"Sweet Porridge" you say.. How sweet are we talking?!

Warm sweet porridge... Mmmmmm. If you're from where I am from, Jamaica, you most probably love Cornmeal porridge. If you've never heard of it, it is a sweet and filling traditional Jamaican breakfast. Click the link below and you will thank me later! Let me know in the comments section if you try out this recipe :D 

"Sweet Porridge" Jamaican Style!

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Anyway, back to the Grimm brothers fairy tales! "The Sweet Porridge" or "The Magic Porridge Pot" as it is also known as in contemporary versions, reflects the desperate circumstances that Jacob and Wilhem faced in their childhood. When I recently read this fairy tale I couldn't help but wonder why the Grimm Brother's decided to create a magic pot rather than an ordinary pot of porridge, so I did a bit of research. I suppose the scenario is great if you are a lover of sweet porridge, but if you don't like it then this must be the worst possible scenario to be in as it is the only choice of food you've got! 

From 1437 to 1439 "there was a succession of wet summers and harvests were ruined, the peasantry was reduced to eating such herbs and roots as they could gather from the hedgerows, and thousands died."(Drummond and Wilbraham, 88)[2] "Sweet Porridge" most definitely reflects these times. The girls mother is widowed so financial hardship is big struggle. The girl ventures into the 
woods to find something edible and stumbles across an old lady who gives her a magic pot that would cook sweet millet porridge. Famine and food deprivation was a frequent struggle of life in Europe during the Middle Ages, so one can understand how these circumstances can lead to a fantasy such as a magic pot that produces endless sweet porridge. Understanding that its through adverse circumstances that the Grimm brothers fantasised and wrote a fairy tale about a magic porridge pot allows us to appreciate the concept that little bit more.

"The sweet porridge" is not just a magical story about endless yummy porridge but rather a story that "relies upon habitual and chronic hunger as a driving force." (Daniel, 63) Hunger is a powerful force that can either produce a great thing; endless sweet porridge, or produce a bad thing (see my 'Candy House Trap' post). 


How to make porridge in 5 ways!


References:
[1] http://www.slaphappylarry.com/fairytale-study-the-magic-porridge-pot/
[2] Daniel, C. Voracious Children. Routledge, 2009.
[3] https://giphy.com/

The Meaning of the Bottle

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We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood however the original 1812 publication by the Grimm brothers is called Little Red Cap. Little Red Cap is sent to visit her Grandmother with cake and a bottle of wine, but have you ever wandered why she was given wine to take to her Grandmother and not a child friendly drink, especially as the target audience is young children? One reading of the wine bottle in Little Red Cap's basket understands it to symbolise virginity. The shape of the wine bottle can be seen as phallic, it is also easily breakable and fragile as the mother warns Little Red Cap "do not leave the path, or you might fall down and break the glass."(Grimms, n.p)

In dream analysis a bottle can also represent repressed feelings, feelings that have been bottled. The only way to release these feelings is to open the bottle and release the trapped spirit.[2] So in this way, the bottle has a deeper meaning and purpose than just being a gift for her Grandmother. 

Jack Zipes, an American academic, holds that "there is a touch of nonconformity and sexual promiscuity in her character. But whatever her reputation and destiny, she has always been used as a warning to children" (Zipes, 1)The red colour of the wine that Little Red Cap takes to her Grandmother can be understood to symbolise passion and lust as it is interpreted that the wolf eating Little Red Cap is symbolic for sex. In this way Zipes identifying promiscuity in the character of Little Red Cap is definitely understandable and therefore strengthens the interpretation of the symbolism of the wine bottle. 

Obviously we can never know for sure what the Grimm brothers intentions were by placing wine in a children's fairy tale, after all, we could be completely over analysing but hopefully I've given you some new ideas to think about. Feel free to engage with my ideas by leaving comments down below. To end this blog post I want to leave this quote with you 

"Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar"[3] - Sigmund Freud 

References:

[1] http://horsenden.ealing.sch.uk/year-groups/year5/year-5-2017-2018/5306-5h-drama-bad-little-red-riding-hood.html. Accessed: 15/03/18

[2] Clarke, M. The Big Dictionary of Dreams. Skyhorse Publishing, 2015. 

[3] https://owlcation.com/humanities/red_riding_hood Accessed:15/03/18

Zipes, J. The Trials & Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood. Routledge, 1993.

Welcome!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG! I'm so glad you found it. It is time to talk all things food and the Grimm Brother's fairy tales! What an exciting combination?! Although it is practically impossible to trace the historical origins and evolution of fairy tales, research states that "they have been told since before even English, French and Italian existed. They were probably told in an extinct Indo-European language." ("Fairy Tales 'Thousands Of Years Old'") However, we can stand assured that the fairy tale genre will never die out, as long as children are being produced, fairy tales will never die out. So the question is why the preoccupation with food[2], other than it is incredibly satisfyingly delicious? The Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm cannot seem to centre their stories on anything other than food. 

The Grimm Brothers [1] 

Both Jacob and Wilhelm knew the pain of starving. When their father died of pneumonia in 1796 they were plunged into hardship. In the early 1800's, during the time of writing their collection of fairy tales, they deprived themselves of food in order to support and provide for their younger siblings. They drank a single cup of coffee and had one meal a day, this meal was typically three portions divided between five people.[4] So here lies our answer to why the Grimm brother's tales contain so much food, because they understand how sharing food is an act of love. What gives their tales such enduring power is their sense of home which is intricately connected to the idea of  being fed.

From cake and wine to bread, meat and wine that never runs out to endless amounts of sweet porridge[2] the Grimm brothers fairy tales are absorbed with food; after all, this is what makes them so intellectually stimulating and satisfying. This blog will be looking at the symbolism and significance of food in the Grimm brothers fairy tales. I hope to see you on my next post, Tiarna :)


References 

[1]http://www.notablebiographies.com/Gi-He/Grimm-Brothers.html
[2]https://www.shmoop.com/grimms-fairy-tales/food-symbol.html
[3]"Fairy Tales 'Thousands Of Years Old'". BBC News, 2018, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35358487. Accessed 12 Mar 2018.
[4]https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/9483512/Grimms-fairytale-food.html