By Abigail Adaramola
Lots of Children’s books revolve around or has something to do with food. Food is very common in children’s literature, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Green Eggs and Ham to Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood. The use of food in Children’s literature can be used to represent all sorts of things. Sometimes it symbolizes good, other times evil. I think this is because food is something all kids understand, so it can be used as a jumping off point to something a little more complicated. Sometimes food paves the road to disaster, children who eat too much or are overly tempted end up in a bad place, like Hansel and Gretel. Food can be used as a link back to home or as a trial. Food can be used as a sign of union, in a lot of cases the protagonist is often invited by strangers to share a meal who then become friends and helpers. A lot of times there’s hunger in children’s stories. It’s being said that children have a subconscious fear of hunger, so hunger can be put to good use in stories, it can be translated into symbolic notions like hunger for warmth or love, again this can be seen in Hansel and Gretel. The story ends with the children living happily ever after with their father and enough food for the rest of their lives. So, abundance of food, relates to abundance of love and warmth.