You are what you eat: the politics of eating in the novels of Margaret Atwood

Twentieth Century Literature, Fall, 1995 by Emma Parker

While the scenes set in Toronto highlight the correlation between food and domestic power, Rennie's experiences in the Caribbean highlight the relationship between food and political power. Just like Jake at home, on the island those with power control the food. When Minnow tries to persuade Rennie to write an article on the political situation there, she is reluctant and tells him she only writes about "lifestyles," "what people wear, what they eat, where they go on vacation." He responds that this is exactly what he wants her to write about, confirming that the personal is political. Similarly, when one of Minnow's friends quizzes Rennie about her job, she tells him, "I just do food," to which he replies, "What could be more important?" (190). The idea that food is political is borne out by Minnow's tale about the ham. When Canada donated a thousand tins of ham to the island's refugees, the food was diverted so that it never reached the people who needed it but instead turned up at an Independence Day banquet "for the leading citizen only" (29). Guns in the novel also emphasize the connection between food and power. When Lora asks Rennie to collect a package from the airport, she tells her it contains food and medicine for her sick grandmother when it actually contains guns. "Food" becomes a suitable synonym for "gun," since both represent power. Paul, who carries his gun "like a lunch pail" (255), offers the novel's most succinct comment on the relationship between eating and power:

'There's only people with power and people without power. Sometimes they change places, that's all!'

'Which are you?' says Rennie.

'I eat well, so I must have power,' says Paul grinning. (240-41)

In prison, where Rennie and Lora have nothing to eat, this relationship is explicit. Rennie subconsciously associates food with freedom. She starts to fantasize about eating and her mouth waters as she repeats the names of different foods to herself.

In The Handmaid's Tale Gilead is a society in which women are denied any form of power. One of the main ways the system of oppression is enforced is through food. The handmaids have no choice about what they eat and are permitted to consume only that which the authorities consider will enhance their health and fertility. Caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes are forbidden and sugar is rationed. Their meals are brought to them in their rooms and they eat alone. By controlling what they eat, the Gilead regime gains direct control over the handmaids' bodies. The connection between food and control is exemplified at the Red Centre, where women are prepared for their role as handmaids. They are indoctrinated with ideological justification of the government's aims and methods as they take their meals. Eating is accompanied by biblical exegesis. In addition, Offred suspects that the food is drugged.

Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Billah. She shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And so on and so forth. We had it read to us every breakfast, as we sat in the high-school cafeteria, eating porridge with cream and brown sugar. . . . For lunch it was the Beatitudes. Blessed be this, blessed be that. They played it from a disc, the voice was a man's. (99)