Food is a multifaceted symbol throughout the novel that often represents the nature and quality of the characters’ relationships with one another. In the early chapters, food is a status symbol, a demonstration of wealth and opulence. The novel gives long descriptions of the preparations for the feasts in honor of the girls’ graduations, their first meeting with the Sanyal family, and their weddings. Similarly, at Ramesh’s house, a “daunting feast” is prepared in response to the arrival of Aunt Tarini, Mrs. Sanyal’s sister-in-law and fierce rival. However, as the novel progresses, food takes on a more complex figurative quality, paralleling the deconstruction of what being a family entails.

Food is most nourishing and healing when offered with love, which the novel frames as food offered freely, that is, free of restraints and free of implied requirements. When Sudha returns to the mothers’ house after leaving Ramesh, their straitened finances are apparent in the simple meal they serve: “a frugal meal of rice and dal and sautéed spinach” (266). Sudha is nonetheless comforted by the meal because it is an expression of the mothers’ love for her: “I didn’t know how starved I’d been for food served with love” (266).