Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams
Rice Stories: Rituals of Prosperity and Fertility
Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams
Rebecca D. Mazumdar [+]
New York City College of Technology
Rebecca D. Mazumdar is Associate Professor of English at New York City College of Technology. Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, memory, empathy, and food.
Description
Three short stories and an essay are discussed with specific attention to the ways rice and rice-based rituals inform the narratives’ predominant symbolism. This discussion is situated within a larger context of the mythological and religious significances that rice carries in various (eastern and western) cultures, focusing specifically on rice’s association with prosperity, fertility, and collective harmony.