Sexual Symbolism of Food

A lot of foods are symbolic or act as metaphors for body parts, often the more private body parts.. Some of the most common examples of sexually symbolic foods include aubergines, bananas, peaches, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers and melons.

There is certainly a link between food and sex, mainly due to the shapes and textures of food, the porn industries influence on how society views sex and how food can be involved in it, and aphrodisiacs; food which is scientifically proven to boost libido.

In many food advertisements over the years, the food is made to look appealing and desirable with sauces pouring in slow motion or food being eating in a sensual, slow manner. A prime example of this type of advertising is the Cadbury’s Flake advertisment which aired in 1988. In this advert, we see Deborah Leng bite the Flake bar, slowly and sexually. This is visually appealing for the audience, probably mainly for men, but also for women because they will then hope to look sexy eating a Flake bar.

There are also many euphemisms that involve food whilst describing something sexual, which I will look at over the next few pages.