At about the mid-point in her title chapter Meatless Days Sara Suleri breaks the narrative tone of her essay to interject a question to the audience. This makes my work as a response-question-writer substantially easier.
Am I wrong, then, to say that my parable has to do with nothing less than the imaginative extravagance of food and all the transmogrifications of which it is capable?
I wish to use Suleri's question to the reader as my own to the class. Not in a plagiaristic sort of way, of course, just as a re-emphasis and re-shaping to stimulate discussion. How is Suleri's chapter simply an essay on Pakistani food and the influence it has had on her life? How is it about much more? Are the paragraphs and ruminations of the parable introduced at the beginning linked by my more than just what is edible? What symbolic value does Suleri attribute to food and eating habits?
Last modified 1 December 2003