Lahiri's The Interpreter of Illnesses is a collection of short works that explore and examine questions of identity and assimilation between Indian and American cultures. Woven into and between every story and every struggle is the presence of traditional Indian food and the nuances of its ritualized preparation. It serves as a metaphor for several things in interaction with the protagonists of his stories: community, normality, culture, love, and so on. The meaning of food, its implications and effects, is prevalent in “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” “Mrs. Sen's” and “A Temporary Matter”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dinner” oozes food symbolism from start to finish, even in the title. “Coming to dine” is, in itself, a social event, a routine meeting to share space and converse over a meal. Searching through telephone directories and college yearbooks, Lilia's parents tirelessly search for Indian surnames in an attempt to find company at dinner, until they find a Pakistani man named Mr. Pirzada. When he arrives at their home, he presents a portrait of his daughters, "producing from his wallet a black-and-white photo of seven girls at a picnic...eating chicken curry with banana leaves." (23) The picnic represents recreation and family bonding, and his presentation of them through that particular snapshot of their lives frames them in a context that Lilia can relate to and empathize with. When Lilia's father tries to explain that Mr. Pirzada "is no longer considered Indian," Lilia finds it difficult to recognize the differences between him and her parents, noting that they both "ate pickled mangoes at meals, ate rice every night for dinner with their hands…for dessert they dipped austere biscuits into successive cups of tea” and interacted as any other Indian would. (25) Even at a young age, Lilia understands the meaning of food consumed among people of the same culture, the sense of security and shared understanding that comes with it. In several scenes, Lilia helps her mother set the table for dinner or arranges condiments and spices next to the dishes, fully aware of the refined blend of flavors customary - indeed expected - of Indian dishes. She describes her mother's efforts to prepare a meal for her family, bringing a "succession of dishes" into the living room where they sat in front of the television and waited for news from Dacca. (30) The work offered by her mother is representative of Indian tradition and the women who spend hours in the kitchen preparing elaborate traditional meals for their guests every evening. By taking the food out of the dining room and onto the couch, Lahiri sets a casual scene; in this way, use food to break down the polite distance between family and guest and create a smaller, more special space. Sen's,” Lahiri presents the meaning of food in a much less communal setting, through the eyes of a young boy, Elliot, under the cautious supervision of a lonely professor's wife. Separated by an ocean from her family, Ms. Sen uses the ritualized practice of chopping vegetables, cooking stews and hand-selecting fish to maintain connections to her ideas of normality and sociability. Elliot observes that much of Mrs. Sen's day is taken up with the detailed preparation of the sumptuous meals she serves to her husband when he returns from work. He arranges newspapers in front of the television and sits comfortably with a steel blade, peeling, slicing and chopping an assortment of vegetables for nearly an hour each day. The procedure uses a cultural tool and reflects, as Ms Sen a explainsElliot, a sort of ritual in which the women of the neighborhood celebrated an important event by “[sitting] in a huge circle on the roof of [her] building, laughing and gossiping…and chopping fifty pounds of vegetables at night. (115) Her memory of the practice as a social event, a scaffolding for bonding between women, juxtaposes her alternative practice, performed without the need for occasion and with only television to keep her company; it only emphasizes his estrangement from family and friends and reiterates his daily alienation. All that Ms. Sen is willing to go to to secure fresh fish for her dishes, and the precise care with which she portions and fillets each, is extremely indicative of how important it is to cook proper meals for traditional Indian women. She pushes herself out of her comfort zone to go to the fish market on the beach, even going so far as to get behind the wheel without a license when Mr. Sen is unavailable (or unwilling) to drive her all the way. Lahiri also uses Mrs. Sen to draw a distinction between a traditional Indian woman and Elliot's American mother and how their cooking, or the level at which they do it, signifies a marked cultural difference. Every evening, when Elliot's mother comes to pick him up, Mrs. Sen does her the favor of inviting her into the living room and serves her something to eat; She always nibbles a little on what's offered to her, attributes her small appetite to a late lunch, and then orders a pizza for her and Elliot when they get home. Mrs. Sen's rigor in preparing home-cooked meals is absolutely not appreciated by Elliot's mother. As a result, Elliot feels much more involved and important when he observes Mrs. Sen's effort to prepare and cook dinner for her husband than when his mother orders takeout and leaves him to wrap the leftovers alone. Hours spent preparing traditional meals are indicative of a sense of appreciation and compassion on the part of Indian mothers for their children, while fast food seems more indifferent and speaks more to the weaker affections (or lack thereof) between a American mother and her son. Lahiri explores the ideas of love and compassion represented by food and cooking in “A Temporary Matter” through the experiences of a disjointed married couple, Shoba and Shukmar. After the death of his newborn son, Shukmar witnesses a profound change in his wife: her inherent “ability to think ahead,” her impulse to prepare and preserve ready-to-serve, home-cooked food for any possible visitor or occasion. , suddenly disappears. (6) She recalls her ability to "put together meals that seemed to have taken half a day to prepare... peppers that she had marinated herself with rosemary, and chutney that she cooked on Sundays, stirring boiling pots of tomatoes and prunes" and gratification provided her. (7) Shukmar's testimony of the stark contrast between his wife before and after their son's death is representative of the heart put into Shoba's traditional home cooking; when pain presides over her efforts, she completely stops bothering to even heat meals from the prepared broth, leaving Shukmar to heat what's left for the two of them and noting that, "if it hadn't been for him, Shoba would have eaten a bowl of cereal for his dinner. (8) He can just as easily purchase ready-made meals to heat in the microwave for Shoba, but his concern for her well-being and willingness - even eagerness - to peruse her cookbooks and prepare meals outfits for their dinner indicate that he likes her, and still cares about extending the effort. In contrast, he notes that, "for their first anniversary, Shoba had prepared a ten-course dinner just for.