The Pleasure of Food, and the Spiritual: Eat, Prqy) Love and Babette's Feast

Abstract

This artide explores the significance of the enjoyment of food in relation to spirituality, as (re)presented in two texts - Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love (2007) and the cinematic version of Karen Blixen's novel Babette's Feast (1987). It is argued that the pleasure derived from food occupies a crucial position in both texts, firstly in its own "hedonistic" right, but secondly also as far as it functions allegorically (Babette's Feast), or temporally (Eat, Pray, Love) regarding the (re)presentation of spiritually significant experience. That is, the enjoyment of food is (re)presented as a means of repeating (and perhaps anticipating) spiritually meaningful culinary experi­ence (Babette's Feast). In Eat, Pray, Love, the spiritual awakening of the prota­gonist, in the "dark night of her soul", is succeeded by a kind of "carnival", followed by something resembling the Lent of the Christian tradition. Hence, her journey through space and time takes her from sensuous (though celibate) pleasure in food (Eat) to spiritual sacrifice (Pray) and eventually romantic love (Love). The narrative logic of this sequence, it is argued, consists in sensuous, culinary enjoyment preparing her for the meaning of sacrifice through spiritual commitment. These two phases of her journey, or existential quest, become intertwined (their complex inter­lacement being constituted by a kind of interpenetration of pleasure and sacrifice through commitment).

Opsomming
Hierdie artikel fokus op die betekenis van die genot van kos in verhouding tot spiritualiteit, soos dit verteenwoordig word in twee tekste - Elizabeth Gilbert se Eat, Pray, Love (2007) en die rolprentweergawe van Karen Blixen se roman Babette's Feast (1987). Daar word aangevoer dat die genot wat uit kos verkry word 'n deur­slaggewende posisie in beide tekste verteenwoordig: Eerstens in sy eie "hedo­nistiese" reg, maar tweedens ook in soverre dit funksioneer as allegories (Babette's Feast), of tydelik (Eat, Pray, Love), en verteenwoordig dit 'n spiritueel beduidende ervaring. Dit wil se, die genot wat kos bied, word verteenwoordig as 'n middel tot herhaling (en ook dalk afwagting) van 'n spiritueel betekenisvolle kulinere ervaring (Babette's Feast). In Eat, Pray, Love, word die spirituele ontwaking van die protagonis, in die "danker nag van haar siel" ("dark night of her soul"), gevolg deur 'n tipe "karnaval", wat op sy beurt, gevolg word deur iets wat die Christelike "vas" kan voorstel. Vandaar haar reis deur ruimte en tyd, wat haar neem van sensuele (dog selibate) genot in kos (Eat), tot spirituele opoffering (Pray) en uiteindelik tot roman­tiese liefde (Love). Daar word aangevoer dat die narratiewe logika van hierdie volgorde bestaan uit sensuele, kulinere genot wat haar voorberei vir die betekenis van opoffering deur spirituele verbintenis. Hierdie twee fases van haar reis, of eksis­tensiele soektog, word verweef (hul komplekse samevlegting word gevorm deur 'n deurdringing van genot en opoffering deur verbintenis).