Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia; No Reservations
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Anthony Bourdain, “Global” Alan Weeks, Todd Liebler, Tracey Godwin, Reepicheep, Aslan, and a cast of colorful Narnian OCs.
Rating: Teen and up (mostly for Bourdain-characteristic profanity.)
Length: 6,228 words; podfic 34:21
Content Notes: a vast variety of food, some narratively presented as off-putting; drunkenness; smoking; weed (that he doesn’t get to use); Bourdain’s typical abrasive impertinence; Author Showed Her Work.
Creator Links: Fic: (AO3)
Edonohana; (Dreamwidth)
rachelmanija;
Cover art: (AO3):
moonblossom_graphics;
Podfic: (AO3):
duckgirlieTheme: Food and Cooking, previously recced for Crossovers/Fusions,
previously recced for Small Fandoms, Cultural Differences, Fandom Classics, Older Characters, Research, Worldbuilding
Summary: I’m crammed into a burrow so small that my knees are up around my ears and the boom mike keeps slamming into my head, inhaling the potent scent of toffee-apple brandy and trying to drink a talking mouse under the table.Author’s Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )Reccer's Notes: Okay; what’s the September 2025 Food & Cooking theme even
for if this classic doesn’t circle around for a threepeat? (Twelve years since the last mention should be a sufficient interval.)
This brilliant crossover, all the more poignant in hindsight, nails both Bourdain’s voice and the Narnian sense of place, painstakingly hitting all the beats: Food Porn; Food Gorn (with the acknowledgement that the difference between the two is in the palate of the beholder); departure from what Diana Wynne-Jones would term the Guided Tour into Parts Unknown, with the aid of knowledgeable locals; hospitality in austere circumstances; martial arts (with thought given to the size logistics!); scary local politics; above all, food as a vehicle of cross-cultural understanding.
“No Reservations: Narnia” has the additional distinction of being RPF that not only reached but impressed the subject:
“This is astonishingly well written with an attention to detail that’s frankly a bit frightening…I’m both flattered and disturbed. I think I need a drink.”—Anthony Bourdain.
Fanwork Links: No Reservations: Narnia, by
Edonohana for
innocentsmith.
Inspired Works: Cover art by
moonblossom_graphicsPodfic by
duckgirlie (also available on Jinjurly:
https://audiofic.jinjurly.com/no-reservations-narnia)