Snow White's apple. The breadcrumbs that Tom Thumb left in the woods to find his way home. Beans or magic peas that grow overnight. The meals that Cinderella prepared for her stepmother and stepsisters. The bowl of soup Goldilocks ate without permission at the bear family's house. The syrup or the magic potion that turns the little mermaid into a human…
Gastronomy is a constant in children's stories. Its presence, however, has often remained hidden precisely because it was in full view of the world. We all know that the witch's house in Hansel and Gretel was made of chocolate and sweets. And that Little Red Riding Hood crossed the forest and challenged the wolf to bring a basket of food to her grandmother, although the content of the basket varies according to the versions.
Nothing varies more, however, than the original stories and the sweetened versions that have come down to us after passing through the Disney factory. Many stories from oral tradition were created, recreated or written down by classical authors such as Charles Perrault (1628-1703) and the Grimm brothers (Jacob lived between 1785 and 1863, and Wilhelm, between 1786-1859), without forgetting the great Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).
Andersen's little mermaid is light years away from Ariel from the animated film. The original character endures the mutilation of the tongue and pain comparable to walking on knives to be able to walk. The text of the Danish author does not have a conventional happy ending either: in the end, the prince marries another. There is no "they were happy and ate partridges". The exact same thing happens in countless stories.
Many stories for the little ones to go to bed are actually stories not to sleep if they are stripped of the added sugar that wanted to make them more digestible. A good example are the stories from Catalonia compiled by scholars such as Joan Amades or, more recently, by the writer Rosa Regàs (all the quotes from children's stories come from her book Hi havia una vegada, by La Magrana).
Catalonia, like all other towns, also made the rondallas brought by walkers or carried by the wind their own. And he reinterpreted them as best he could or knew how. The fairy who takes on the appearance of an old lady is the Virgin Mary in many fables. The aquatic creature in The Mermaid of the Sea is cannibalistic and is closer to the beings in the Odyssey than to the cute, smiling, singing redheaded girl in the Disney version.
If the stories portray our past, we are sons and daughters of many hardships. Among the selection of stories rescued by Joan Amades and Rosa Regàs, many begin more or less like El llangardaix (The Lizard): “Once upon a time there was a poor man who had two daughters and he did not know what to feed them”. Hunger appears in most of the stories. And almost as common as malnutrition are culinary metaphors.
The samson protagonist of En Joan de l'Ós (Joan, the Bear) was capable of giving beatings that left his opponents "flattened like a coke" and his greatest joy was finding an empty house "with a pantry well stocked with hams , sausages, roast chickens and nine-pound loaves. The little old lady in La dent del gegant (The Giant's Tooth) can't think of a greater act of kindness than giving dinner to a hungry person.
Giving food to those who are hungry and drinking to those who are thirsty is one of the maxims of the Gospels, which is repeated in the children's stories of Catalonia. Like in La Tarongeta (La Naranjita, a Catalan-style Snow White). Here there are not seven dwarfs, but 13 giants who had every day at their table "13 loaves of bread as big as cart wheels, 13 pots as big as a house and 13 boots of wine as cauldrons."
A ring makes a poisoned apple for the Tarongeta. And there are more differences... The bad queen is burned alive and the 13 giants go to Rome to "ask the Pope for forgiveness" and be "good people." The myth of the pure and beautiful young woman who arouses the jealousy of her stepmother or her mother also appears in the gruesome La Cendrosa (a sui generis Cinderella or Ventafocs) and La filla de la molinera (The miller's daughter).
The punishments are forceful, and not always justified. The wicked miller and the witch who helped her are hanged. In El llop blanc (The White Wolf), a spell transforms an innocent princess into a dog that dies of poisoning. All the inhabitants of a city who were only guilty of having an evil king die at the hands of the protagonists of La vella que no vola morir mai (The old woman who never wanted to die).
It also has a bloody denouement Les sabates de cent llegües (The shoes of a hundred leagues). The story is a transcript of Tom Thumb, like En Cigronet (El Garbancito), but even more cruel. Three brothers in search of good fortune hide in the house of a giant, who threatens to eat them. The three brothers exchange at night with the giant's three daughters and see without remorse how they are the ones devoured.
The princess of Les tres preguntas promises to marry whoever answers such a complicated and simple question: what is the food of all foods, the drink of all drinks and the condiment of all condiments? In another story of hunger and ingenuity, it is providential how the character who gives the En Pere Xic story its name gets rid of some porridge: he is saved and the giant who chases him dies eviscerated.
Stories to not sleep do not end with "they were happy and ate partridges" or with its equivalent in Catalan: "I van viure feliços i contents". Another ending without sugar is: "And surely if they haven't died it's because they're still alive." By the way, the food par excellence, the drink par excellence, and the condiment par excellence are bread, water, and salt. And colorin colorado this story is over. Or “count count, count finish”.
