From Perrault’s Donkeyskin to Pongsakorn’s Ralukrot: The link of food and familial love motif in French and Thai literature

Abstract

Food is as crucial in literary studies as in Anthropology and Health Sciences. This article aims to present a comparative study in food imagery in Charles Perrault’s Donkeyskin and Pongsakorn’s Ralukrot. Although different in terms of cultures and publication time, both literature belong to the same ATU tale type: “Cinderella and Cap O’Rushes” and use food as an important element in plot and character development. In Donkeyskin when characters lose their appetite, it usually symbolizes loss of rationality or morality. But at the same time, just like the famous scene in Marcel Proust’s In search of Lost Time, the character can involuntarily reminisce his past memories because a familiar food and its smell trigger his reaction. Because of a galette, a French pastry made with love to her ailing Prince, the Donkey Skin Princess can finally be her true self, get married to the prince and all relationships in the fairytale end well. While in Ralukrot, Raluk, the protagonist also suffers mistreatment from his family. After consuming plara-pon (chilli paste with fermented fish) prepared with love, he recovers his forgotten memory and learns the truth about his true family. Because of food and affection, the protagonists in both literatures find their happiness and familial reconciliation. They manage to get over social differences and prejudice.