"Meatless Days"
From “Meatless Days” by Sara Suleri
I chose to write about 1 quote from the excerpt which describes Sara’s relationship with food.
"It was my mother, after all, that told me that sweetbreads were sweetbreads, and if she were wrong on that score, then how many other simple equations had I not to doubt? The second possibility that occurred to me was even more unsettling: maybe my mother knew that sweetbreads are testicals but had cunningly devised a ruse to make me consume as many part of the world as she could before she set me loose in it" (Suleri, 731)
Sara grows up to have a difficult relationship with food. She was lied to as a child about what she was eating. In this specific quote her mother told her she was eating sweetbreads, but she was actually eating testicals. I understand why Sara developed a fear of food because everyone around her was lying about what she was eating. In this quote she also questions what else her mother has lied to her about since she lies about something as common as what she is eating. Her siblings also develop a difficult relationship with food because everyone around them was lying to them.
Her writing includes a lot of metaphors and comparisons. She compares food to language, religion and sexuality which I thought was interesting. For me personally I don’t really connect food to anything other than food. I think that this shows how important food is in her culture and community.
Word Count: 255
Liv, I agree that Sara grew up having a difficult relationship with food. She felt betrayed that her mother would lie to her about what she was consuming, referring to testicles as sweetbreads. If my mother lied to me about what I was consuming, I would also develop a fear of what I may be consuming from her in the future. Not only do I believe that Sara had a difficult relationship with food, but I believe her whole community did. For instance, some of the water that they drank would have a dead bird in there for weeks or their milk would be tampered with. This led to a community-wide level of distrust as to what one may be consuming.
ReplyDeleteI think that the quote that you chose was an important one to the reading. She had an interesting and difficult relationship with food and much of it was caused by her upbringing. The fact that she was lied to about the name of some foods, really ruined them for her. I think that she felt betrayed and it led to some of her negative thoughts about food. A lot of it was because of culture and that's why she was raised with certain names and times of eating which effected her mentally.
ReplyDeleteSara's complex relationship with food was obvious throughout this excerpt, as she struggles with knowing what certain items are, why we should consume them and how to prepare them. I found this to be quite evident in the cauliflower scene, where she is scolded for eating a vegetable and is instead given a kidney to eat. I like how you touched on her use of literary devices within the piece, specifically metaphors and imagery. I could easily picture her statements about cooking, and also see that she referred to some items of food as her own thoughts on sexuality. When I think of food, I think of comfort and home, which I think plays into Suleri's own point of view in terms of food. It is obvious that her culture (home life) and religion play a key part in what and how she eats, which is a main element in this story.
ReplyDeleteI agree that they way she grew up impacted her relationship with food. I think that he lost so much trust in people especially after her mother had lied to her and she watched her sister give the workers daughter pebbles. It almost seemed a bit abusive to me personally. I feel like this would have definitely impacted the way that she grew up over all and turned out in her adult life.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can be very hard for us to understand how deeply connected people in other cultures feel to food. We live in a world where food scarcity isn’t as prominent of an issue was Suleri grew up in. I think that the connection between her mother telling her its sweet breads goes beyond just her connection to her mother. I think that was reflective on her whole community because food represents trust and with all the lying it can be hard to create a good bond between your family and also you community.
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