Okay, your job is to think of a good moment in literature in which the consumption of food is the means of a metamorphosis. The transformation could be physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. The work in question should be relatively well known but can come from any time period or literary tradition.
A few examples to get you started: Circe's magical brews, the Judeo-Christian Forbidden Fruit, Persephone's pomegranate...
Ready? Go!
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Well, there's the wicked step-monster giving sleeping beauty the poisoned apple. And Alice drinking that potion to get smaller.
Why?
Posted by Melissa Dedinová (Member # 7890) on :
Gillyweed Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
Sounds suspiciously like a homework assignment.
Hmm? Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
Proust and his cookies. Peter Rabbit and his garden feast. Alice, and just about anything she injested in wonderland. Violet Beauregard and her Magic Chewing Gum "Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!" Oh, and what are those yam things in Niven's Ringworld that evolve you into a super-being? I think Teela Brown eats some. And "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", it will turn into quite a pest.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
"Have a biscuit, Potter."
(Alright, not entirely applicable, but fun to say nonetheless)
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
quote:Originally posted by Miro: Sounds suspiciously like a homework assignment.
Hmm?
Yeah, that occurred to me, too. Only much later than you. Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
quote: Proust and his cookies.
It was madelaines, to be precise. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Anna:
quote: Proust and his cookies.
It was madelaines, to be precise.
I've had madelaines. They are like a kind of butter cookie.
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Ooops, it's written madeleines actually. You're right about how it's made. Here it's a common sentence to talk about "la madeleine de Proust" when you have a strong reminiscence.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Babette's Feast by Isak Denisen (aka Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame)
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Dune - Spice, the water of life, etc.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Oh, Gummy juice. It makes bears bounce and little boys super strong.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Tante: that wasn't exactly from Ringworld it was from his Tales of Known Space. "Protector" was one of the novels.
I should re-read those... =)
Dr Jekel and Mr Hide. Not exactly food, but his potion was a metaphore for alcohol if I recall correctly...
Pix
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I hear that beans, beans are a magical (or sometimes merely musical) fruit, which are said to promote analgesic bodily processes.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I have a good one.
When Daenerys Targaryen consumed the raw heart of a stallion in A Game of Thrones. It was her a HUGE turning point with her. I think that moment is when she became a woman, her husband's equal, and most importantly, a queen.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Elderberry Wine (Arsenic & Old Lace) The Cask of Amontialdo (Though never touched) Under Dog's wonder pill--though that's not really literature.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
The deer blood in "Red Dawn."
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
The peach in T.S. Eliot's The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
Partaking of food as proof of humanity:
In West World they could tell the difference between the robots and the people by who could drink water.
In Harry Potter Nearly Headless Nick laments not being able eat as one of the things he misses most about being alive.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Pixiest: Tante: that wasn't exactly from Ringworld it was from his Tales of Known Space. "Protector" was one of the novels.
I should re-read those...
Yeah, me too. It's been years. I'm pretty sure that Teela Brown ate some at some point in the Ringworld saga. Maybe in Engineers? It was the ultimate fulfillment of her ultimate luckiness.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by Xavier: I have a good one.
When Daenerys Targaryen consumed the raw heart of a stallion in A Game of Thrones. It was her a HUGE turning point with her. I think that moment is when she became a woman, her husband's equal, and most importantly, a queen.
Hm...that was when she was fairly huge with child, wasn't it? I'd say that the turning point for her was more when she decided to conceive the Stallion that Rides the World.
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
Polyjuice potion in Harry Potter.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Tante: that wasn't exactly from Ringworld it was from his Tales of Known Space. "Protector" was one of the novels.
True and false. The book "Protector" is all about that idea, but Teela Brown *does* turn into one in one of the Ringworld books. The protagonist of those books (I can't recall his name) says that only an ex-wirehead (which he is) would have been able to resist eating it.
There's Popeye and his spinach.
When a vampire eats off of somebody, often times the person being eaten is turned into a vampire.
Or in other vampire lores, if you drink the blood of a vampire you either turn into a vampire yourself, or a ghoulish slave to that vampire.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
*SPOILERS FOR ASOIAF*
quote:Hm...that was when she was fairly huge with child, wasn't it? I'd say that the turning point for her was more when she decided to conceive the Stallion that Rides the World.
Yes, she was pregnant, and she was showing more and more signs of becoming independant. But she still had serious doubts as to her ability to go forward with the task, and was still basically subordinant to both Viserys and Drogo (Edit: or was Viserys already dead? I need to get my timeline in order). She wasn't a "queen" yet, in her own eyes, or in anyone else's. I'm not sure when she "decided" to concieve anything, unless you are talking about her having sex with Drogo out in the open, and with her on top (it was when she ate the heart that the Crone's declared her child to be the Stallion Who Mounts the World). If so, then yeah, sure that was a very important turning point for her. Would she have walked in the fire at the end of the book if she hadn't eaten the heart? I seriously doubt it. And if she had thrown any of it up, would any of the Dothraki have followed her after Drogo died?
Perhaps I will reread some Dany chapters tonight to re-evaluate the signifigance of that scene, but it was huge from what I can remember. And isn't that the whole reason that scene is in the book? To show her growing into a queen?
[ December 09, 2005, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: Xavier ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I'll have to reread that section as well. I was talking about her decision to initiate sex with Drogo, with her on top, yes. I *think* that Viserys was already dead by the time both of these scenes took place, but I'm not at all sure. If you reread it before I do, let me know what you find.
I guess I think of the scene with her eating the heart more as a further illustration of her character rather than as a defining moment in her life. When you first read it it *looks* like a defining moment, but then the prophesy fizzles, and the whole story that seemed to be unfolding unravels.
Maybe I'm misremembering though. As I said, I'll take a look at it.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: if you drink the blood of a vampire you either turn into a vampire yourself, or a ghoulish slave to that vampire.
Which is one of the reasons that I avoid doing that.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Tante
Best post of the day so far.
Posted by Olivet (Member # 1104) on :
Like Water for Chocolate
Food screwwed over everybody in THAT book. Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
Thanks, guys!
Er, I mean, good job!
Okay, in strict point of fact, it IS a homework assigment...sort of. I'm 16 pages into my final 20-page paper of the semester and was hoping for one or two more quick examples to throw in. <yawn> I started this thread a bit before I went to bed this morning, and I just recently got up again. Time to get back to writing, I guess.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
LOTR: Elvish Waybread: Lembas Ent-Draught hithlun the cordial that Gandalf was given by Elrond before they set off with the Fellowship.
Harry Potter: Veritaserum
Too Many Movies to Name: Absinthe (Moulin Rouge perhaps notably)
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Um, hello! Why did no one mention The Very Hungry Caterpillar?
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
Would the pills in the Matrix work?
Posted by Dav (Member # 8217) on :
In "Loose in the Wires" in IGMS, eating that bug led to all sorts of trouble & transformation.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Lembas waybread of the Elves. When it sustains Frodo and Sam in Mordor.
Posted by hugh57 (Member # 5527) on :
Popeye eating spinach Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I'm surprised Lucy's potion which healed hasn't been mentioned here yet. So:
Lucy's healing liquid in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
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Tante