Natcho Cheese

Sweet, salty, sour, and spicy; food is what sustains us and even treats us to the delicious pleasures this life has to offer. At the same time, food can play a dark role, for it is a pathway between life and death. As seen in the literary works of “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” , “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Short Friday”, the imagery of food is often used to symbolize death. In “The Odyssey”, when food is presented it usually signifies the impending death of a character, as is the case with Agamemnon, his crew and Odysseus’s men. In “The Book of J”, the consumption of forbidden food causes death to enter our world, then becomes the cause of the first murder. In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, the intolerance of food leads to the death of Rosaura and Roberto. “Short Friday” once again demonstrates how death comes knocking when food is consumed without restraint. For although food is a necessity for survival, when caution is not headed and restraint is not exercised food can be a vessel of death.

In The Oddysey, death is a notion the living are constantly preoccupied with, whether it is the idea of offering libations and praise to the dead, or preparing themselves for their own impending death. According to Jean-Pierre Vernant’s interpretive essay “Death with Two Faces”, death is a new form of social existence. Jean illustrates the importance of death to the Greeks in The Odyssey, for it is the manner in which a character dies that determines his fate in the afterlife. The individual who died in the heat of battle, or “in the flower of youth”, would be praised and glorified during death, ensuring “the permanence of their name, their fame” and thus immortality (Vernant 57). However, for those who died “the dreadful death of an old man slaughtered defenselessly”, would find no glory, no fame, and no food offerings (Vernant 57). Death comes in many forms during the course of the Odyssey, but none is more common than the form of food.

The parallel relationship between food and death is clearly illustrated during Odysseus’s trip to the land of the dead, Hades. In order to continue on their quest to find Ithaca, Odysseus and his men must seek the advice of a blind seer who is long dead and can only be found wandering through the underworld. Ironically enough, the only way for Odysseus to engage the dead and communicate with them is through the sacrificial food offering of milk, honey, sweet wine, barley and the blood of a sheep (Ody. XI. 23). As soon as the food is laid out, Odysseus becomes frightened to see “the souls of the dead gathered” around him on all sides, swarming him, trying to get to the food sacrifices (Ody. XI.35). It is through this imagery of food fueling the dead that we truly begin to understand the apparent relationship between the two.

Amidst the feeding frenzy in the underworld, Odysseus encounters Agamemnon, whose own story illustrates the idea of food as the harbinger of death. As Agamemnon “drank the dark blood”, he recounts to Odysseus the events that lead to the untimely death of his men and himself (Ody. XI 400). Upon returning home from battle, Agamemnon and his men were invited to a great feast at the house of Aegisthus. As the unsuspecting men ate food and drank wine, they were mercilessly butchered “like swine for a banquet” (Ody. XI. 426). For Agamemnon and his men, food is strategically used as a guise to lure these battle-hardened men to their deaths.

Much like Aegisthus, the witch Circe also lures unsuspecting men into her home with sweet songs and the promise of food. As Odysseus's sea-strickened men found their way into her home on the island of Aeaea, she prepared for them a Pramnian wine with cheese, barley, honey "and laced this potion with insidious drugs" (Ody. X. 253). When the men were done eating and drinking Circe turns them all into pigs and herds them into sties. Whether or not she was going to eat the pigs is not immediately clear as Odysseus outwits Circe and makes her change them back to their human form. The noteworthy idea however, is that food is a battle tactic Circe uses to capture men and turn them into animals to eventually kill them. It is through Circe, the beautiful seductress offering false sanctuary and food to the unsuspecting traveler that we once again see how sinister food can really be in The Odyssey.

Food as the symbol for death is once again made apparent in “The Book of J”. This literary work, taken from Genesis, describes the origins of the world through the creation of beasts, plants and finally the first two humans who we are introduced to as Adam (man) and Hava (woman). “Untouched by shame” (Book of J 62) and innocent of evil, they live in and tend to the Garden of Eden, where everything they need is provided to them. Yahweh’s only request of Man is that they do not touch (eat from) the tree of knowledge, for on that day death would touch them (Book of J 62). Tempted, they eat the forbidden fruit which brings about the death of paradise and innocence. In his anger, Yahweh casts Adam and Hava out of Eden, forcing them to labor in the soil in order to reap food, and with the promise of death for “Dust you are, to dust you return” (Book Of J 65). As Adam and Hava were the first two humans on Earth, death did not exist until they ate the forbidden fruit.

As Bloom points out in his commentary of The Book of J, the serpent who tempted Hava to eat the forbidden fruit told a “half-truth” when he insisted death will not touch them (Bloom 183). The banishment from paradise for Adam and Hava was, in fact a death sentence. Although the author did not directly state it, once cast out into the world the possibility of death became a reality in the sense that they were no longer safe from wild beasts, waters that could drown them, and they would experience illness and pain (Dean 30).

The first death in “The Book of J” occurs when we are introduced to Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Hava. Cain was “a tiller of soil” and Abel a “watcher of sheep” (Book of J 65). The brothers, in their eagerness to please Yahweh, bring him offerings of food. Cain offers Yahweh “fruit of the earth”, while Abel brings him the “choicest of his flock” (Book of J 66). Yahweh is pleased with Abel’s meat offerings but is “unmoved” by the fruit Cain has given him. Spurned by the rejection of his food by Yahweh, a “disturbed” Cain strikes down his brother and kills him (Book of J 66).

According to Jeol Lohr, Abel’s “superior gift” of a sacrifice, which leaves Cain feeling rejected or “forsaken” by Yahweh, is in fact the driving force behind Abel’s murder (Lohr 491). Rein Nauta, argues that for Cain, the rejection of his food offering also goes deeper than brotherly preference. Cain tilled in the soil and worked the land in order to offer up to Yahweh the fruits of his labor. Yahweh’s disregard for Cain’s offering leaves him feeling abandoned and betrayed, and it is this hurt and humiliation that drive him to punish Abel in retaliation (Nauta 68). As a result of food, Abel becomes the first person to die.

In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, we see food give life to its characters, and by the same token we see food take life from them. Death comes to Rosaura early in life. Plagued through most of the novel, we watch Rosaura battle her inability to tolerate food, which eventually leads to her death by “acute congestion of the stomach” (Esquivel 233). Rosaura’s awkwardness and inability to understand food was her downfall in more ways than one. Rosaura never learned to cook and she never learned how to create food, which in essence, is life. Her inadequacy is especially apparent during the birth of her first child, Rosaura is not able to breast feed and by not being able to provide food, she tilts the scales in favor of death. Tita, in the novel is a direct representation of food and life, at one point even offering “the baby her breast” (Esquivel 76), secretly becoming Roberto’s wet-nurse and providing him with the food he needs to survive. Eventually, Rosaura turns on Tita, refusing her help, and by doing so directly denying food for her son. Rosaura’s denial of Tita, combined with her inability to create food causes the death of Roberto.

In the literary work “Short Friday”, food becomes a doorway that leads Shoshe and Shmul-liebele to Paradise. Shoshe and Shmul-liebele are pious and devoted to each other and their faith. They get by on meager rations all week until Friday arrives, in which Shoshe spares no expense and prepares all kinds of delicious, almost sinful amounts of food. On the Friday in question, upon returning home from temple, Shmul-liebele opens the door to his home and sees Shoshe and the Sabbath supper, which invokes in him a euphoric feeling making him “think of Paradise” (Singer 141). It is interesting to note that parallels between themes exist in “Short Friday”, such as that of the Sabbath meal being a “taste of Paradise” (Eppich 358). After ravenously devouring all the food, Shoshe and Shmul-liebele fall asleep together, and during the course of the night asphyxiate from the fumes of the stove. The food had left them so full and exhausted that they were unable to wake themselves to prevent their own death and thus were guided into Paradise by an angel of God (Singer 145).

Food, albeit wonderful and satisfying plays an equally darker, sinister role, in the stories “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” , “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Short Friday”. Untamed, unlawful, and excessive consumption of food is what brings about the death Odysseus’s men, Adam, Hava, Abel, Roberto, Rosaura, Shoshe and Shmul-liebele. Through these literary works we witness the temptation to lose all restraint over oneself, to consume in excess and unfortunately pay the ultimate price, death.

Works Cited

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Trans. Ellen Claire. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Print.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. United States of America. Hackett Publishing. 2000. Print.
Singer, Isaac Bashevis. A Literary Feast : Short Friday. New York : Atlantic Monthly Pr, 1993. 136-145. Print.
The Book of J. Trans. David Rosenberg. 1st ed. Harold Bloom New York: Grove, 1990. 61-67. Print.

Annotated Bibliography

Bloom, Harold. “The Book of J: Eden and After” 1st ed New York: Grove, 1990. 175-189. Print
Bloom comments on the text and discusses the main significance behind the key points in The Book of J. Bloom discusses the significance behind the expulsion of Paradise, the tree of knowledge, and even the irony in creating the snake that tempts Adam and Hava to eat from it.

Dean, James M. "Domestic and Material Culture in the Middle English Adam Books." 25-47. University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.
James Dean sets out to compare and contrast the five different versions/adaptations of the story of Adam and Eve. Dean focuses on the story in Genesis and how it contains the “first” murder using a realistic, modern interpretation. Most importantly, Dean illustrates the point Yahweh made when he warned Adam of death. The scriptures do not directly state it, but the exile from Eden is a perilous and uncertain life as Adam and Eve are faced with dangers such as wild beasts, waters that can drown them, illness and pain. In Eden no such hardship (or death) existed.

Eppich, Linda Nielson. “Isaac Bashevis Singer’s ‘Short Friday’: Semantic Parallels..” Studies in Short Fiction 27.3 (1990): 357. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.
Linda Eppich explores the parallel theme between Shmul-Leibele, Shoshe, Adam and Eve. Eppich also discusses the parallels within the story itself by comparing it to “theme rhyme” and illustrates the patterns the story follows through lettering (A,B,C,D). The parallels show the connection between the Sabbath Meal as Paradise on Earth, or Food as Death.

Lohr, Jeol N. “Righteous Abel, Wicked Cain: Genesis 4:1 – 16 in the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, and the New Testament” Catholic Biblical Quaterly 71, no. 3 (July 2009) : 485 – 496. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 May 2010.
Jeol Lohr analyzes the reason behind Yahweh’s choice of Abel’s offering over Cain’s. Lohr compares the Hebrew text to the Christian Genesis in order to fully explore the themes and ideas as to the reason behind Yahweh’s favoritism and Abel’s Murder.

Nauta, Rein. “Cain and Abel: Violence, Shame and Jealousy.” Pastoral Psychology 58.1 (2009): 65-71. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 May 2010.
Rein Nauta discusses the murder of Abel, and explores the reasons behind the offerings the brothers make to Yahweh. For Cain, the rejection of his offering goes deeper than brotherly preference.
Cain offered up to Yahweh the fruits of his labor, the very food Yahweh bestowed upon man to eat. Yahweh’s disregard for Cain’s offering leaves him feeling abandoned by the One he depends on as a farmer, the hurt and humiliation cause him to punish Abel in retaliation.

Schein, Seth L. (1996). Reading The Odyssey: Selected Interpretive Essays. In. Jean-Pierre Vernant Death With Two Faces (pp. 55-60). United States of America : Princeton University Press
Seth Schein explores the different ways death is illustrated and achieved in the Odyssey. Death is a pathway to immortality, where upon departure from this world, the name of the deceased will be praised and sung and immortality is gained. There is a common theme in every book of the Odyssey and that is death, the most common way of reaching the underworld is through the theme of food, either by eating or by being eaten.