The Forgotten Feast oleh Vanessa Graham

Portland chef Amara Vitale lives for culinary alchemy, blending unexpected flavors into unforgettable dishes.  But an invitation to the exclusive "Feast of Forgotten Gods," etched with a serpentine sigil, promises a competition unlike any other.  Stepping through a shimmering portal hidden within a forgotten spice market, Amara finds herself not before food critics, but a pantheon of hungry deities – Aztec rain gods, Slavic underworld spirits, and more, their ancient eyes fixed on her with ravenous expectation.

Her task isn't to win, but to appease.  She must recreate sacred meals—ambrosia, intoxicating mead, forbidden fruits—each dish imbued with divine power and the key to unimaginable destruction.  A nameless trickster god, cloaked in shadows, warns her the feast is a prelude to invasion.  These forgotten gods, starved for worship, plan to use her culinary creations to breach the veil between worlds and reclaim Earth.

Amara's kitchen becomes a battlefield. Each spice, each ingredient, is a weapon in her desperate rebellion.  She subtly sabotages each divine dish, manipulating their magic with her earthly knowledge. The trickster, her ambivalent ally, guides her through a labyrinth of divine demands and ancient rivalries, revealing hints of Amara's own forgotten heritage—a lineage connecting her to these very gods.

As ancient aromas fill the ethereal hall, Amara uncovers fragments of the gods’ lost stories, crafting dishes laced with both power and deception. Xipe Totec’s storm-summoning mole is infused with calming moon orchids. The Morrigan’s frenzy-inducing stew simmers with lullabies instead of warrior whispers.  Baba Yaga’s reality-warping pie is filled with the hopes of elders, not the dreams of children.

But the gods are not easily fooled. Suspicion mounts. The trickster reveals his true identity: Loki, Norse god of mischief, exiled and seeking to reshape the balance of the divine through Amara's burgeoning power. Amara’s own heritage is revealed: she is a descendant of Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, her lineage hidden for millennia. Now, she must embrace her birthright and become Earth's protector.

The climax arrives with the final course: a celestial fruit salad meant to open the portal between worlds. Amara, guided by a vision of her grandmother, a woman who unknowingly carried the Hestian flame, chooses defiance.  She reveals herself.