Forbidden Fruit - has it lost its power? wonders Griselda Heppel (between delicious mouthfuls)
I suppose it’s inevitable that on this glorious day of chocolate scoffing, of succumbing to all the temptations resisted (well, by some of us anyway) during the last few weeks, my mind should wander – or perhaps waddle – back to the role of delicious food in books. But not in the nurturing, life-enhancing way I looked at last month ; just the opposite. And while this works as a literary and moral device, it can be pretty cruel to your characters. All downhill from here To begin at the beginning… How does the serpent corrupt Eve in the Garden of Eden? With a crisp, juicy apple, thus setting in motion 2,000 years of imagery in which the poor apple takes the brunt of all the evil in the world. Interestingly the idea of fruit being a catalyst for trouble isn’t just a Judeo-Christian one: think of the six pomegranate seeds swallowed by Persephone when kidnapped by Hades, which bind her to the Underworld for half the year. Golden Apple of Discord Or the gold...