With Daria Lavelle, on her breakout novel ‘Aftertaste'
Daria Lavelle was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in New York. Her work explores themes of identity and belonging and her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere. Daria is the author of the critically acclaimed new novel Aftertaste which explores food, grief and the uncanny.
On the podcast she tells Liv about her 'inexplicable' love of olives as a child in Ukraine, trying to make it as a writer in New York and how to write about food without it feeling contrived.
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The Guardian
7 days ago
- The Guardian
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle review – what exactly is ‘clairgustance'?
Reading Aftertaste, I found myself wondering how readers visualised novels before the age of cinema. Now we all have a set of preformed mental images of things we might never have seen – or won't ever see – in real life, from plane crashes to zombie apocalypses. Sometimes, a novel comes along with a climactic scene that's so exact a fit for a particular movie's aesthetic (Ghostbusters, in this case: we're talking angry spooks! SFX! Manhattan!) that it's practically an extension of the franchise. Daria Lavelle's debut is an amalgamation of hypermodern satire, slushy romance and savvy cultural allusion that is as vigorously brought together as its lead character's recipes. Konstantin 'Kostya' Duhovny has been plagued since childhood with a strange affliction. Tastes he has never experienced invade his mouth. He seems to be having other people's food memories. But whose? A lowly restaurant dishwasher, he has a big advantage over the other kitchen serfs: pinning down these evanescent flavours has given him a huge repertoire of tastes and techniques, fast-tracking his culinary skills, and soon he is rising in New York's haute restaurant scene. When he recreates a cocktail he has fleetingly tasted, a ghost appears, sending Kostya in panic to a psychic, who luckily turns out to be a beautiful young woman. Goth girl Maura offers a diagnosis: what he suffers from is clairgustance, which allows him to taste the favourite foods of the departed, connecting him with the dead. As movie lore dictates, Maura and Kostya can't link romantically just yet. Dispatching him with a baleful warning never to repeat the experiment, she disappears from the narrative – for now. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Lavelle excels in conjuring the scenes behind the swinging doors, where head chefs hassle, sous chefs hustle and sweating waitstaff barrel in and out. An episode with Kostya meandering glumly through a pretentious sea-themed pop-up nightclub is also terrific in its caustic observation of hipster types. Chapter headings uphold the culinary theme: Mise en Places, Entrée, Backburners, as well as the more intriguing Hard to Swallow and Discomfort Food. Working at Saveur Fare, an El Bulli-style gastrodome, Kostya experiments with menus in spare moments, then opens his own secret supper club, promising punters the chance of a final meeting with a departed loved one. Sometimes full materialisation ensues, sometimes it doesn't, but a mystery investor gets wind and offers an upgrade: Kostya's own restaurant. Interpolated passages in italics represent the banter of an overeager tour guide to 'The Konstantin Duhovny Culinary Experience' ('All right! How we doing? Getting a taste for our guy's secret sauce?'). The moment when we twig just who is leading the tour is expertly timed. Maura and Kostya soon reconnect, but it's strange that someone who can write so scathingly about the sillier aspects of modern life can also come up with dialogue like this: 'No! Konstantin, that isn't – that might be how it started, but it isn't how it stayed! I fell for you. It would have been so much easier if I hadn't.' Hungry spirits are now jostling for attention and the veil between worlds is fraying. There has already been a sneaky reference to Ghostbusters, and sentences such as 'A waiter slipped behind a thick velvet curtain, only to be driven out by a cackling ghost' suggest that Bill Murray and crew will charge through the door at any moment. But the novel is seasoned with plenty of imagination, pathos and novelty: it even updates the famous literary principle of Chekhov's gun in foodie terms, but I won't spoil that particular innovation. Aftertaste pulls together familiar elements of romance and the supernatural, adding a dash of Anthony Bourdain-style bullishness and a pinch of Davelle's own authorial smarts. I'll bet there's a run on fleur de sel right after publication day. Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle is published by Bloomsbury (£16.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Spectator
20-05-2025
- Spectator
With Daria Lavelle, on her breakout novel ‘Aftertaste'
Daria Lavelle was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in New York. Her work explores themes of identity and belonging and her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere. Daria is the author of the critically acclaimed new novel Aftertaste which explores food, grief and the uncanny. On the podcast she tells Liv about her 'inexplicable' love of olives as a child in Ukraine, trying to make it as a writer in New York and how to write about food without it feeling contrived.
Metro
16-05-2025
- Metro
Ex WWE star wraps first film role after shock exit and Invicta move
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Former WWE superstar Sonya Deville has revealed she's finished work on her first movie role. The 31-year-old ex-Raw and SmackDown star, who will make her commentary debut tonight at women's mixed martial arts event Invicta FC 62 under her real name Daria Berenato, is exploring all her options after her WWE contract wasn't renewed earlier this year. She exclusively told Metro: 'I always say to my wife [Toni], she hates the saying, but I'm always like, 'the world is our oyster', because that's truly how I feel and how I've always felt. 'I feel like manifestation is key, and anything you put your mind to, anything you can think of, you can do. 'So yeah, acting is something that I'm actively pursuing, and I've just wrapped a movie a couple weeks ago, so that'll be coming out soon. So that's fun. [I'm] taking it day by day.' When it comes to giving any more details, Daria insisted she's 'not allowed to yet', but that there'll be more information 'when the time is right'. However, the former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion did offer a hint of the kind of roles she could take on given her own tastes. 'I love thrillers. I love action thrillers, psychological thrillers. I'm a really big fan of series,' she smiled. 'I like Breacher, I like Tracker, shows like that that I can kind of follow along and get into the action with them.' She feels like the work she did over a decade with WWE has shown her 'versatility and diversity', from her sports-based presentation and later a stint as General Manager to the work she did as part of Mandy Rose, Otis and Dolph Ziggler's love triangle. 'I'm kind of excited to put some of those skills to use now, hopefully this Friday night,' she added with a nod to her Invicta commentary debut tonight. Daria is 'surprised' by the way her life changed, admitting she didn't expect WWE not to renew her contract before it expired in February – but her reaction might surprise people. 'It was almost like an immediate sigh of relief. Because when you're there, you're in that world, it's so competitive, and you're always having the looming [thought], 'When is the day going to come?' Not if, because everyone at some point gets let go or leaves,' she pointed out. 'I had been there for a decade. My entire 20s were spent there from 21 to 31 so I really felt like I got to show what I can do, and I got to experience so many things, and I just left with gratitude. I was like, 'That was amazing. Chapter one's over. Now it's time for chapter two.' ' For that second chapter, Daria is going back to her MMA roots after talks with Shannon Knapp had her sold on being part of a promotion she first watched at shows over a decade ago. 'As I was fighting MMA, and kind of trying to blaze my own path in the sport, I always dreamed of fighting at Invictus,' she beamed. 'It's a very full circle moment.' Daria was 'really devastated' when she left the MMA world behind for reality show WWE Tough Enough in 2015, which led to her contract with the sports entertainment giant. After feeling like she was in a 'time warp for 10 years' laser-focused on that career, Daria is delighted to be heading back. '[MMA] was kind of my identity at the time,' she reflected. 'That's why I feel like this moment, joining Invicta on the commentary team, is so special, and it's somewhere so deep in my heart.' That's not to say she's closed the door on pro wrestling, and she's well aware that people will make connections between Invicta and WWE partner TNA, given they both fall under the Anthem banner. 'There's definitely something about [TNA] that intrigues me. I'm not blind to the fact that the same company owns Invicta and TNA,' she quipped. 'I will just say, I think the best is yet to come. So we will see. I don't have answers right now to give you, but I think that there's conversations to be had.' More Trending Whether it's MMA or pro wrestling – or even the Unwrapped podcast with her wife Toni – Daria is leaving all doors open and staying open minded. 'I feel like the best is yet to come for me. I feel like in every aspect, I'm better than I've ever been. My body feels great, I feel more athletic than I was in my 20s,' she said. 'Maybe I'm a late bloomer, I don't know, but I just feel better than I've ever felt. And I feel like the options are endless, but I'm really enjoying what I'm doing right now.' View More » Invicta FC 62 airs live at 1am via YouTube PPV. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: 'Perfect' Netflix show renewed for season 2 but fans worry it won't be the same MORE: WWE legend Jim Ross, 73, diagnosed with cancer after years of health struggles MORE: 'Unhinged' new TV series compared to Little Britain horrifies Netflix fans
