The sight of all the food stacked in those kitchens made me dizzy. It's not that we hadn't enough to eat at home, it's just that my grandmother always cooked economy joints and economy meat loafs and had the habit of saying, the minute you lifted the first forkful to your mouth, "I hope you enjoy that, it cost forty-one cents a pound," which always made me feel I was somehow eating pennies instead of Sunday roast.
The protagonist in Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" reflects on her experiences with food at home, highlighting the stark contrast between it and the abundant offerings she sees in kitchens elsewhere. While she does not go hungry, her grandmother's frugal approach to cooking instills a sense that meals are more about their cost than their enjoyment. Each meal is accompanied by reminders of its low price, emphasizing a mindset where the value of food is reduced to its monetary worth.
This perspective leaves her feeling uncomfortable and even dizzy at the sight of much more food than she's accustomed to. The grandmother's focus on the price of ingredients transforms seemingly ordinary meals into reminders of scarcity and frugality, making her meals feel less celebratory and more like an economic transaction. This conflict illustrates how attitudes towards food can shape one's experience and perception, leading to confusion between pleasure and practicality.
