Food, until recently, seemed to be one of those blessedly uncontroversial things one could rely on. ‘Food is great, I love it so much,’ one could say with naive simplicity and be met with not derision but warm agreement.
With some political elements now trying to control what people put on their plates, and with World Food Day a recent memory, let us turn to the large embrace of literature to celebrate food and the many, many things it can mean to us.
Famous Five Series by Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton, the beloved English children’s lit author, is known widely for her mouth-watering descriptions of typical country fare. Nowhere is her love of food and everything it represents – sibling companionship, youthful appetites, the charm of a simple life – more evident than in the Famous Five series. Sample this:
A large ham sat on the table, and there were crusty loaves of new bread. Crisp lettuces, dewy and cool, and red radishes were side by side in a big glass dish, great slabs of butter and jugs of creamy milk.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Every child with a bookish bent has known the ache of yearning for a letter from Hogwarts, all considerations of reality and fiction be damned. A large part of what makes Hogwarts so irresistible to Harry and, by extension, us, is that it provides in plenty what our orphan protagonist has been so starved of – friendship, love, food. This is why Rowling’s description of the feast in the first book is curiously moving:
Harry’s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Joanne Harris can almost be considered the patron saint of foodie literary fiction. From Peaches for Monsieur Le Cure to Five Quarters of the Orange, food plays an essential role in her stories, often as a sensual, magical treat for parched senses. Take this passage, for instance:
The air is hot and rich with the scent of chocolate. Quite unlike the white powdery chocolate I knew as a boy, this has a throaty richness like the perfumed beans from the coffee stall on the market, a redolence of amaretto and tiramisu, a smoky, burned flavor that enters my mouth somehow and makes it water. There is a silver jug of the stuff on the counter, from which a vapor rises. I recall that I have not breakfasted this morning.
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
This entry is unusual because DFW uses lobsters as a springboard for profound meditations on the nature of morality, crustacean sensory experience, and existence itself. His intellectual ambition is matched only by the largeness of his imaginative sympathy, a recipe for breathlessly beautiful prose.
In any event, at the Festival, standing by the bubbling tanks outside the World’s Largest Lobster Cooker, watching the fresh-caught lobsters pile over one another, wave their hobbled claws impotently, huddle in the rear corners, or scrabble frantically back from the glass as you approach, it is difficult not to sense that they’re unhappy, or frightened, even if it’s some rudimentary version of these feelings… and, again, why does rudimentariness even enter into it? Why is a primitive, inarticulate form of suffering less urgent or uncomfortable for the person who’s helping to inflict it by paying for the food it results in?
Idgah by Premchand
Idgah by Premchand, an NCERT favourite, is the story of an orphan child Hamid who lives with his grandmother in an impoverished but warm household. The Eid fair, with its profusion of treats, represents to Hamid an extremely rare opportunity for gratification. His moment of childish heroism, one that never fails to touch the reader, comes when he turns away from sweets and toys to buy tongs for his aged grandmother who routinely burns her fingers making rotis for the two. In the following excerpt, Hamid’s well-off friends tempt him with the thoughtless cruelty unique to children.
ईदगाह के मेले में खिलौने के बाद मिठाइयाँ आती हैं। किसी ने रेवड़ियां ली हैं, किसी ने गुलाबजामुन, किसी ने सोहन हलवा। मजे से खा रहे हैं। हामिद बिरादरी से पृथक है। अभागे के पास तीन पैसे हैं। क्यों नहीं कुछ लेकर खाता? ललचाई ऑंखों से सबकी ओर देखता है।
मोहसिन कहता है—हामिद रेवड़ी ले जा, कितनी खुशबूदार है!
हामिद को सदेंह हुआ, ये केवल क्रूर विनोद हें मोहसिन इतना उदार नहीं है, लेकिन यह जानकर भी वह उसके पास जाता है। मोहसिन दोने से एक रेवड़ी निकालकर हामिद की ओर बढ़ाता है। हामिद हाथ फैलाता है। मोहसिन रेवड़ी अपने मुँह में रख लेता है। महमूद नूरे ओर सम्मी खूब तालियां बजा-बजाकर हँसते हैं। हामिद खिसिया जाता है।
मोहसिन—अच्छा, अबकी जरूर देंगे हामिद, अल्लाह कसम, ले जा।
हामिद—रखे रहो। क्या मेरे पास पैसे नहीं है?
सम्मी—तीन ही पेसे तो हैं। तीन पैसे में क्या-क्या लोगें?
महमूद—हमसे गुलाबजामुन ले जाओ हामिद। मोहमिन बदमाश है।
हामिद—मिठाई कौन बड़ी नेमत है। किताब में इसकी कितनी बुराइयां लिखी हैं।
मोहसिन—लेकिन दिल में कह रहे होगे कि मिले तो खा लें।
(After toys, the children’s attention turns to sweets at the Eid fairground. Some buy revdi, some enjoy gulab jaamun, while others turn to halwa. Everyone is immersed in enjoying these delights. Only Hamid remains an outsider. This unfortunate child has only three paise. Why doesn’t he make use of them to eat something? His hungry eyes take the others in.
Mohsin says, ‘Try some revdi, Hamid. Look how good it smells!’
Hamid is suspicious. Mohsin is only being cruel in tempting him; generosity is not something that Hamid associates with Mohsin. Still, Hamid can’t help himself. He goes to Mohsin, who takes some revdi out of the bowl and extends it to Hamid. Just as Hamid is about to accept it, Mohsin snatches his hand back and quickly gulps down the revdi. Mahmood Noor and Sammi clap and chortle appreciatively. Hamid becomes irritated.
Mohsin- I swear to God I will not play this prank again. Come, take the revdi, Hamid.
Hamid- Keep your revdi. Do you think I don’t have money enough to afford my own?
Sammi- You only have three paise. They won’t get you much.
Mahmood- Here, take these gulab jaamun from me, Hamid. Mohsin is a prankster.
Hamid- Sweets are not such a big deal anyway. All our books say they’re bad for us.
Mohsin- This is only lip-service. In your heart of hearts, you know you want them.)
‘Kai Dinon Tak Chulha Roya’ by Nagarjun
Written at a time when drought-related food shortages were a chronic problem in India, this poem captures the desolation of a starved rural home and the sheer bodily relief felt by full stomachs.
कई दिनों तक चूल्हा रोया चक्की रही उदास,
कई दिनों तक कानी कुतिया सोई उसके पास
कई दिनों तक लगी भीत पर छिपकलियों की गश्त,
कई दिनों तक चूहों की भी हालत रही शिककस्त.
दाने आये घर के अंदर बहुत दिनों के बाद,
घुआं उठा आंगन से ऊपर बहुत दिनों के बाद,
चमक उठीं घर भर की आंखें बहुत दिनोम के बाद,
कौए नें खुलाई पांखें बहुत दिनों के बाद.
(For several days, the earthen oven cried while the grinding-mill remained motionless.
The one eyed bitch made a bed nearby, as the oven was fireless.
For several days, lizards kept dancing on the dilapidated wall.
For several days, the hungry mice were giving a mourning call.
After several days, there was grain in the house as a ray of hope.
After several days, the courtyard had rising smoke.
After several days, the eyes of the family lit up with a glow.
After several days, in a joyous mood spread the wings of a crow.
Translation: Rupal Sharma)
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