Food imagery in Amy Tan's 'The Joy Luck Club' and 'The Kitchen God's Wife

With the feminist approach to The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife, food imagery functions as a means for female characters' quest for self-identity and personal sovereignty. Chinese immigrant mothers are portrayed with images of resilience that demonstrate their strength as survivors of brutal patriarchal marriages. With the women's networking and their mutual support through food traditions, they discover how to be more assertive, liberating themselves rather than enduring seemingly grim fates. Through the presentation of food, the eating of the food and the kitchen as the site of creativity, the mothers learn to break their silence, retell their experiences of survival and share their past mistakes with their Chinese American daughters, hoping to pass their strength and wisdom on to the next generation through food traditions.