Literary characters do not need to eat to stay alive ⦠and yet characters do eat. ⦠What do food words and food scenes do for the literary text? ⦠What are characters really saying when they say things about food â food that they donât need to eat and food that the reader cannot really share?1
âµ
This quotation from the introduction to Gitanjali Shahaniâs book Food and literature (2018) serves well as a starting point for the following discussion about the function of food and foodways in two novels for teenagers by the Lebanese writer FÄá¹ima Å araf al-DÄ«n (henceforth Fatima Sharafeddine):2 Cappuccino (2017) and IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ [Milaâs pear], 2019. These novels belong to a literary category classified as Young Adult novels, i.e., novels written about and for teenagers. Thus, an approximate age span that is often given for the expected readers of this category of literature is 12â20.3 On the cover of IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ it is clearly stated who the expected readers are: riwÄya li-al-yÄfiÊ¿Ä«n [a novel for young people].4 As for Cappuccino, it lacks a dedication but still, the cover of the book indicates who the expected readers are; it features a drawing representing two teenagers, a boy and a girl, walking together with what seem to be schoolbags on their backs.
A common theme in the two novels is the struggle of a young person to be able to follow her/his own path in life, implying a conflict with the surrounding society of grown-ups. This idea is clearly expressed in the dedication of the novel IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ:
In the descriptions of this conflict, food and eating have quite a strong presence. Food, eating and, in particular, descriptions of different kinds of meals and eating places are mentioned throughout the texts. In IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, which is a story about a young girl suffering from anorexia, food and in particular the rejection of food stand in the center, while in the other novel, food and meals are not central but rather important parts of a backdrop against which the story develops. So, why then all this talk about food? Let us return to the quotation mentioned at the beginning from Gitanjali Shahaniâs book, which has the following continuation:
food takes shape as a decisive element of human identity and as one of the most effective means of expressing and communicating that identity.6
In the present paper, I argue that the frequent mentioning of and referring to food and foodways is connected with the struggle of the young characters in the novels in forming their own lives and their own identities within a dominating society controlled by adults. The descriptions of food and meals function as cultural signifiers indicating the hierarchies and their nature within the different levels of society, but food and meals are also instrumental. Choosing what, when and where to eat or not to eat is part of the process of forming oneâs identity.
1 Young Adult Literature
The definition of Young Adult literature (henceforth YA literature) may be formulated in different ways, but with one important component in common, i.e., YA literature is, as mentioned above, written about and for teenagers. One definition that fits very well with the discussion in the present paper is the following:
literature wherein the protagonist is either a teenager or one who approaches problems from a teenage perspective. [â¦] Typically, they [these literary works] describe initiation into the adult world, or the surmounting of a contemporary problem forced upon the protagonist(s) by the adult world.7
In the West, YA literature as a term for literature for teenagers is a relatively recent phenomenon, dating back to the 1960s.8 As for the Arab world, in contrast to childrenâs literature, which has a history that stretches back to at least the end of the 19th century,9 YA literature started to appear only in the early 2000s. Important early representatives of this genre who are often mentioned are the Lebanese writers SamÄḥ IdrÄ«s and Fatima Sharafeddine. Thus, an early novel by SamÄḥ IdrÄ«s often referred to in this context is al-Maljaʾ [The shelter], 2005, a story about the experiences of a group of teenagers in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war. The same period, i.e., the Lebanese civil war, serves as a backdrop to the novel FÄtin, 2010, by Fatima Sharafeddine, where the main character is a young servant, FÄtin, who struggles for her right to education.
Although the topics in works for teenagers differ from those in literature for younger children, still both categories to a large extent follow the same rules regarding language and content. In 1928, the Egyptian writer KÄmil al-KaylÄnÄ« (1897â1959), a pioneer in the field of Arabic literature for children, stated in the preface to his book al-SindibÄd al -BaḥrÄ« [Sinbad the Seafarer] that the following criteria should be applied when writing for children. âIt [i.e., literature for children] must have didactic aims, observe correct albeit simple fuá¹£á¸¥Ä and, for moral reasons, avoid vulgar storiesâ.10 The quotation is old but these criteria are to a large degree still valid today, including for literature for adolescents. Thus, when it is written on the cover of a book that it is a novel for young readers, this statement somehow implies a guarantee that the text that is to follow will be suitable for this specific group of readers regarding content as well as language. Several writers of books for children and teenagers have described the problems they face when writing for their young readers who want to read about things that really matter, and how they are limited by this interior censorship.11 The Egyptian writer RÄnyÄ AmÄ«n refers to this problem when she says in an interview:
Teens need to read about what they care about most, which is love and relationships, and we as writers are not permitted to go near that area or at least we cannot be as honest and realistic as we should or would like to be.12
Still, the topics brought up in the two novels that will be discussed here, teenage revolt against prevailing societal rules, eating disorders and domestic violence, are quite heavy, even controversial.13
The late appearance of YA literature may be connected with the general attitude toward the period of life referred to as âadolescenceâ. In the Middle East and North Africa region, traditionally there were only two stages in a personâs life, childhood and adulthood, with puberty as the dividing line. In the agrarian societies of MENA, this remained the case well into the second half of the 20th century.14 âAdolescenceâ was regarded just as the moment of passing from the stage of childhood to the stage of adulthood, adolescents not yet being considered a social category with a need for literature dealing with their particular issues.15 However, the term âYA literatureâ is now generally used by publishing houses and bookstores in the Arab world as a way of classifying literature. In the literary awards, there is also often a category referred to as âYoung Adult literatureâ. Following the appearance of literature for adolescents came a gradually increasing academic interest in the subject. Yet very often the subject has been connected with the field of pedagogics.
2 Food and Identity in Children and YA Literature
Adolescence, a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, is a period of personal growth, a period when an individual is forming her/his identity or subjectivity in relation to surrounding society. Robyn MacCallum in her book Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction. The Dialogic Construction of Subjectivity (1999) defines subjectivity as âthat sense of personal identity an individual has of her/his self as distinct from other selves, as occupying a position within society and in relation to other selves, and as being capable of deliberate thought and actionâ.16 Subjectivity is âan individualâs sense of a personal identity as a subject â in the sense of being subject to some measure of external coercion â and as an agent â that is being capable of conscious and deliberate thought and action.â17 Thus, there is an interplay between subjection to prevailing dominating ideologies and agency. Adolescent fiction is, using the expression of Robyn MacCallum, âunderpinned by ideas about and representations of subjectivityâ.18 This is very much the case with the two novels that will be discussed here. Also, in the representation of this interplay between subjection and agency, food and foodways have a function.
They are connected with social order but they may also serve as means for representing subjectivity and agency.
On the other hand, the strict relation between food, culture and identity is underlined by food theorist Massimo Montanari in his book Food is Culture (2006) where he states that
Food is culture when it is eaten because man, while able to eat anything, or precisely for this reason, does not in fact eat everything but rather chooses his own food, according to criteria linked either to the economic and nutritional dimensions of the gesture or to the symbolic values with which food itself is invested. Through such pathways food takes shape as a decisive element of human identity and as one of the most effective means of expressing and communicating that identity.19
Carolyn Daniel in her book Voracious Children. Who Eats Whom in Childrenâs Literature (2006) also connects food with identity. She states that âone of the most fundamental cultural messages that children have to learn concerns how to eat correctly, that is, to put it simply, what to eat and what not to eat or who eats whomâ and that âwe must eat according to culturally defined rules in order to achieve proper (human) subjectivity [...]â.20 Carolyn Daniel also declares that â⦠eating in an orderly fashion, according to social and cultural precepts, is a prerequisite for being human. An individual who eats badly and breaks cultural taboos undermines the integrity of the social structureâ.21
Apart from the absolutely vital function of being physically nourishing and life-preserving, food also functions as a socializer, as a tool for integrating children and teenagers into society and for maintaining societal order, while introducing them into the adult world. Daniel adds: âEating, and specifically the cultural imperative to eat correctly, is a means by which society controls individual identityâ.22 These arguments about the function of food and foodways in literature for children and adolescents fit well with the two novels that will be discussed in this paper.
Finally, food and foodways serve as cultural signifiers, representing the different strata and hierarchies in society, but they may also be instrumental in maintaining societal order as well as in challenging this order. Thus, what happens when individuals, like the young protagonists in the two novels in question, choose to follow other eating habits than those prevailing around them?
3 Cappuccino (2017)
The novel is set in present-day Beirut, i.e., a modern and digitalized society where young people communicate through social media on their cell phones.23 The two main characters, Lina and Anas, two teenagers 17 years of age, belong to upper-middle-class families. What distinguishes Lina from the other youngsters of her age is that she is a newcomer to Beirut after having spent her childhood in France. It was only after her fatherâs death that her mother decided to return to Lebanon with Lina and Linaâs older sister. Lina speaks Arabic with a foreign accent and is not completely familiar with the social rules in Lebanese society. She is thus regarded as a foreigner and a sort of outsider. As for Anas, he lives with his parents and his younger sister. The two main characters meet at a yoga class and their initial friendship gradually turns into love. Around this relationship between the two protagonists, two other stories are evolving. These stories are connected with the grown-ups in their respective families as each of the two main characters is secretly struggling with problems at home. Linaâs mother is being cheated by Linaâs uncle (a brother of her deceased father) who, supported by Lebanese law and tradition, has confiscated the heritage of Linaâs father and who, in order to strengthen the family bonds, wants to force Linaâs older sister into marrying his son. As for Anasâ family, its secret problem is domestic violence since Anasâ mother is being regularly abused and beaten up by his father.
The society described in the novel is divided into two social spheres for which descriptions of food, meals, as well as eating places serve as signifiers: the urban sphere of modernity and a Western lifestyle, and a sphere of tradition, with Eastern features. The young protagonists choose to be part of the sphere of modernity. The central position of this sphere in their lives is already indicated by the title, the foreign sounding word cappuccino. Cappuccino is also one of the beverages served at their favorite meeting place.
The descriptions of food and foodways also indicate the wide gap between these two contexts. The food that is served in the traditional sphere is usually meticulously prepared and abundant. In this context, meals are served in a kitchen, a dining room or at a restaurant. The atmosphere around the tables is cold and formal, or even violent, as is the case with the kitchen in Anasâ home. In contrast, the meals of the modern sphere consist of fast food and light dishes eaten informally in front of the television or in a coffee shop. These meals are also connected with intimacy and fellowship. In Linaâs home, described as having a Western character and thus belonging to this sphere of modernity, cooking is not even a necessity. For instance, Linaâs mother orders Chinese food from a takeaway restaurant.24
Lina and Anas seek refuge from their domestic problems in each otherâs company. Their meeting place is Mocca, a coffee shop in central Beirut. Mocca is a modern place frequented by foreign or Westernized clients where French and English are often spoken instead of Arabic. International and trendy light dishes are served: hamburger, pizza, falafel, cappuccino, green tea, and cocoa. Mocca is the retreat of the young protagonists, where they study, meet friends but also express their love for each other, even holding hands.
Lina and Anas take turns as narrators in the novel. It is actually only their voices that are heard. As already mentioned, they have made an active choice concerning to what sphere in society they want to belong. Their choice is illustrated by their preferences regarding food and foodways. Thus e.g. in two separate passages of the novel, it is explicitly stated that neither Lina nor Anas likes Arabic coffee.25 The young protagonists stand firm in their choice of what context in life they want to be part of. Their characters do not develop much throughout the story. It is rather the grown-ups around them who are changing and adapting.
In one passage there is a description of a sumptuous meal at a traditional Oriental restaurant, organized by Linaâs uncle to introduce his son to the latterâs sister. There are many dishes but the conversation around the table is forced and the atmosphere is cold. Lina describes the scene:
ÙÙÙØ° اÙجÙ٠اÙبارد إتÙا٠اÙÙاد٠باÙ٠أÙÙÙات. صØÙ٠٠تتاÙÙØ© ٠٠اÙسÙطات ÙاÙ٠تبÙÙات ÙاÙ٠شاÙÙ ÙاÙÙ ÙاÙÙØ Ù٠أر٠بÙÙ ÙÙÙتÙا Ù٠٠طع٠٠٠٠ÙبÙ. ÙÙبدأ باÙØ£ÙÙØ ÙتتخÙÙ٠جÙسة٠اÙغداء Ø£ØادÙث٠شب٠رس٠ÙØ© بÙ٠عائÙتÙÙا. [â¦]âª26â¬
We were saved from the cold atmosphere as the waiter brought the dishes. Plate after plate with salads, mutabbalat, grilled and fried food. I had never seen this amount of food before in a restaurant. We started to eat and the dinner party was permeated by a semi-official conversation between our two families.
When looking at how their aunt is eating chicken using her hands, Lina and her sister start to exchange nasty smiles and signs of disgust, then they burst out laughing.27
This scene illustrates the wide gap between the two mentalities, the modern, urban and Westernized and the traditional one, represented here by the young and the adults, respectively.
The restaurant scene above may be compared with another meal taking place in Anasâ home as he and his mother, in the absence of the father, have their supper in the living room in front of the television. When the father is not home, they prefer to have something that can quickly and easily be prepared and eaten, like a sandwich, a glass of juice, a cup of tea. Here they sit together, eating and chatting in harmony.
Ø£Øضر ٠ا Ø£Øتاج ٠إÙÙ٠٠٠اÙبرÙØ§Ø¯Ø Ø£ØµÙÙ Ùطع٠جبÙة٠اÙØÙÙÙ٠٠عÙ٠رغÙÙ Ø®Ø¨Ø²Ø ÙتسØب Ø£Ù ÙÙ Ùطعة٠٠ÙÙا ÙتأÙÙÙا: Ù٠أÙا جائعة. سأØضÙر Ù٠عصÙرا٠ÙÙتÙاÙ٠اÙعشاء بÙÙ٠ا ÙشاÙد ÙÙÙ٠اÙ. ٠ا رأÙÙØ [â¦] ÙÙتØÙدث ÙÙØ£ÙÙâª.28â¬
I bring what I need from the fridge and I put some halloumi cheese on a piece of bread. Mother snatches a bite of it and eats it. âI am so hungry. I will bring you some juice and then we will have supper while watching a film. What do you think?â [ â¦] We chat and eat.
Yet when the father comes home, the kitchen is once again the place for eating but it also turns into a place of violence, âa battlefieldâ, in the words of Anas.29 The father screams at the mother, insults her, beats her and even throws plates at her. This description stands in stark contrast to the frequent descriptions of kitchens in childrenâs literature in general, where the kitchen is a place of warmth, a place of food and comfort, âa maternalized spaceâ where the mother has a central role.30 The kitchen is the heart of the home and the meals that are prepared and served here as well as in the dining room have the function of strengthening the bonds between the family members.31 As mentioned above, Carolyn Daniel stresses that food in literature written by adults for children is connected with social order and cultural expectations. It serves as a guide for âhow the children should act out the roles adults assign to them within the social structuresâ.32 However, in this novel, the young protagonists seem to be rather guided toward a revolt, a challenging of prevailing traditional social structures. Thus, in the kitchen of Anasâ family, the social structures of traditional society have disintegrated and its implicit organizing rules are undermined. The final blow comes when Anas does the unthinkable, using violence against his own father in order to protect the mother. The prevailing social order of traditional society has been completely brought to an end and the kitchen, which is supposed to be warm and comfortable, has turned into a negative space.
There is indeed a strong criticism in the book of Lebanese society, described as being patriarchal and failing to protect women against the injustice and violence of men. The novel is explicitly biased in favor of life in Europe. At the end of the story, Linaâs mother gives up her struggle and returns with her family to France.
خسرÙا ٠اÙ٠أب٠ÙØ£Ù ÙاÙÙÙØ ÙÙÙÙÙا ربØÙا ØرÙÙتÙا ÙراØØ© اÙباÙâª.â¬
We lost my fatherâs money and belongings but [through our decision to return to France] we gained our freedom and peace of mind.33
The European culture being an ideal is also referred to through the symbolic farewell gift that Anas presents to Lina: a small model of a French ship that he has made.
At the same time, Anasâ father, under the threat of being reported to the police, returns home to his family and promises to stop using violence.34 Family life turns into what family life ought to be. The novel ends with a scene where Anas returns home from a yoga class and through the door overhears the calm and happy voices of the family members. The mother is singing, the father is speaking on the phone and the sister is laughing out loud at a funny television program.35
Anas and Lina are separated, but they stay in contact, sending text messages and talking to each other and even meeting face-to-face on their cell phones. These conversations between Beirut and Paris illustrate that a consensus has been reached. Even though the two protagonists are separated geographically, they still live in the sphere of life that they have chosen, the sphere of Westernized modernity.
4 IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ [Milaâs pear] (2019)
In the novel IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, we follow the story of a teenage girl through anorexia nervosa toward recovery. The description of the different phases in Milaâs trajectory with the disease corresponds to what is usually mentioned in medical descriptions of anorexia nervosa and its causes: self-hatred, a distorted body perception, perfectionism and social comparison, teasing, criticism and bullying.36 Self-starvation is also often referred to as a consequence of problems related to a dysfunctional family.37 This last aspect has a prominent place in the novel, illustrated by the main characterâs complicated relationship with her mother.
As in the previously discussed novel Cappuccino, the setting is an upper- middle-class milieu in present-day Beirut. The main protagonist Mila (which is a shortened form of her actual name Jamila), is a 15-year-old girl living with her parents and two older brothers. One day, Mila makes three important decisions which she records in her cell phoneâs notebook:
اÙØ£ÙÙÙ Ù٠تجÙÙب اÙتÙÙÙر Ù٠أ٠ÙÙ ÙتÙاد٠اÙÙجÙد بÙرب٠Ùدر٠اÙØ¥Ù ÙاÙ[â¦] اÙثاÙÙ Ù٠عد٠اÙØ«ÙØ© بأÙÙ Ùا٠٠٠ØÙÙÙا. [â¦] أ٠ا ÙرارÙا اÙثاÙØ«[â¦] ÙÙ٠أÙÙÙا سÙ٠تتبع ØÙ ÙØ© غذائÙØ© شدÙدة. سÙ٠تخÙÙ ÙزÙÙا ÙÙ٠تÙÙد إراداتÙا ٠جددا أ٠ا٠اÙأطع٠ة اÙت٠تس٠ÙÙâª.â¬
The first decision is that she will avoid thinking of Amin and as much as possible will stay far away from him. [â¦] The second is not to trust anyone around her. [â¦] The third is that she will follow a strict diet, lose weight and never again lose her strength to resist eating food that makes her fat.38
The immediate cause of these three decisions is an incident at school when a group of girls humiliated Mila in front of a boy with whom she is secretly in love, Amin. However, there are also other more deep-rooted reasons for Mila taking the decision not to eat. She has a history of being bullied at school because of her looks and of having been called names like âfat cowâ, âballoonâ, and âstupid bearâ.39 There are also the expectations of her mother who, since Mila was a small child, has warned her about eating too much and who insists on the importance of Mila being slim. She remembers how once when Mila had been sick the mother commented on her pale face, saying that she âlooked prettier than usualâ.40
The title of the novel, âMilaâs pearâ, refers to a nasty description of the physical shape of her aunt whose name is Jamila as well. It is Milaâs greatest fear that she may become like her aunt who, from behind, looks like a pear with her big bottom and broad hips. Apart from her physical appearance, Mila also faces strict demands on her performance, at school as well as in her classes in classical ballet.
Gradually, the diet turns into self-starvation and it brings her deeper and deeper into isolation and disease.
Mila, just like the characters in Cappuccino, lives in the modern digitalized world of the young. Almost all communication between the young, bullying as well as friendly messages, takes place on the cell phone. Thus, interspersed in the text are personal notes on the mobile and text messages exchanged by Mila and her best friend. Another component of this modern digitalized world is international so-called âpro-anaâ (pro-anorexia) sites on the internet.41 It is on such a site that Mila finds a number of Russian letters forming the phrase âDonât eat!â and she subsequently has these Russian letters tattooed on her arm, making her feel part of a global community of anorexics.42
The disease is embodied in a character that she refers to as the Voice. This character has no corporeal appearance, it is just the Voice, but at times is also referred to as al-waḥš [the beast].43 We are not told if this âpseudo characterâ is masculine or feminine.44 It has no gender, contrary to what is stated in studies about anorexia concerning such repressive elements that usually take a masculine form.45
The Voice is Milaâs constant companion, scolding her and urging her to go even further in her diet:
Ùذا ÙÙس ÙاÙÙا Ø ØªÙدرÙ٠أ٠تÙØÙ٠أÙثر Ù Ù Ø°ÙÙ. اÙتبÙÙ!46
That is not enough. You can get slimmer! Watch out!
٥١ØÙ¥ ÙÙÙÙ. âجÙÙد ÙÙÙÙ Ùا ÙÙÙÙâØ ÙتÙرÙر Ù٠س اÙصÙت ÙÙ ÙÙÙ٠٠رÙØ© تت٠عÙ٠باÙرÙ٠عÙ٠اÙÙ ÙزاÙ. تÙر٠Ùذا اÙصÙØªØ ÙÙ ÙØ®ÙÙÙا ÙÙÙÙÙا Ø£Ùضا Ùا ترÙد٠أ٠ÙتخÙÙÙ٠عÙÙا.47
â51.5 kilos ⦠That is good, but it is not enough.â The Voice whispers this every time she looks at the number on the scales. She hates this Voice. He scares her, but at the same time she does not want him to desert her.
The Voice is repressive, but it is also he who has given her not only a beautiful body, âthe body that she has dreamed of all her lifeâ, but also the âstrength and confidence to confront family and friendsâ.48 The Voice has become an inseparable part of her identity.
اÙصÙتâ¦.. ÙÙخر رأسÙا â¦. ÙÙبÙØ®Ùا بأÙا تتخÙ٠عÙÙ. Ù٠صدÙÙÙا اÙØ£ÙØد. Ù٠اÙØ°Ù ÙÙ ÙØÙا اÙÙÙØ© ÙÙ Ùذا اÙبÙت ÙÙÙ ÙÙ Ù ÙاÙ. ÙÙÙÙ ÙÙا Ø¥Ù٠إرادتÙا Ø£ÙÙ٠٠٠ا تظÙÙ.49
The Voice ⦠he gnaws inside her head ⦠he admonishes her not to desert him. He is her only friend. It is he who has given her the strength in this house and everywhere. He says to her that her will is stronger than she actually thinks.
Initially, she is encouraged in her efforts to lose weight by her mother and her friends who express their admiration of her beautiful body. Yet when Amin, the boy of her dreams, finally pays attention to her and asks her out on a date, it is too late. Mila is too focused on herself and her relation to food, and Amin is no longer important. Nothing is significant except herself and her struggle not to eat.
Finally, everything in Milaâs life falls apart, relationships with friends and family, studies and ballet classes, and she is taken to hospital and starts to find her way out of anorexia.
أشعر ÙØ£ÙÙÙ٠أ٠ش٠عÙÙ Øب٠بÙÙÙاÙ٠٠عÙÙÙ٠بÙ٠ع٠ÙدÙÙ. Ùا أعر٠٠ا ÙÙتظرÙÙ Ù٠اÙدرب. [â¦] سأخط٠عÙÙ Ù ÙÙ ÙØ·ÙÙØ© تتعÙÙ٠اÙ٠ش٠⦠ÙÙ ÙÙ٠خطÙØ© جدÙدة ⦠ÙÙ ÙÙ٠بÙÙÙ Ù.50
I feel as if I am walking on a tightrope fixed between two poles. I donât know what lies ahead of me on my future path [â¦] I will walk slowly like a small child that has just learned how to walk. Every day a new step ⦠every single day.
This final statement may reflect the determination of the young character to heal from her disease and change her life. In the epilogue, she adds âI know that I am strong and capable of loving myselfâ,51 which signifies that she has regained control over her body and has probably reached agency, i.e., in the words of Robyn MacCallum, she has become âcapable of conscious and deliberate thought and actionâ.52
Yet there is an ambiguity in the description of Milaâs trajectory through the disease and in the outcome of the story. If we return to the previously mentioned dedication on the first page of the novel: âto every boy and girl who challenged the pressures of society and liberated themselves from themâ, it may refer to the characterâs final decision to react to and heal from her disease. But it may also imply that self-starvation itself or the decision not to eat, is a way of gaining agency, however distorted this way might seem. It is Mila herself who has taken the decision to abstain from food and she feels that she has control and that she is empowered. This fits well into what Liz Eckermann in her presentation of different theories concerning self-starvation writes about âelements of agency and choosing in eating disordersâ, elements that âmove self-starvation out of simple unitary categorization (as âvictimâ, as âsickâ, as âdeviantâ, as ânaughtyâ, or as âhealthyâ, as âgoodâ, as âcompliantâ) to a complex practice of embodied communication and active identity constructionâ.53 In the context of this discussion it is also interesting to refer to the above- mentioned phenomenon of âpro-anaâ websites as these have sometimes been interpreted by academics as challenging âthe hegemony of medical discourse which positions self-starvation as an illness or disease ⦠offering possibilities for gender resistance and agencyâ.54
It is worth mentioning that, in contrast to the previously discussed novel where the young protagonists clearly stood up against a patriarchal and traditional Eastern order, the pressure in the case of Milaâs story seems to come from a modern society with new imported values regarding slimness that are not compatible with a traditional Eastern society.55 These values are also represented by Milaâs mother with her demands on her daughter to eat in a way the mother sees as healthy and to remain slim.
Ù٠خبÙرة اÙØ£Ù٠اÙصØÙÙÙ Ù٠اÙبÙت ⦠٠ÙÙÙسة بÙ! ÙÙ Ùا تستخد٠اÙس٠٠أ٠اÙزبدة Ù٠اÙØ·Ø¹Ø§Ù Ø ÙÙا تØضÙر اÙÙ ÙاÙ٠أبداÙ.56
She [the mother] is the expert in the house on healthy food â¦. infatuated by it! She does not use ghee or butter in the food and she never prepares fried food.
In stark contrast to the description of the mother stands the character of the now deceased grandmother who had a warm personality and who used to overindulge Mila with love as well as sweets.57 Another character that belongs to a traditional context is an old and poor fisherman whom Mila meets when walking on the pier and in whose company she feels calm. Both traditional characters reflect a positive image.
Yet ultimately Mila follows the values prevailing around her regarding slimness, as expressed by the expectations of her mother but also by commercials and the media, but she takes them to extremes.
Another relevant element is the function of the kitchen as a place in both novels. In contrast to this place in Anasâ home, there is no violence in Milaâs kitchen, but neither is there any warmth or comfort. Most of the household work is actually carried out by an Ethiopian maid, which, in relation to food and cooking, underlines the social hierarchy. Besides, the purpose of the meals is not so much to strengthen the bonds between the family members as to ensure that they eat in what the mother sees as a healthy way. With regards to Mila, the main goal of her mother is to ensure that she remains slim.58
5 Conclusion
The two YA novels discussed above describe how a group of teenagers, belonging to the urban upper-middle-class, struggle to find their own identities in a surrounding, prevailing society of grown-ups, using the choice of what and where to eat (or not to eat) as an instrument for forming and confirming these identities.
Apart from being instrumental, the descriptions of food, foodways and food places also serve as illustrations of the different, traditional and modern, contexts in Lebanese present-day society. However, the scenarios in the two novels are not identical. Whereas the dichotomy between traditional and modern society in Cappuccino is quite clear from the beginning, with the young protagonists relentlessly choosing a modern Westernized lifestyle over a traditional one with Eastern traits, this is not the case with IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ. Indeed, the pressure exerted on the young feminine character seems in this novel not to come from an Eastern patriarchal society, but rather from a Westernized one, characterized by a distorted modernity, infused with imported values as regards slimness.
To conclude, we may say that the two novels describe how young people try to navigate in a changing society, struggling to find their own identities and their own positions or, in other words, to find their own places at the table.
References
Abou-Saleh, Mohammed T., Younis, Yahya and Karim, Lina. âAnorexia Nervosa in an Arab Cultureâ. International Journal of Eating Disorders 23 (1998): 207â2012.
Anati, Nisreen M. âArabic Young Adult Literature in Englishâ. Arab World English Journal 3, no. 2 (2012): 168â193.
Daniel, Carolyn. Voracious children: Who eats whom in childrenâs literature. New York: Routledge. 2006. Project MUSE.
Eckermann, Liz. âTheorizing self-starvation: Beyond risk, governmentality and the normalizing gazeâ. In Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Disorders, edited by Helen Malson and Maree Burns, 9â21. New York: Routledge. 2009.
Gertel, Jörg and Hexel, Ralf. Coping with uncertainty: Youth in the Middle East and North Africa, London: Saqi Books, 2018.
Hilton, Mary and Nikolajeva, Maria (eds.). Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture: The Emergent Adult. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Holmes, Su. âMy anorexia story: girls constructing narratives of identity on YouTubeâ. Cultural Studies 31, no. 1 (2017), 1â23.
Katz, Wendy. âSome uses of food in childrenâs literatureâ. Education II 4 (1980): 192â199.
Keeling, Kara K. and Pollard, Scott T. Table lands: Food in childrenâs literature., Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2020.
MacCallum, Robyn. Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction: The Dialogic Construction of Subjectivity. New York: Garland, 1999.
Mahdi, Ali Akbar (eds.). Teen life in the Middle East. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9798216023784.
Malson, Helen and Burns, Maree (eds.). Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Disorders. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Melisse, Bernou, de Beurs, Edvin and van Furth, Eric F. âEating disorders in the Arab world: a literature reviewâ. Journal of Eating Disords 8, no. 59 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-020-00336-x.
Montanari, Massimo. Food is Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Nasser, Mervat, and Malson, Helen. âBeyond western dis/orders: Thinness and self- starvation of other-ed womenâ. In Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Disorders, edited by Helen Malson and Maree Burns, 74â86. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Qualey, Marcia Lynx, âArab Teens and Young Adult Literature: The new waveâ. Qantara, 16, no. 7 (2017), Accessed September 10, 2018. https://qantara.de/en/node/7821.
âRania Amin on untying authorsâ hands when writing Arabic literature for young peopleâ. Arab Lit. Quarterly, 24, no. 1 (2017). Accessed August 15, 2020. https://arablit.org/2017/01/24.
Shahani, Gitanjali G. Food and Literature, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018. https://doi-org.ezp.sub.su.se/10.1017/9781108661492.
Sharafeddine, Fatima. FÄtin. Beirut: KalimÄt, 2010.
Sharafeddine, Fatima. Cappuccino. Beirut: al-SÄqÄ«, 2017.
Sharafeddine, Fatima. IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ. Beirut: al-SÄqÄ«, 2019.
Snir, Reuven. Modern Arabic Literature: A theoretical framework. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017.
Treasure, Janet and Cardi, Valentina. âAnorexia Nervosa, Theory and Treatment: Where Are We 35 Years on from Hilde Bruchâs Foundation Lecture?â. European Eating Disorders Review 25 (2017): 139â147.
Vander Stay, Steven. âYoung-Adult Literature: A writer strikes the genreâ. The English Journal 81, no. 4 (April 1992): 45â52.
Shahani, Gitanjali G., Food and Literature, 2018, 3.
Fatima Sharafeddine is a Lebanese writer who specializes in writing for children and young adults. She studied (MA in Pedagogical Theory as well as Modern Arabic Literature) at Ohio University in the USA and is at present living in Brussels. She is a very prolific writer who has written a large number of books, in particular picture books for small children. Lately, she has also started to write books for preteens and teenagers. Several of her books have either been nominated for or received important literary awards, e.g. the novel FÄtin that in 2010 was elected the best book of the year at the International Book Fair of Beirut. In 2017, the novel Cappuccino was given the Etisalat award (with its center in al-ShÄriqa in the UAE) for best Young Adult novel of the year. Fatima Sharafeddine has also on several occasions (the last time was in 2022) been nominated for the prestigious Swedish ALMA award. See https://www.fatimasharafeddine.com/ar/, visited 2023-04-20. The Swedish ALMA award (the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award), is the worldâs largest award for childrenâs and young adult literature. It has been handed out annually since the year 2003.
Anati, Nisreen M., âArabic Young Adult Literature in Englishâ, 2012, 168. However, in the Arabic context, this new genre of literature for teenagers, described by Marcia Lynx Qualey, editor of the Arab Lit. magazine and translator, as literature with âsimplified modern Arabic, short sentences, tight writing, strong craftingâ, targets readers in their lower teens. Qualey, 2010.
Sharafeddine, Fatima, IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ [Milaâs pear], 2019.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 5. All quotations from Arabic have been translated by the author of the article.
Shahani, Food and Literature, 4.
G. Robert Carlsen quoted in Vander Stay, âYoung Adult Literatureâ, 1992, 2.
As an important forerunner to or even as the founder of the canon of Young Adult literature in the West, J. D. Salingerâs novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) is mentioned. See Hilton, Mary, and Nikolajeva, Maria, Contemporary Adolescent Literature, 2016, 7.
The first time that the term adabiyyÄt al-aá¹fÄl [children literature] started to be used in Arabic literary magazines was in the 1930s. See Snir, Reuven, Modern Arabic Literature, 2017, 55, note 2.
Snir, Modern Arabic Literature, 6.
In an interview in al-Qantara, the Palestinian/Jordanian writer TaghrÄ«d al-NajjÄr, when talking about her novel Sitt al-Kull (2013), a story based on real events about a young girl in Gaza working as a fisher and in which there is a very cautious hinting at what could be interpreted as the beginning of a love story, describes how she was contacted by her readers who wanted to have more details about this love story but that she was prevented by this interior censorship to write anything more. Qualey, 2017.
âRania Aminâ, 2017. RÄnyÄ AmÄ«n (born in 1965) is a very prolific illustrator and writer of books for small children as well as for teenagers. Her series of picture books about the little girl FarḥÄna has received much attention.
In connection with this it may be of interest to mention the ALMA laureate of 2023, the American writer Laurie Halse Anderson (born in 1961) who writes novels for young adults. Some of her books have been banned in several states in the USA for bringing up the very sensitive subjects of rape and sexual harassment. See e.g. Uppsala Nya Tidning, 2023-03-07.
Mahdi, Ali Akbar, Teen life, 2003, 2 and Gertel, Jörg and Hexel, Ralf, Coping with uncertainty, 2018, 9.
Cf. Hilton and Nikolajeva, who in their introduction to the book Contemporary Adolescent Literature stress that adolescence is a social construction that initially was ânot reflected in the literature for the young [â¦]â. Teenagers were described in literature but in a way where âadolescent interiority was largely absentâ. The descriptions were rather a continuation of the literature written for children. Hilton and Nikolajeva, 1â2.
MacCallum, Ideologies of Identity, 1999, 3.
MacCallum, Ideologies of Identity, 4.
MacCallum, Ideologies of Identity, 3.
Montanari, Massimo, Food is Culture, 2006, VIâVII.
Daniel, Voracious children, 2006, 4.
Daniel, Voracious children, 185â186.
Daniel, Voracious children, 186.
Digitalization has a strong presence in the novel. Apart from exchanging text messages, the young protagonists also use their phones as diaries. Cf. the following discussion about IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ.
Cappuccino, 2017, 102.
Cappuccino, 161 and 166.
Cappuccino, 147.
Cappuccino, 147â148.
Cappuccino, 31.
Daniel, Voracious children, 92.
Daniel, Voracious children, 106â107. It is interesting to note that the kitchen and the dining room may also be a space of order and hierarchy. See e.g. in Fatima Sharafeddineâs novel FÄtin (2010) where each one of the members of the household as well as each of the different dishes has his/her/its own specific place around or on the table in the dining room or (as regards the servant) outside the dining room. FÄtin, 11.
Daniel, Voracious children, 28.
Cappuccino, 201.
Yet this solution to the problem of domestic violence implied by the novel does not seem plausible.
Cappuccino, 207.
See e.g. Treasure, Janet, and Cardi, Valentina, âAnorexia Nervosaâ, 2017, 139â140.
Eckermann, Liz, âTheorizing self-starvationâ, 2009, 11.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 2019, 43â44.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 35.
See e.g. Holmes, Su, âMy anorexia storyâ, 2017.
It is also interesting to note that in the novel, the Russian letters are presented (they even constitute the title of one of the chapters, IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 76) without any translation or comment as to what they mean. The reader is thus obliged to search for the meaning by her/himself.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 7, 194.
However, in the translations of quotations from the novel, the pronoun âheâ is used when referring to the Voice.
See e.g. the psychoanalyst Hilde Bruch, who in her The Golden Cage (1978) writes, that many anorexics talk about having âa dictator who dominates meâ or, âa little man who objects when I eatâ. Bruch claims that the little ghost, the dictator, the âother selfâ is always male. Bruch, Hilda, The Golden Cage, 1978, 58, quoted in Daniel, Voracious children, 202.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 74.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 93.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 122.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 227.
MacCallum, Ideologies of Identity, 4.
Eckermann, âTheorizing self-starvationâ, 12â13.
Holmes, âMy anorexia storyâ, 2.
In fact, the phenomenon of eating disorders was for a long time regarded as almost non-existent in the Arab world, the first cases being registered in the late 1980s. See Melisse, de Beurs and van Furth, âEating Disordersâ, 2020, 2. However, with globalism and mass media, the spreading of the idea of âthinness as a master signifier of feminine beautyâ has followed. Recent research from non-Western countries including the Middle East shows high rates of eating disorders, rates that are similar to or âeven higher than those reported in the Westâ. See Nasser, Mervat and Malson, Helen, âBeyond western dis/ordersâ, 2009, 82.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 47.
IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 14â15.
For this purpose, Milaâs mother has special dishes prepared for her daughter, like boiled vegetables and fish. IjÄá¹£at MÄ«lÄ, 48.