The Importance Of Food In Naoe's Novels

“What can be more basic than food itself? Food to begin to grow. Without it, you’d starve to death, even academics. But don’t stop there, my friend, don’t stop there, because food is the point of departure. A place where growth begins.”

– Hiromi Goto, Chorus of Mushrooms

A forgotten woman, Naoe sits in her chair in the hall and sees all that happens around her (Goto 3). Naoe relentlessly mutters in Japanese, but her daughter and son-in-law will not hear her (4). Memories of miso-shiru and crunchy daikon (5) drift through Naoe’s mind, while her daughter’s own “forsaken identity” has converted from “rice and daikon to wieners and beans” (13). Food is of ultimate importance to Naoe; it is an instrument through which all emotions are expressed. Goto’s novel tells of Naoe’s stagnation and growth through her epicurean

Within the novel, there is a constant dismissal of Naoe’s ability to seek pleasure. Keiko dismisses Naoe’s ability to eat pleasurable food through her contempt for Naoe’s Japanese food: “Where did that [dried squid] come from?” Keiko so mad … Her lips turn white and she slams the kitchen door behind her” (Goto 14). As well, Keiko derides Naoe’s sexuality through her horrified reaction to Naoe masturbating (39-40). Naoe is considered a non-sexual subject because of her age and whose pleasure seeking endeavours are misconstrued as “senile” (40) and taboo. When Naoe leaves her family, she rejects these rules and taboos surrounding her experience of food and of her own sexuality by unabashedly enjoying the pleasures of both. The pleasure of food and sex are inseparable within the text; food is sensuous and sexual, while sexual descriptions are layered with food imagery. Even Naoe’s reflection on storytelling reveals a interweaving of sexual and food related