Food and its Conceptual Metaphors

In language, people seem to be prone to many of the same processes and evaluations as food. Adjectives most commonly used for foods are easily understood when applied to humans

Personality as Flavor

He's been bitter ever since she left.

Ellen is all sugar.

I don't know, I think she's a bit too spicy for me.

There's a sour spinster haunting my attic.

Mrs. Ferment's children are rotten brats.

He has an unsavory character.

Olivier is the sweetest guy I've ever met.

He has a biting sense of humor.

Flavors are a fitting metaphorical concept for personalities in that they connote nuance and involve the preferences of the speaker in their selection. Just as everyone evaluates tastes differently, so too do people judge other people and their characters.

The Body as Food

She's a peach.

He's got a lot of meat on his bones.

I could just eat him up.

Look at the melons on that beauty queen.

She's a tall drink-of-water blonde.

They devoured each other in the bedroom.

Oh, that model is just-arm candy.

My teacher is an old prune.

Stanford students are the cream of the crop.

That waitress is a real dish.

That bugle boy is ripe for the picking.

In these metaphorical concepts we see how our perception of the body and the language we use to describe it reinforce each other and our evaluation of the body as a commodity. The body can be consumed. It can be an accessory. It can be broken down into parts. We can rank bodies in terms of their appeal, whether or not their in their prime. We can desire another body, veritably "hunger after it."

Interrogation as Cooking

Sebastian was grilled by the district attorney.

Finals really burnt me out.

Let's put the heat on this subject.

After spending hours on the Sunday crossward, Elise was fried.

He stewed over the problem before answering.

Liza mulled over the possibilities.

There are two parts to this conceptual metaphor. In one, people are the food, or objects of the interrogator, who is the cook. This implies that the interrogator has the power in the relationship and controls the destiny of the person answering. Perhaps this metaphor also comes from the physical overheating and sweating that comes from anxiety. In the other, the answers are being processed and prepared as food by the responder. The person answering has more control and has the time to carefully deliberate his answers.

I consider myself to have a spicy persona, I'd like to think I'm a tart in the 19th-century sense, and personally, I think the worst way to be interrogated would be by sous vide.