FOOD PLAYED A DOUBLE ROLE—IT BROUGHT THE NARRATOR COMFORT

BUT IT ALSO BROUGHT HIM SADNESS. IN “EATING ALONE,” FOOD IS TIED

TO LONELINESS. IN “EATING TOGETHER,” FOOD IS TIED TO
COMPANIONSHIP. FOOD HAS A LINK TO BOTH LIFE AND DEATH—IT GROWS
AND IT DIES.

1. FOOD EVOKES LONELINESS TO THE NARRATOR.

a. Onions—pulled the last of them. Were young and now they’re dead.
“The last of them.” No more—end of cycle. Onion associated with
tears.

b. Last stanza:

He describes what would otherwise be a rich, delicious meal; but the

meal still does not satisfy him. As he writes in the last stanza:

White rice steaming, almost done. Sweet green peas

fried in onions. Shrimp braised in sesame

oil and garlic. And my own loneliness. (lines 20-23)

He cooks the meal alone; he eats the meal alone. The way he
describes preparing the shrimp almost implies that it’s braised in his
own loneliness in addition to oil and garlic (Italics mine).