(Don watches Megan eat orange sherbet in ‘Far Away Places’ Mad Men Season 5, Episode 6. Photo Credit: AMC)
Shakespeare, unsurprisingly, recognised how important food references are in good, thought-provoking stories. Of course, there was precedent before in literature. The Odyssey had it’s enchanted feast and lotus fruit. The Biblical Adam and Eve story centres around the forbidden fruit. But Shakespeare’s use is more diverse.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet paints a morbid picture of life and death through the imagery of eating. Falstaff fawns over dry sherry in Henry IV hinting his braggart nature. In Merchant of Venice, pork metaphors illustrate the tension between the Christian and Jewish Venetians. Duke Orsino likens music to food in Twelfth Night. Shakespeare extended the symbolism of food in story-telling beyond the ills of gluttony to thematic and character-based exploration. Food invites you into the world of plays. Shakespeare was first and foremost a producer of entertainment in his time which is why television is the perfect place to see the modern continuation of food as a narrative vehicle.
Food welcomes the audience to the show, familiarises them with its vibe. In Arrested Development, the banana stand becomes a running joke about the Bluth’s financial irresponsibility and misfortune. The iconic coffee shop in Friends serves as the physical manifestation of the show’s New York City ambience and 90s coffee culture. When generational differences are shown between Mad Men’s Don Draper and his much younger wife, the conflict is centered around her inability to appreciate Don’s beloved orange sherbert. Rick and Morty uses Szechuan sauce to explore its brand of existentialism. Food is essential for the soul of the show.
As TV writer Megan Amram once said, “Food is always going to be in the background as a supporting character.” [1]
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[1] Wong, Alex. How The Good Place Gets Its Weird, Magical Food. October 25, 2017. www.gq.com/story/good-food-on-the-good-place.
Reading: Week 8’s Shakespeare passages and clips
