Feast or Famine: Food in Literatue

A shared meal is a ritual and a complex combination of the deeply personal consumption of food and the social experience, the details of which define the people eating it, especially in an economic sense.  Scarcity of food is made iconic in the orphanage in the novel "Oliver Twist." Not only is the scant meal in the orphanage a lovely exposition, introducing the theme of Oliver's hardship to the readers, it also unites the orphans in reverence for what they lack, a hearty meal. Yet, despite food's obvious importance to all humans, a meal is a rather predictable and boring thing to describe.  Food is prepared, the table is set, eating commences.  Detailing the ritual further can be incredibly tedious.  So why is so predictable a setting as a meal so often significant in literature or stories in general?

Thomas C. Foster, in "How to Read Literature Like a Professor," stipulates that "whenever people eat or drink together, it's communion."  By "communion,"  Foster does not necessarily mean an act of holiness, merely and act of general togetherness.  Usually people only eat with those they like.  A shared meal is a symbol of mutual closeness and trust or can make apparent a lack thereof.  In either case a shared meal is a marvelous literary tool to bring characters together or highlight their separateness, and more simply a convenient excuse for characters to be in the same room.  A famous scene in Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" features the Cratchit family's modest feast, a symbol of love and kinship despite economic hardship. The cultural significance of eating together is exemplified in the fantasy country of Westeros, loosely based on western Europe in the series "A song of Ice and Fire" when many of the characters describe their horror when one family kills another family at a wedding uniting the two, breaking an important social code of honor.  Similarly, in  Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," the social implications and often unspoken codes of sharing food are examined when a boy is shamed by Scout for pouring syrup all over his food, an implication of poverty, and in turn Scout is shamed by Calpurnia for being rude to her guest.  However, the implications and purpose of sharing a meal seems obvious. While Thomas Foster focuses on the significance of shared meals, any food reference in literature can act as a symbol and further character development.

Food in a story can signify countless things.  A character may taste his or her childhood in a bowl of soup; food can invoke wholesome feelings of love and family.  Food is a great signifier of culutral heritage and origins.  In the book the "The Color Purple" a myriad of scenes feature poor southern food, such as black eyed peas, placing the characters squarely in a specific socio-economic class that is both a source of strife and pride.   In turn, food is often looked upon as sinful, the consumption of which is extremely private.  Fasting is a symbol of virtue, gluttony a sin.  The maiden never devours her dinner, but nibbles on tea cakes or any other dainty fare.  Food symbolically is intertwined with sex, whether it be shared or not. This is true in any great food centered story.  In the film "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover," food is a shamelessly ubiquitous symbol.  Sumptuous and exotic fare is devoured, in particular rich meats.  This consumption of flesh is intensely sexual and disturbing culminating in the taboo act of cannibalism.  In a similar, if more sedate manner, C. S. Lewis exhibits the sinful nature of food in "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe," when a young boy, Edmund is seduced into betrayal of his brothers and sisters by the allure of Turkish Delight, which he greedily devours.  In short, even though eating can be a banal activity, in literature it is a powerful signifier of not only the relationships of the characters, but their backgrounds, desires, and personalities.