Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Knights of the Cheesesteak

HBO is launching its new series, "The Game of Thrones" this weekend. It is based on a series of books by George R. R. Martin. Like many science fiction authors Martin has a dedicated following. His strongest fans are part of an informal group called "Brotherhood Without Banner," which started in Philadelphia about ten years ago. He was asked to knight some of his fans and before doing so he gave them a quest, in this case to find Philly cheesesteaks. Those who returned with the prize were made Knights of the Cheesesteak. This started a tradition where Martin sends fans at conventions on a quest for local foods.

Who knew?

(For more information see Laura Miller's Just Write It! in the April 11th issue of the New Yorker.)

1 comment:

babyraven said...

I just saw this post, even though I know it's old, and have to correct your understanding a bit. I was an original Lady of the Cheesesteak. It took place at Worldcon in 2001; we fans had a big conparty at the hotel and we were partying hard all night. Around 4am George said he was hungry and wanted a cheesesteak, so we all piled into various cars and went to Pat's Steaks together. Once we arrived, someone joked that it'd be funny if we treated this like a quest, and GRRM could knight us. Of course, being the nerds that we were, one guy was like "Oh I have a replica sword in my trunk," so he grabbed it and George knighted each of us one by one. https://www.laweekly.com/winter-is-coming-so-are-the-cheesesteaks-on-game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin-food-quests/ Here's an interview with one of the other "knights".