Chapter 43 - Food

Summary

Much of Swift’s work is informed by an interest in food, together with a sharp awareness of how it might be spoiled, adulterated, or withheld. This chapter investigates the degree to which Swift uses food as an index of honesty and generosity. In his writings, continental cookery is associated with moral and aesthetic perversity of a distinctly modern flavour. The chapter shows that, in both A Tale of a Tub and A Modest Proposal, the common sense associated with English Protestantism (and emblematised by pudding and roast meat) is pitted against modern, continental slipperiness (emblematised by food whose true identity is suppressed or withheld).