignon.
Special needs
Our daughter, Sidney, has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and communication device full time, and has certainly changed the dynamics of our home. Early on she came to love two things above others: music and cooking shows. Food Network was her friend. Sidney howled at the early Emeril shows. She loved Giada, Top Chef, Gordon Ramsey, and the energy of Rachael Ray. She can sit and watch people cook on TV for hours.
Foodies at heart
Personally, I’ve always been a foodie as well. While I’m no Master Chef, I can cook more than PB&J and mac n’ cheese. With Sidney’s love for food TV, there’s always been a certain cooking culture in our house. Sid’s always been my taste-tester. She tells me when we’re under-seasoned or bland. She’s “helped” me cook in the kitchen forever, and we’ve sat outside in the Arizona sunshine by the barbeque together a million times.
Writing history
Add in my writing background: I’ve written my entire life. I wrote a series of connected short stories in college that earned me both of Columbia’s venerable literary awards. A professor there, world renown as an expert in James Joyce and Ezra Pound, I took my stories to John Steinbeck’s literary agent. They told me, essentially, “These stories are really good; turn them into a novel!”
Chip Rock is born
So I did. I started writing my opus and called it Chip Rock and the Fat Old Fart. It took me a long time due to the fact that I got married, raised three kids and worked hard, professionally, because unfortunately, books do not pay the bills. We were always busy, especially with Sidney and her special needs.
So with my job, the kids, and their little league or swim meets or skit, it took me over 40 years to finish Fat Old Fart. I carried that idea around in my head for years, writing here and there, polishing the plot, looking for that spare hour to write. I changed (improved) the plot fifteen times, edited it up and down, in and out.
In my opinion, I crushed it. It’s finally been published by Playa Chica Press and to my knowledge, that book has earned nothing but five-star reviews.
But that was just the start. As a writer, if you’re on your toes, your eyes are always open for new ideas and fresh (original) material. And sometimes things just fall into your lap.
Food Network inspiration
One day, Sidney and I were watching the Food Network. Seemingly, one of its shows was always on in our house.
That day, Giada was doing her Italian thing. As I mused about books and the next good idea, staring at Giada’s Caprese Salad, it hit me: Hey! How come there isn’t a Series about a 13 year-old phenom chef?
The celebrity food biz is huge, but there’s no fiction that captures this. There’s a gap between the cooking channels and fiction! The food phenomenon continues to grow. Junior Chef stuff is rocking. Suddenly, sitting with Sidney at the TV, Zin Mignon was born.
Thirty-one days later, book one was finished, and I gave it to my wife and kids as a Christmas present. I know what you’re thinking: Over forty years to finish one book, but just thirty-one days for the next? Yes. And IMHO Zin is every bit as good as my “literary” book.
Cooking and books
Inspired by Sidney’s love for food and cooking-as-entertainment, the theme of food became prominent in our house. And with writing as the backdrop, my entire family started chipping in with ideas and “Zin should do this” suggestions. I filtered them, turning and twisting them into compelling threads and wonderful (cliffhanging) endings.
Zin Mignon and a page-turning adventure
Our food-loving daughter became the alter-ego for 13-year-old genius Chef Zin Mignon. He’s a culinary mastermind who was raised in his dad’s pathetic deli in a bad Brooklyn neighborhood where he watched his father toil behind the counter, struggling to support his family.
Early on, Zin is kidnapped by the secretive Mustard Monks from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. Trapped in a remote mountaintop abbey, he undergoes an apprenticeship like no other. And away we go. It gives nothing away to say that Zin eventually serves billionaires, celebrities, and supermodels, while the trials and tribulations mount up. No guns, no car chases.
Uplifting? People will have to find out for themselves.
Young adult mystery and suspense
The Zin series shows that any kid can be great at something, regardless of whether you conform to society or not. Zin is funny, sophisticated, great for all ages, and packed with pop-culture and adventure. The books work as mysteries and never take themselves too seriously. If you like Chopped or Bobby Flay, you’ll love Zin. If you know a child who loves to cook (or their parent), Zin is perfect.
Inspiration and motivation
The series is a bigger and bigger hit among foodies every day. I found inspiration from my daughter’s love for cooking and my love for books. Normally in life, we’re good at stuff that makes us happy. The stories are easy to write because I love the content. Food. Mystery. Kids. Pop-culture.
Here’s the lesson I learned from all this: write about the things you know about. Write about the things you love and enjoy! My passion for food and cooking flows like magic, right into my pages. The books write themselves.
Cooking with kids
We’ve all come to live vicariously through literary characters, movie heroes, superstars. Can my daughter — in her wheelchair — live in the imaginary cooking world of 13-year-old genius Chef Zin Mignon? Can she be the embodiment of Zin Mignon? Absolutely.
As a writer, you take an ordinary, every-day scene, and use your God-given imagination to expand upon it, boost it, grow it into something greater, more descriptive, more compelling. All of us have things we’re good at or want to be good at. All of us have things we love to do, love to dream about. Ideas are hatched from the most random places. And… Extraordinary outcomes all have ordinary beginnings.
About the author
Michael Daswick is a novelist in Arizona. Learn more at www.michaeldaswick.com. All his work, including Zin Mignon and the Secret of the Pickled Pigs’ Feet and the rest of the Zin Series is available on Amazon and all the platforms.
Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
Buy it!
Buy a copy of Zin Mignon and the Secret of the Pickled Pigs’ Feet here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
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Cooking and writing are the same thing in a different form to me. Life in writing where it intersects with food is beautiful! Loving the cover of this too. 🙂
I always liked Anthony Bourdin. His shows were great.