In her “An excursus on significant meals”, an analysis on the meaning of food in children’s books, Maria Nikolajeva takes eating as an initiation rite since it’s closely connected to death and resurrection. Eating can be a part of a rite of passage: death, as getting eaten by a monster (e.g. the whale for Jonah or the wolf for the Little Red Riding Hood) or a transfer between two worlds, as participating in a meal leading to the Otherworld (e.g. under the spell of the White Witch by the enchanted Turkish delight Edmund tastes in Narnia or to resurrection by the Holy Communion). “Like all mythical elements in literature, rituals around food have their origins in the most basic aspects of human behaviour, connected with archaic beliefs of life, death and rebirth, and hence also sexuality, fertility and procreation (Nikolajeva).” However, the original motifs and meanings of symbols in folktales became more obscure when they were rewritten to fairy tales with suit pedagogical purposes.

In his anthropological study “The Raw and the Cooked” Claude Lévi-Strauss’s claims that in archaic thought food was devised in “own” and “alien”. The own food was seen as good, natural and pure and the alien food as the opposite. Remnants of these notions can be seen in some religions prohibitions against certain foods (e.g. pork in Islam). This explains why strange food in fairy tales more often depicts danger than safety.

“The prohibition of cannibalism is one of the first steps of human civilization. The meaning of cannibalism is that by eating up your enemy you inherit his powers. There exists a habit of eating up the eldest man in the tribe to inherit his wisdom. Later this changes into ritual meals. To eat a symbolical figure signifies receiving magical power. To eat and be eaten are two interchangeable notions, which is seen in the Christian tradition's most important sacrament, the Holy Communion. Jesus prescribed that His "body" be eaten, symbolizing a union of those who eat and Him who is being eaten, which together signifies a victory over death and a promise of resurrection. There is a very old archaic rite at the source of this. Thus in archaic thought there is a direct connection between food and sexuality, and between certain food restrictions and certain marriage restrictions, such as incest. Incest and cannibalism, two extreme forms of behaviour, are in some archaic languages described by the same word (same).”

For me, at first the allusion food-equals-sex seemed a bit too Freudian as the allusion food-equals-security was easier to swallow. In Harry Potter books, every time Harry is anxious, he is unable to eat anything – this even becomes an irritating gesture as it’s repeated formulaic without exceptions. In the Chronicles of Narnia, the lack of box lunches makes the children notice the lack of their parents and other reliable adults who would solve their problems for them: in Narnia, they’re on their own. Happily they get friends and bond with them by eating together – they’re not alone, after all. Still, they have to be independent from their parents and grow up as the support from their equals cannot replace the complete security of early childhood’s paradise.

What comes to the apples Eve and Snow White bite, I had never realized the connection between them so it was splendid when Nikolajeva came to think of it. In the Bible, Eve is good and innocent until she tastes the forbidden fruit, often depicted as an apple. As long as she obeys her father the Almighty, she is only an innocent child, but by rebelling against his orders she becomes independent. The end of childhood also means the end of the carefree life she was able to lead as a child. From the moment she enters the adult’s world by having sex with Adam, she has to cope on her own. Even if she’s not completely equal with him, their relationship is much more equal than the one between a child and a parent. And, as she becomes a mother herself, she becomes the one making up the rules and saying what’s allowed and what’s not.

For children the superficial moral of the apple in Snow White is to avoid the strangers who offer goodies. Strange people can be dangerous and should not be trusted only because they seem nice and promise to offer fruits or candy. On the deeper level her biting the apple can be seen as a symbol of sex and rebellion against her parents: she must have been told a million times not to take goodies from strangers, so as she does it, she exposes herself to new and stimulating experiences. Snow White is sick and tired of being told what to do, the more because of the circumstances where her parents have failed to keep her in a safe paradise. Now that she has had to leave the secure home she might as well see what the world has to offer.

But, as she is in no way prepared to her adventure, she is unable to handle it and becomes paralyzed. The ugly old witch has gone too far, she only wanted to taste the apple but was not ready to eat it until the end. Happily her next lover is tenderer and is ready to take it more slowly. The prince isn’t only after sex, but falls in love with her and is willing to offer her the life she longs after.