Jeff Dupois and A. G. Pasquella compiled a collection of short stories looking to answer the following question: As the future unfolds, how will food change and how will it change us? Devouring Tomorrow puts together 16 stories by Canadian writers that mostly present a bleak future full of hardships and considerably short on food.
Other themes explored in this collection are the role of synthetic food, global warming and climate disasters, rampant capitalism, and evil corporations monopolizing everything. But not everything is gloomy and lost forever. Most of these stories have human protagonists that interact with other people. While some of them are surviving in the middle of the apocalypse and biblical days of reckoning, others are trying to get by in dystopian and authoritarian societies. And what most characters have in common is believing in doing the right thing, as small as it is.
Take for instance “Lorenzo and the Last Fig” by Eddy Boudel Tan. The short story’s protagonist is a boy named Lorenzo who had to immigrate to Canada after climate change struck his natal Italy. In the story, the weather has ravaged most of the fruits and animals, turning them into the stuff of legend. One day, however, a fig tree appears in the forest near the town Lorenzo lives. Lorenzo explains how the tree must be taken care of, but no one listens to him. Boudel Tan’s narrative touches on migration, climate change, how non-sensical science and preservation efforts can be at times, and how all this trauma can affect a child. It’s succinct, heart-felt, and made me cry by the end. Lorenzo is the perfect example of hope and trying to do better every day. It also helps he always wears an AC Milan cap.
The compilation also includes other stories that push the genre to new limits. “Succulent” by Elan Mastai doesn’t present characters, just presents voices. And it doesn’t use dialogues. It’s just like being in the middle of an argument between three people and having no idea how you got there in the first place. Format-wise it’s refreshing and dynamic, and it pulls you into these people’s lives immediately.
Voice and point of view are other elements these authors play with, as is the case with “Marianne Is Not Hungry” by Jowita Bydlowska. Here, food is the narrator and villain as the protagonist has a complicated relationship with food and with the act of eating. This short story also brings back the premise of the compilation to the personal and visceral. It’s not always about the greater vision of humankind, but also the role food plays in the private.
The story that closes out the compilation is “Recipe from the Future” by Gary Barwin. To tone veers from fatalistic to hopeful: “All there’ll be will be the future. The future waiting for us to eat it. The future that’s ran out of past and that’s ran out of present.” This story wraps up the vibes of the compilation by showing that we’re headed to a very possible and terrible future due to all the greed and out-of-control consumption. However, we don’t have anything else but the future to look forward to. So now that we have an idea of what could happen, we could try and deviate from that.
Devouring Tomorrow is not only a glimpse into the upcoming times, but also a cautionary compilation of tales. The short stories are immersive, memorable, and very entertaining. Not to mention that it works as a catalogue of current Canadian writers to keep on our radars. So, if you’re looking for a short-and-sweet ride through the future, be sure to give this a go. It’s a marvelous book to invest some time in.
Adriana Acevedo is an editor, writer, and sleep paralysis demon. She's been published in magazines like samfiftyfour and Impostor. She's bilingual and living in the monstrous Mexico City. Whenever she's not reading horror stories or watching horror movies, she's baking sourdough bread. Read more of her writing here.