The Role of Food in a Temporary Matter and When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine - Essay Example

Food in Jumpha Lahiris "A temporary Matter and "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine" and Nora Okja Kellers Fox Girl Food is an essential component of humanlife. Food signifies identity, culture and nationality. It symbolizes bondage between friends and families. Food has been used as a symbolic representation in many novels and films. The meals at different hours of the day signify the socialization amongst family members. A banquet brings people together such that they might share their lives and discuss their experiences. Food differs according to culture especially in case of the delicacies. It serves as a common ground for two unknown people to come together and share some hours of their lives. It brings harmony and the representation of food in different forms of media often arouses the taste buds of the readers (in case of literature) or the audience (in case of movies). Food highlights different moods and might be introduced as a new genre which gains significance in the topical times of globalization. The paper discusses two short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri ‘A Temporary Matter’ and ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine’ from her work, Interpreter of Maladies and Nora Okja Keller’s Fox Girl where food serves as a metaphor for human relationships, emotions and identity. Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘A Temporary Matter’ highlights the importance of small changes in every day’s way of living through food as a metaphor. The story unfolds gradually the separation in the marital life of thirty five years old Shukumar and thirty three years old Shobha following the birth of their dead child during which Shukumar was away. Things were no longer the same between them as they managed to stay away from one another for most of the time. The story essentially focuses on the interplay between these two characters. Shobha began to take little of no interest in cooking and Shukumar had to cook most of the dishes without which Shobha could even do with a simple bowl of cereal. The different variation of food items which clearly represent their Indian origin despite the fact that they lived in Baltimore, also reflect their happy days when Shobha looked after the nitty gritties of domestic affairs and was futuristic when it came to shopping and storing food items for emergencies. Food mediates relationship between the couple. The pleasant memories of their relationship often haunts Shukumar’s mind as he recollects: “The pantry was always stocked with extra bottles of olive and corn oil, depending on whether they were cooking Italian or Indian. There were endless boxes of pasta in all shapes and colors, zippered sacks of basmati rice, whole sides of lambs and goats from the muslim butchers at Haymarket, chopped up and frozen in endless plastic bags” (Lahiri, 6). Shobha’ psychological changes are revealed through her aloofness from such domestic affairs specially related to food. When the electricity goes out the couple engages in a game of truth and dare over Rogan josh and wine which symbolize retreat from the busy schedules of the two people which has kept them alienated from one another so long. None of them can hide behind their work and hence sit opposite each other over the dinner prepared by Shukumar. They begin to share secrets which they do not know about one another and find some peace in this conversation. After the first day of their experience, they both look forward to eight in the evening so that the lights would go out and they would find some time to themselves. This one hour of darkness for four consecutive days brings them together and Shukumar enjoys cooking dinner for both of them. The fifth day they come to know that there will be no power cut but instead of being happy Shukumar is sad because he has been planning to cook shrimp for Shobha which he finally does. Unlike before they are now having their dinner together and this brings them romantically closer. He finally shares the information about the sex of their dead child (he knew that the dead child was a boy) which Shobha never knew and planned to let it be a secret until the baby was born. Thus food reflects all the changes along with their identity despite being immigrants. In the other short story ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine’ which takes place in New England in the year 1971, food serves as a signifier of identity and strikes a common bond between the Indian family of the protagonist and Mr. Pirzada who belongs to Dacca in US. Food brings back the fresh essence of native life and strengthens their bond which is tied to a common motherland until the partition occurs in India after its independence. The protagonist and the narrator is a ten year old girl who is basically an observer. She is surprised when her father tells her that Mr. Pirzada is no more an Indian. This is because she noticed the similarities in terms of food habits between her parents and their long time guest. For instance the following observation confuses the child who cannot find any reason why this differentiation should be incorporated while treating their guest: “They ate pickled mangoes with their meals, ate rice every night for supper with their hands. Like my parents, Mr. Pirzada took off his shoes before entering a room, chewed fennel seeds after meals as a digestive, drank no alcohol, for dessert dipped austere biscuits into successive cups of tea” (Lahiri, 25). Apart from the items of food served for dinner such as Kebabs with coriander chutney, lentils with fried onions, green beans with coconut, fish cooked with raisins in a yogurt sauce, certain eating habits were also common which are reflected in Mr. Pirzada’s habit of “calmly creating a well in his rice to make room for a second helping of lentils” (Lahiri, 31). These items served for dinner brings not only the people but also two nations (India and East Pakistan) together. It brings on a sense of harmony amongst them and serves as a peaceful retreat for Mr. Pirzada from the pains of separation form his family and home land. The very reason behind inviting Mr. Pirzada to dinner signifies the generosity and warm heartedness of Lilia’s parents who find his name from the university directory and invite him only for sharing the common surname. It is normally unlikely for an American family to invite an unknown person like that, but her parents do so because they were also growing homesick and perhaps wanted to dine with someone with whom they share a native bond. Food once again serves as a metaphor for showing the growth of relationships and arousal of nostalgia along with building a common identity. Nora Okja Kellers’ novel Fox Girl sets the story against the 1960s background in America and signifies the pains and suffering endured for survival by the Koreans especially at the hands of American’s G.Is. The story centers on Hyun Jin known as the “fox girl” who find herself out in the streets and compelled to move in with Sookie, her childhood friend and also a child prostitute. Food plays the role of helping the two girls share their stories and highlights the popularization of the American fast food industry. On one hand it reflects the bondage and feeling of gratitude as Jin saves the American food for Sookie and she was forced to eat the Korean weeds and was sure they were worse than American herbs. The comparison between Korean native food and American food also depicts the reason for immigration of the poor Koreans looking for work and opportunities in America with the dream for living a better life. According to Jin the “American treats” were delicious and one would be lucky to have them – “All this time I been feeding you with food out of my own mouth! I’ve been starving and you’ve been feasting on American treats” (Keller). Sookie talks about the boyfriend of her mother whom she refers a “darkie” who brought her mother some American junk food items. These surprise Jin because her father’s entire year’s income could not purchase all such treats. She ate all the food he brought home for her mother and she repents for the fact that she ruined the chance of her mother. Some names of American cookies as mentioned here are: “Be-enna sa-sa-gi, Pow-da mil-ku. Cheezu Wheezu” (Keller). Food generates human emotions like guilt and the absence of the function of taste buds symbolize anger. When someone cannot feel the taste of something it is natural for the individual to feel some kind of tension which generates negative emotions. The empty food containers generate memories and arouse repentance and sadness. Gestures towards food also bring out sacrifice, sense of gratitude and symbolize differences in economic status as well as nationality. From the above discussion food comes out as a symbol for representation of different experiences of people and their ways of living. On one hand it serves as tool for rejoice, while on the other, it symbolizes suffering and pain or time of crisis. The description of food items and different names also reveal globalization and its effect on people’s eating habits and economic status. Food is the mediator between identity based upon social, ethnic and economic status. Lahiri uses food to build the immigrant identity where food is the essential item signifying changes in marital relationship and bringing together people from same nationality in a foreign land. In a foreign nation like US, food serves as an important medium to unite people from the same ethnic origin together. Having spent a major part of her life in USA away from her homeland, Lahiri captures the very delicate details of immigrant life and emotions. Keller on the other hand brings out food to represent the globalization and commercialization of the same and its growing importance in people’s life. How the quality of food distinguishes economic status is highlighted here. It represents emotions and their changes at times of crisis and brings about a sense of nostalgia and painful memories of the past associated with the similar food items. Food serves as a common ground for people to come together with their stories and helps in healthy exchange or find peaceful retreat from their busy schedules. Thus all the works essentially help in building food as a metaphor for highlighting changes in economic and social changes as well as emotional and personal alterations in people’s lives. It helps in throwing light on the important characters in the stories, showing how it affects each of them differently and establishes the common ground of interaction amongst them. Works Cited Keller, Nora Okja, Fox Girl, New York: Penguin, 2003. December 16, 2010 from: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=oQXdahYE9L4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=fox+girl+keller&source=bl&ots=AYVTIdhwsf&sig=k6kIk019tVfq6r2h4KwcgWrj8YU&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false Lahiri, Jhumpa, “A Temporary Matter”, in, Interpreter of Maladies, Houghton Miffin Company, 1999, pp.1-22 Lahiri, Jhumpa, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, in, Interpreter of Maladies, Houghton Miffin Company, 1999, pp. 23-42 Read More