From Eden to America.

When placed in the hands of a man, the apple becomes a legendary symbol that stands for wisdom and innovation. For example, when the physicist Sir Isaac Newton witnessed an apple falling from a tree, he came up with the theory of gravity. Another example of this is Steve Jobs, who named his company 'Apple Inc' and funnily enough, even has a logo sign which features a bitten apple. But, for today we are going to look closely at Johnny Appleseed.

Johnny Appleseed’s desire to plant apple trees, instead of eating them like Eve and Snow White does, makes him innovative, instead of destructive (which seems to happen when the apple is placed in the hands of a woman. How unfair!)

In Eating in Eden: Food and American Utopias Etta Madden and Martha Finch discuss Johnny Appleseed's positive character:

This is an example of how the relationship between men and apples are viewed as positive and legendary.

This ‘myth’ of Johnny Appleseed is brought to life when mentioned in the peri-text of apple based cookbooks, which I found when reading Phillip Stephen Schulz As American as Apple pie (1996) and Amy Traverso’s The Apple Lover’s Cookbook (2011). The first thing I noticed about these two cookbooks was the disparity of time between the two.

In his introduction, Schulz tells us his cookbook is a celebration of “America’s best” dishes, that are to be enjoyed “casually and comfortably”, a prominent factor of the “American style”(12). Schulz’s patriotism is demonstrated through his language, which at times comes across as forced enthusiasm. He repeats the words ‘America’ throughout his introduction, and even the title of book As American as Apple pie (which is the common idiom used to describe things that are American). I started to wonder why his patriotism came across as forced, and realised when reading his beginning chapter on ‘Apple Pies’, that it could be something to do with what food writers fear the most: maintaining authenticity. 

Schulz indulgently talks about John Chapman and his legacy, but fails to mention that apples themselves are not American. This is because Schulz wants to enchant his reader with the fantasy, rather than the reality of the matter. This could be why he describes John Chapman in a fairy tale like manner.Schulz wants to maintain authenticity, particularly when it comes to his apple pie recipes, which I think is why he uses John Chapman, to almost justify his original 'American' recipes. I looked through some online websites that discuss this idea of authenticity and found this insightful quotation:

However, in Traverso's cookbook she differently does mention the origin of the apple before she talks about John Chapman:

Her tone of voice comes as across as genuine, as she is not preoccupied with patriotism. This is because of the time differences between the two cookbooks. One is focused on using food in the form of an apple as a representation of a race and ethnicity, while the other is focused on just food. Overall, both cookbooks allude to the John Chapman story as a way of praising his innovative act of planting apples.

Madden, Etta M, and Martha L Finch. Eating In Eden. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Print.

Schulz, Phillip Stephen. As American As Apple Pie. New York: Wings Books, 1996. Print.

Traverso, Amy. The Apple Lover's Cookbook. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

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Go on. Go on, have a bite.

While the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale Little Snow-White is legendary, it’s somewhat a controversial tale that we would now think was not originally intended for children. Disney’s popularized version of the story released in 1937, is the story we are all familiar with.  For those of you have not watched that version, here is the link to a brief synopsis of it.

As I read through the original Grimm Brothers’ story, I realized there was a lot more things that the apple could symbolize. Food (in the form of an apple) in this story explores issues with women, desire, motherhood, self-control and most bizarrely, cannibalism. I know this sounds very strange and I am sure I have got most of you to think of Hannibal Lecter, but let’s not get too distracted! Cannibalism is quite a common trope within food literature, especially with relation to consuming the female body. There is an intrinsic focus on the edibility of the female body, which we see often objectified and ‘consumed’ by an evil predator (think of Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel,). Let’s take a look at examples of cannibalistic appetite in Snow White:

Yes, you read that correctly, the queen wanted to eat Snow White’s heart, but why would she want to do that? We can see why this part of the story was removed from Disney’s version, because it is far too grotesque and unsuitable for a young audience. In Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye, Madonna Kolbenschlag suggests: “when the wicked stepmother devours what she believes to be Snow White's (vital organs), she recaptures a primitive cannibalistic expression of envy: the belief that one acquires the power and characteristics of what one eats” (36).  These characteristics are beauty and youth, which the Queen fears she is losing the longer Snow White stays alive. 

Now, let’s get back to the subject of apples – poisoned apples.  The Queen creates an apple that “[is] beautiful to look upon, being white with red cheeks, so that anyone who should see it must long for it, but whoever [eats] even a little bit of it must die”(Grimm Brothers, 5-6). The apple’s edibility is similar to Snow White’s own identity, she too is beautiful and everyone that she encounters longs for her in some way or the other. In the previous passage, the huntsman thinks Snow White’s beauty is ‘lovely’ enough for him to pity her, and spare her life. This is the same for the seven dwarves, who are angry when they find their house has been intruded, yet when they realise the intruder is Snow White they quickly change their mind: “O goodness! O gracious!” cried they, “what beautiful child is this?” and were so full of joy to see her that they did not wake her, but let her sleep on”(Ibid, 3).

In our Literature and food class last week, we looked at Margret Atwood’s Edible Woman. There is a moment in the text where the protagonist (Marian) describes herself being watched as she sleeps by her partner, Peter. In the context of the novel, there's a suggestion of a predator prey relationship between the two characters. Now I am not saying the seven dwarfs are predators, but the fact they stare at her with a longing because of her beauty, certainly shows us the ways Snow White is edible. This idea is emphasized in the final parts of the Grimm Brothers’ story. Snow White initially says no to the Queen’s offer, but the Queen urges her on: “Are you afraid of poison?” said the woman, “look here, I will cut the apple in two pieces; you shall have the red side, I will have the white one” (6). The Queen’s consumption of the ‘white’ side of the apple mirrors her cannibalistic desire to consume Snow White. This is completed when Snow White eats from the ‘red’ side, which subtly hints Snow White’s loss of innocence. This is the same loss Eve experiences. Overall, the apple is again negatively symbolised. The consequences of eating from this fruit causes Snow White's momentary death.

References:
Atwood, Margaret. The Edible Woman. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Print.

Kolbenschlag, Madonna. Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979. Print.

(Little Snow White, can be read here for free)

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Apple-tising!

The construct of women as “sexual deviants” certainly begins with the apple.  Eve’s uncontrollable appetite seems to become a metaphor for female desire, which throughout history has been a censured and controversial subject matter. In Victorian Literature and the Anorexic Body, Anna Krugovoy Silver suggests that: “Victorians used to define the ideal woman [as] – spiritual, non-sexual, self-disciplined” (3). Before Eve eats the fruit, she is the embodiment of all these qualities. Yet, after she eats the fruit, she loses all these qualities. This is further explored in books four and nine of John Milton’s "Paradise Lost".  

In book four Eve is described as “accomplished”(4.660) because of her innocence, modesty and submissiveness to both God and Adam. The catalytic moment of her temptation changes all this:

In this passage, Eve’s movements are being described as impulsive through the words “rash” and “plucked”. As Eve devours the fruit, Earth “[feels] the wound” and it is interesting to note that the Earth is gendered as a she, who in this moment can metaphorically be seen as the object of consumption. This is because when Eve eats the apple, she essentially eats away at the paradise God creates for her and Adam.  Eve transgression spurs on her voracious appetite, she greedily “[engorges] without restraint… heightened with wine, jocund and boon” (9.791 -973).  She is intoxicated by the fruits power... And in some ways, this can read as an orgasmic experience because the word 'heightened' suggests the heightening of a type pleasure. In Tamar Heller and Patricia Moran's Scenes of the Apple, they call this experience with food 'libidinal' which is a "bodily and sexual experience [that] draws on the dual association of the mouth"(3). This could be why eating the apple changes both Adam and Eve’s perception of each other. Their initial hunger/appetite for the apple, develops into a sexual hunger, which they now have for each other: “he on Eve / Began to cast lascivious eyes, she him / As wantonly repaid; in lust they burn” ”(9.1013-1015). We know what happens next! Nonetheless, Eve is blamed for the incident and is "despoiled"(9.1138) of any ideal qualities, and this because she lacks "control over [her] body and its desires are enacted through the [lack of] control of food intake"(Silver, 52).

Overall, this first image of the apple is an example of its negative symbolism. The idea of temptation becomes a prominent theme which seems to be at the crux of children's literature, where we often see children praised for denying their appetites and equally punished for caving into them. In my next post, we will be looking at the apple from Snow White.

References

Heller, Tamar, and Patricia Moran. Scenes Of The Apple. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003. Print.

Milton, John, and Gordon Teskey. Paradise Lost. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. Print.

Silver, Anna Krugovoy. Victorian Literature And The Anorexic Body. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.

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Apples vs Figs.

 You are probably wondering why there is an image of fig in this second post, but rest assured, this fig plays an important part of understanding our precious apples. We all believe that the ‘forbidden fruit’ is an apple only because art and literature has successfully helped fill in the blanks Genesis left out.  The unnamed fruit from the tree of knowledge could have been anything: a strawberry, a cherry, a peach or even a fig, which many critics have argued is the true forbidden fruit of Eden. In Food at the time of the Bible, Miriam Vamosh agrees the fruit is a fig, because both Adam and Eve use fig leaves to cover their naked selves in Genesis 3:7. She argues figs are the fruit “which they [have] eaten... the very thing by which they [are] corrupted by"(51). If this is the case, why do apples replace this representation? I decided to do a taste off between the two fruits, to draw my own conclusions on which fruit would be symbolically better suited for the Garden of Eden. 

In the fresh fruit section of Sainsbury’s there is a wide range of apples: granny smith, pink lady, and golden delicious, royal gala and Braeburn apples. For this taste test, I chose Braeburn apples. The apple is a rich red colour and has streaks of light green running through it. Its skin is smooth and it smells refreshing, and closing my fingers around the fruit is easy because it is round. When I bite into the apple, it sweet yet subtle spicy taste fills my mouth.  The figs however, are quite limited in this particular store, so I was only able to get the standard Evita variety of figs which are grown in South Africa. The fig is a deep purple and much smaller than the apple. Its skin is smooth, but firm and feels like leather. The fig smells earthy and bland. When I bite into the fig, its sweet yet subtle acidic taste fills my mouth. I think the apple is better suited to being the forbidden fruit because of its sweeter taste, colour and shape. The extract below taken from Erika Janik’s book Apple: A Global History also draws on this:

(Page, 32).

Janik also suggests another reason the apple is chosen is because "the Latin word malum means both ‘apple’ and ‘evil’ ”(31). This interpretation makes sense because the fruit becomes a metaphor for sin, which in the eyes of God is seen as the ultimate evil. The 'evil' the apple may be referring to certainly has something to do with anxieties over female sexuality, because Eve's appetite and her choice of eating becomes a metaphor for desire. I will be examining this more in my third post apple lovers, so stay tuned for more!

References:

Janik, Erika. Apple. London: Reaktion Books, 2011. Print.

Vamosh, Miriam Feinberg. Food At The Time Of The Bible. [Nashville, Tenn.]: Abingdon, 2004. Print.

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Hath God not said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

We all know about one of the most significant food moments ever written. Eve is tempted into eating the forbidden fruit that comes from the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’. She takes a bite from the luscious apple and asks her partner Adam to share it with her, despite them both knowing that God told them not to eat this particular fruit. This consequently causes their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. As a result of this food moment, the apple acquires negative connotations and becomes an icon of temptation, sin, sexuality and the loss of innocence. But if we look closely at the bible, it does not actually say the fruit is an apple, which makes me wonder: how does the apple come into the equation? Even though the apple is not named, it still manages to stand for the dominant image of temptation and more importantly, giving into temptation.

This food blog will be looking at the positive and negative connotations associated with apples. I also want to look at the origins of this fruit. I will also touch on issues related with feminine identity and why apples have become symbolic of female sexuality. I also want to challenge myself to make one apple based dessert (an apple crumble).I will be looking at a range of literary texts, artwork, the media and cookbooks throughout my blog, to draw discussions from. I hope you guys are ready for the adventure I am about to take you on!

These are some of the questions my blog will attempt to answer:

Why are apples known as the forbidden fruit? (Obviously because they are so tasty)
What are the negative/positive representations of apples?

Why is the relationship between apples and women problematic within art, literature and poetry?

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