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The Snark | Chicken for Dessert?

Writer's picture: The SnarkThe Snark
Sure, Why Not Ruin Everything at Once?

Picture this: you’re halfway through a book, vibing with the rich descriptions of an exotic meal. The heroine is about to eat dessert—something creamy, dreamy, decadent. Then BAM! The narrator casually drops the bombshell: there’s shredded chicken breast in the pudding. Excuse me, what? Did the chef lose a bet? Did someone misunderstand the assignment? Nope. Welcome to Turkey, home of Tavuk Göğsü, a dessert so bizarre it’s practically trolling you. 


For fiction writers, Tavuk Göğsü is a lesson in how to keep your audience on their toes—and maybe trigger their gag reflex. If this culinary plot twist can exist in real life, your fictional world can (and should) get a lot weirder. If your story doesn’t have at least one “chicken dessert” moment, are you even trying? 


It’s Not Gross, It’s “Authentic”

Let’s address the raw, poultry-flavored elephant in the room: why, though? Why would anyone put chicken in a dessert? Was it a desperate accident, like someone dropping their rotisserie dinner into the custard and going, “Eh, might as well roll with it”? Actually, Tavuk Göğsü hails from Ottoman cuisine, which was all about throwing unexpected ingredients together to flex their culinary creativity. Apparently, dessert needed protein back then. 


As a writer, this is where you learn to embrace the strange. Tavuk Göğsü isn’t weird for weird’s sake (though let’s not pretend it isn’t also deeply weird); it’s rooted in culture and history. The same applies to your stories. Readers will forgive your oddball world-building or eccentric characters as long as there’s a deeper reason for their quirks. Random weirdness feels lazy. Weirdness with purpose? That’s art—or at least a really memorable dinner party story. 


Appalling Is the New Memorable

Imagine a novel where a character serves Tavuk Göğsü at a gathering. Everyone’s trying to politely hide their shock, but the dessert becomes the only thing anyone talks about for weeks. “Did you try the chicken pudding? Is that… normal?” And years later, you might forget the plot of that book, but you’ll never forget the chicken dessert. That’s how you want your writing to land—permanently lodged in your readers’ brains like the memory of poultry in pudding. 


The lesson here? Don’t just aim for “interesting.” Aim for “what the actual hell?” Make your readers uncomfortable. Confuse them. Delight them. Give them something they’ll remember long after the characters and plot fade into the background. If a centuries-old dessert can pull this off, your novel can, too. 


Chicken Dessert: The Metaphor You Didn’t Know You Needed

Here’s the real kicker: Tavuk Göğsü works. Against all odds, people love it. It’s creamy, sweet, and the chicken just… disappears into the texture. (No, really. You’re not supposed to taste it; it’s all about the mouthfeel. Comforting, right?) Tavuk Göğsü is the perfect metaphor for writing. Great stories take two elements that shouldn’t go together—love and war, humor and tragedy, poultry and pudding—and somehow make them harmonious. 

 

Your characters should be the same. Don’t make them flat or predictable. Give them contradictions. Let them be sweet on the surface but hiding some shredded chicken weirdness in their core. And for heaven’s sake, don’t make your plot too neat. Life isn’t neat. Tavuk Göğsü sure isn’t. Let your stories be messy, unexpected, and maybe a little unsettling. 


Closing Thought: Serve the Weird, Always

Tavuk Göğsü isn’t for everyone. Some people will embrace it as an adventurous delight. Others will recoil in horror and question your life choices. Either way, it gets a reaction—and that’s exactly what you want your writing to do. 


So, the next time a literary agent rejects your manuscript for being “too unconventional” or “not what we’re looking for,” channel the spirit of Tavuk Göğsü. Remember that chicken dessert has been beloved for centuries despite (or because of) how insane it sounds. Be bold. Be weird. Let your characters serve metaphorical chicken pudding, and trust that the right readers will eat it up—maybe even ask for seconds. 


The Snark



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