Food is a central symbol of community in The Gold Cadillac and represents the shared experiences of people in the community. Toward the beginning of the novel, for example, ’lois describes how “the smell of charcoal and of barbecue” (20) are part of the community’s summer evening. Mother and the aunts prepare a feast to be packed for the trip to Mississippi, and the shared food makes clear the extended family will also share the experience of trip and the burden of protecting one another. In this and other moments, food facilitates the feeling that ’lois and her relatives and neighbors are all connected and nourish one another through that connection. In the Author’s Note, Mildred D. Taylor describes her own childhood memories of food representing community.

Having picnics and sharing meals becomes more complicated later in the novel. The picnic packed for the trip to Mississippi seems less “grand” (30) when ’lois realizes that the food has been brought because they will not be able to eat in “white only” restaurants once they reach the South. Racism limits the communal sense of the food; it cannot fully epitomize connection when Black people are explicitly excluded from eating alongside white people.