Read or eat? Why not both? In Hong Kong, book clubs and events pair dining with reading

In a Chai Wan industrial building in late February, food designer Alison Tan Jia-qi was instructing a room of 20 Hong Kong diners on how to eat rice with a pat of Échiré, an artisanal French butter. “She perched a sliver of butter on top of the rice. From one of the sachets of soy sauce that came with the convenience store bento boxes … [she] squeezed a single drop.” Tan’s commands were met with a chuckling crowd, tickled by the stingy amount prescribed. Tan was reading an excerpt from Asako Yuzuki’s cult bestseller, Butter, on which the literary dinner – co-hosted by mobile second-hand bookstore Gentle Books – was based. Inspired by a true story, the 2017 thriller follows a journalist’s investigation into an alleged murderer cum gourmet cook. Over the next three hours, guests were presented with seven dishes that not only marked key turning points in the 465-page tale but also the protagonist’s journey to self-atonement. Small group discussions ensued with every course, from idle chitchat to intimate exchanges spawned from cue cards provided on the table. Throughout the night, a mason jar of double cream also made its way through the crowd, meant to be jolted and shaken into, aptly, butter. This culinary experience was an example of the literary dinners in Hong Kong that are turning the otherwise isolated pastime of reading into an incredibly social endeavour. Beyond meeting like-minded people, these experiences are what Diane Wang and Jessica Cheung – co-founders of Gentle Books – call “activating books in different ways”. “Food, like books, offers wonderful gathering moments,” Wang says. “By mirroring some of the acts in Butter, people feel more engaged and can explore a different side of both the dishes and the story, rather than just passively consuming.” Lee See-mi – an English teacher who attended the Chai Wan literary event with members from her own book club – says that her group even compared their satiety the morning after to that of the protagonist, claiming that this style of event “helped them access the book further”. This eat-read-discuss trifecta is also something her book club practises in its bimonthly meet-ups, such as by incorporating cuisine inspired by the author’s ethnicity. For their last book club selection, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, they enjoyed glasses of red wine. “People read so much less these days,” Lee says. “This is another way to make books cool, especially when you enjoy reading but crave a social aspect to it. Events like these are also good ways to meet people who like books.” This “joy of geeking out together” is the essence of Gentle Books, says Cheung. “It’s an unexpected delight to find people like ourselves in Hong Kong,” she says. “Events in our city usually centre around matchmaking and networking and rarely offer anything in between, so ones that are focused on books are very niche.” While Butter’s culinary-forward narrative makes for a perfect literary dinner, food can also take on more implicit interpretations. Last year, Ztoryhome – a cafe and wine bar in Sai Ying Pun – served a six-course dinner themed after different moments of the day, from “morning” to the more ambiguous “anytime”. Each course was paired with an illustrated book. Other times, meals themselves can be catalysts for socialisation. Since late 2024, wine bar and retailer Crushed – also in Sai Ying Pun – has been regularly hosting “A Dinner with Books” with Gentle Books, in which sharing plates are served among group discussions about each person’s current reads, aided by prompts provided on cue cards. Crushed’s co-founder Leigh-Ann Luckett says while these events mostly attract Gentle Books’ followers, they also appeal to her guests who frequent the bar’s quieter corners to read something – whether it is their own book or one from Crushed’s library of fiction and food- and wine-related volumes. While finding like-minded strangers seems to be the common thread in literary dinners regardless of the format, finding the sweet middle ground between guided immersive activities – like the Échiré-butter-on-rice role play – and free-rein discussion can be challenging. “We’re always conscious of how our community wants to engage,” says Gentle Books’ Cheung. “Particular aspects of immersiveness require more involvement, and expected ways of involvement, which is less free-form than what our audiences prefer.” She adds that she would often overhear “very deep conversations” at their events. “Our cue cards are optional crutches or guides for people who want to engage at different levels – from easy topics to truly vulnerable questions. Sometimes, it’s easier to talk to strangers: there’s a cathartic element to it.” Luckett favours the non-title-exclusive format, believing it is more welcoming to readers of all sorts and does not burden her kitchen team in crafting and executing a separate, one-off menu like the Butter endeavour. Looking forward, she hopes to introduce an even more passive book event – the Sip & Read, which Gentle Books has been hosting since early 2024 – for her introverted guests. For around HK$160 (US$20), guests receive a glass of wine and the space to read quietly before an hour-long, unguided discussion among fellow attendees. “We want to do something that best showcases the Crushed space, and we usually have a wait-list with the current format. So, it definitely has enough demand and good traction with guests,” she says. For food designer Tan, however, these events allow for boundless possibilities. “There’s no categorical sweet spot because there’s a different goal for different kinds of events, [depending on] levels of engagement and immersion interest. “There are people who like discussions, and there are audiences who’d want to contribute more actively, feeding into the electricity knowing that their night will be different from everyone else’s. I like to include in all of my dinners something that makes my guests uncomfortable – it’s the principle that brings people together,” she says, referring to discussions with strangers as the points of “discomfort” at the Butter event. “Every event is to showcase food as a way of connecting and to get people to think about what is on their plate.”

Read or eat? Why not both? In Hong Kong, book clubs and events pair dining with reading

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Food and books are being combined to turn a solitary pastime into a tasty one that fosters connection and discussion for Hongkongers

Food and books are being combined to turn a solitary pastime into a tasty one that fosters connection and discussion for Hongkongers