FOOD AND MOOD IN THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE

English (OpenAlex)

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010) written by Aimee Bender presents the relation between foods and female moods. Aimee Bender implemented a mixture of real and imagery in her magic realist novel in which the female protagonist, Rose Edelstein, experiences some important changes in her life starting from her ninth birthday. These changes are closely related to food and affect Rose physiologically, psychologically, and emotionally. Rose loves lemon cake and her mother who starts spending most of her time in the kitchen cooks this cake for her ninth birthday. However, Rose feels hollowness aftertaste and feels that her mother is unhappy because she realizes that she can sense the feelings of people from the foods she consumes. Thus, this study aims to reveal the relationship between foods and feelings by analysing Aimee Bender's novel from a postmodern feminist perspective focusing on foods, feelings, gender roles, and female identity.