Culinary Norms and Social Cohesion: A Study of the Gustatory Images in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's Trilogy

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Date
2008
Authors
Ohwovoriole, F.E.
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Abstract
Socialization is a recurrent learning process through which a person becomes familiar with the social customs of a group of people. Food and wine play a central social role in life and have provided material for literature in many cultures. Food has a great deal of significance in many societies; ritualistically, symbolically, socially and practically. Consequently, cooking practices bind people together in many cultures. Literarily, gustatory images are prevalent in poetry, prose and drama both in African and European literatures. Even in the Bible food plays a vital role from Genesis to Revelation. In Ezeigbo's trilogy, food is used to elucidate gastronomic norms, as a subject of discourse, as a weapon of rivalry and as a tool for 'Social cohesion. This paper explores the culinary concerns and gustatory images in Akachi Adirnora- Ezeigbo's The Last of the Strong Ones, House of Symbols and Children of the Eagle, and assesses how they facilitate social bonding in the societies depicted in the novels.
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Staff Publication
Keywords
Culinary Norms , Social Cohesion
Citation
Ohwovoriole,F. (2008) Culinary Norms andSocial Cohesion: A Study of the Gustatory Images in Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's Trilogy. Lagos Review of English Studies Vol. 16,(1&2),p.123-132.