Symbol Brief — Food
When grapes are crushed and fermented, the resulting wine becomes a powerful juice capable of changing the behavior of those who drink it. Thus wine's symbolic associations with transformation.
On a day like today, when there’s a foot of snow outside my door and a cold inside my head, I want comfort food. I want to eat stuff that warms up my insides — soup and chili and lots of hot coffee.
Of course, food is basic to our survival, so we attach a lot of importance to what we eat. Meals are an integral part of most social interactions and life transitions – from baby showers, to weddings, to funerals. Here’s some food symbolism to chew on:
- Apples: The mother of all fruits, at least in Western culture. Standing for forbidden knowledge and sin — thanks to Eve’s free will, but also sexual ecstasy because of the vulva-shaped core.
- Bread — In Christianity, the food of the spirit; in Judaism, purification and sacrifice. Common phrases such as ”my bread and butter” and “the bread of life” illustrate our attachment to bread as basic sustenance for human existence.
- Coffee — As in “wake up and smell the coffee.” If we’re in denial about something or someone in our waking life, we might be drinking coffee or smelling it in our dreams.
- Fish — Their prolific reproduction make them a sexual symbol throughout most of the world. When appearing on the soles of Buddha’s feet, fish became a symbol of freedom from earthly contraints. The fish is also one of the oldest symbols for Christ. Because they inhabit the ocean, fish represent the live contents of the unconscious in analytical psychology.
- Gravy — “He’s/she’s on the gravy train,” means a life of abundance with little effort. Must be why gravy tastes so good, but in the long run it just makes us fat and clogs our arteries.
- Honey — It’s no wonder “Honey” is a word we usually reserve for those we are most fond of. It’s golden color reminds us of the sun. In some societies, honey is the fundamental ingredient in mead. So as the “nectar of the gods” honey has long been said to be the food of immortals and seers.
- Milk — As our first food, food from our mother, milk is the drink of life, the nourishment of the feminine.
- Olive — A food with differing cultural meanings. In Islam, the olive is the symbolic equivalent of the apple, the forbidden fruit in paradise. In Judeo-Christian belief the olive represents peace.
– Writeye
Posted on January 28th, 2009 under Jungian Psychology, Symbol Brief • Tags: food symbolism. • 
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