Daria Lavelle Discusses Her Novel 'Aftertaste' with Club Calvi

The Premise of 'Aftertaste'

• 💡 The novel "Aftertaste" features a New York City chef with the unique ability to taste the favorite foods of ghosts, helping them reunite with loved ones for a final meal.
• 🎯 This ability offers closure but comes at an emotional cost, exploring themes of memory, love, longing, and letting go.

Inspiration and Core Concepts

• 🧠 Author Daria Lavelle was inspired by a vivid image of a chef plating food for a ghost, leading her to explore the concept of Clare Gustins, the psychic connection to taste.
• 💬 Lavelle discovered Clare Gustins during research, finding it was little-documented but perfectly suited her story about a chef who can taste a meal's components and the memories associated with it.
• 🍽️ The novel deeply explores the connection between food and life, encompassing love, hunger, passion, and origins.

Character Development and Themes

• 💔 The central character, Constantine, is a Ukrainian immigrant chef haunted by the loss of his father at a young age, struggling with grief and a "failure to launch" mentality.
• 🌍 Constantine's backstory, including his immigrant experience and the dichotomy of food as comfort versus othering, mirrors Lavelle's own background.
• 👻 The narrative expands to explore the spirit world, with Constantine straddling the worlds of the living and the dead.

Culinary and Research Elements

• 🔬 Lavelle conducted extensive research into various cuisines, ingredients, and cooking methods, drawing inspiration from New York City's diverse culinary scene and cookbooks.
• ✍️ The creation of dishes was often driven by the emotions between characters, with flavors chosen to accentuate specific feelings and relationships.
• 🍸 The "Spectral Sour" cocktail is highlighted as the first dish Constantine prepares to bring back a ghost, symbolizing the layers of a relationship through its flavors.

Literary Success and Future Projects

• 🏆 "Aftertaste" has achieved international acquisition for publication and has been optioned by Sony Pictures for movie rights.
• 🎬 Lavelle is particularly excited to see the "Spectral Sour" scene and the depiction of the afterlife's food hall translated to the screen.
• 🚢 Lavelle is currently working on a new novel about an enchanted ship arriving in San Francisco in 1899, hinting at potential supernatural or spirit world elements.