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Prisha Mundra
Prof. Shamini Kothari
Introduction to Critical Thinking
31st December 2022
Section Number-CT-0001-3
Word Count- 2223 words
Final Academic Essay
Eating with the Gilmores
Exploring the theme of food in Palladino’s Gilmore Girls
Introduction
Food has long been used in television to occupy actors and make their actions seem natural. But
more often than not, it has a greater impact. In this paper, I will attempt to explore the politics of
food in the popular 2000s TV show Gilmore Girls. This show follows the life of a single mother
Lorelai and her teenage daughter Rory who she gave birth to at 16. I will be using food as a
common link between all my arguments because of its underlying importance throughout the
show. This paper will help bring to light the latent effect that food in media has on the characters
of the show and how they use it not just as a mode of nutrition but in deeper senses as well.
My focus will be on three arguments-food and diet, food and family, and food and domesticity.
With the first argument, I want to highlight the notion of food, diet, and shaming on the show.
The second argument focuses on food, family, and parental relationships. The third goes on to
talk about the politics of food and domesticity.
Food, diet, and shaming
Gilmore Girls presents food as a vast concept. It is not just something to occupy the actors while
they deliver their dialogues, but it is also used as a means to create a setting. Food often plays the
role of narration on the show. Instead of telling the audience that it is Halloween, Palladino wants
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us to make context from inference by looking at the artistically yet thoughtfully placed pumpkin
in the front yard.
The girls have unusual meal patterns and Palladino makes it a point to incorporate this into the
scenes. Food plays such a big role in their lives that almost all of their important and even
life-altering decisions take place over a cup of coffee or a plate of pancakes. An instance where
Rory gets a good score on her PSATs is revealed to us in a familiar diner setting. It isn’t
uncommon to see a happy event like this be set in their favourite place. Rory even reveals her
decision to attend Yale over a meal with her grandparents. This goes on to show how Palladino
continues to use food to create the needed environment in her work. She sets the tone of each
episode with food. The happier episodes give more importance to vibrant gustatory images and it
is also often things that the Gilmores enjoy eating like candy and takeout whereas the sadder
episodes have food which is lacking in terms of both quantity and quality. In an episode where
Rory’s first relationship ends, she is surrounded by vegan egg-salad sandwiches on stale bread
which is not usually seen as something they would voluntarily eat. Food becomes a medium of
art to display emotions and mental states.
It is shown that the girls can eat more than usual without gaining weight. We are reminded that
they have fast metabolisms in the way that some characters say how the girls’ bodies “should be
studied” and that they are scientific marvels. They fit the idea of someone who is not like the
other girls. The other girls eat less and stay fit but the Gilmores do not have to bother with
exercise because of their gifted bodies. This idea of them being different manifests into a unique
system of body shaming wherein every body type that is not theirs is put in the spotlight to be
picked on. Gilmore Girls glorified thin bodies as per the prevalent diet culture at the time. Fat
shaming oozes through the script in all seven seasons and the spinoff of the show. What makes
this paradoxical is the unhealthy and unrealistic eating standards that the Gilmore Girls
themselves practice. So it seems that the viewers approach a dead end as they try to understand
what the show is advocating. Because not everyone can have bodies like theirs, unrealism
converts into insecurity.
Media images, like the ones presented in Gilmore Girls, have an indirect effect by forming an
unrealistically thin ideal body type. Researchers have presented that sociocultural pressure to be
thin is the strongest influence on body image. In this show, however, it is not just the pressure of
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being thin, but also the pressure of fitting the ‘cool girl’ idea, eating massive amounts of food,
and frowning upon the concept of exercise. The notion of ‘effortlessness’ is therefore magnified.
The everyday practice of eating thus becomes a catalyst for creating an environment that places
several body types under scrutiny.
Food and Family
The element of family occupies a high pedestal in the lives of the Gilmores and this plays out in
the form of weekly dinners with the grandparents and regular meetings with Rory’s father as
well. There is a form of emotional connectedness that is created between the two women and the
family that they choose to surround themselves with.
Palladino has placed two very different mother-daughter relationships at the centre of her show.
Even though Rory grew up being around just her mother, Lorelai made it a point never to make
her feel incomplete. Their relationship is one of a friend first, mother after which manifests into a
framework of transparency and more often than not, healthy communication. Even though it isn't
always said out loud, they both know that they can depend on each other and turn to the other for
any help. And each of them needs the other as we see the development of an extremely symbiotic
relationship between the two. There is a certain level of oneness in their functioning which can
be felt in how they share clothes, coffee, and opinions. However, this seemingly perfect
codependency creates a strange blurring of the lines of a formal mother-daughter relationship.
Their relationship is strained when Rory grows up to explore the world on her own. This leaves a
strange void in Lorelai’s life as this is the first time she sees her daughter make decisions which
may not be ones she approves of. Rory’s pursuit of individualism becomes an obstacle.
Even after the development of this pressure on their dynamic, what pushes them back to each
other is their love for the same type of food. Deep and uncomfortable conversation is made
easier just by the presence of a pie. There is heavy use of food as a mediator as their eating habits
and how they feel about certain foods are some things that they have and always will have in
common. The warmth and feeling of familiarity that is created with the repetition of previously
enjoyed meals create an environment that pushes hostility away and opens doors for
communication. There is an unknown comfort born out of sharing the foods you love with the
people you love and the Gilmores highlight this mentality.
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A contrast is presented through the fractured relationship between Emily and Lorelai. There is a
palpable tension between the two. Emily tries to be a good mother to Lorelai but her bigger
motive is to continue occupying a coveted position in high society and be seen as the picture of
respectability. Her image was put at risk due to Lorelai’s teenage pregnancy and this gave birth
to an unsavoury relationship. An already difficult dynamic (due to Lorelai’s said pregnancy and
her subsequent running away from home) is made even more uncomfortable because of a large
communication and understanding gap. It is as if they are both strangled by each other's
presence. Years of intra-familial strife have created a feeling of abandonment between the two. It
seems that both have things they would like to talk to the other about, but the presence of an
excessively formal mother-daughter dynamic leads them to keep their thoughts bottled in.
Every once in a while, these thoughts find their way out through food. An episode where Lorelai
gets hurts becomes an opportunity for Emily to be the mother that she wanted her daughter to
have. She prepares banana toast for Lorelai and claims that it used to be a meal she loved as a
child. Emily appeals to emotions. She uses the simple bread to create a connection by evoking
memories. Memory-rich foods touch the heart and evoke feelings of love, comfort and
belongingness. It was Emily’s passive way of telling Lorelai that no matter what happens, she
will always be there for her daughter. Even the most painful of moments are patched up with a
simple meal. Emily often makes these advances through food (once every week through her
mandatory Friday Night Dinners) to better her relationship with her daughter. It leaves the
audience wondering if maybe Lorelai is too hard on her as she dismisses these moves. It is thus
the simple presence of food that cushions a situation and even leads us, the viewers, to take the
side of the one providing the food.
What juxtaposes these two relationships is how the role of the primary caregiver is seen and
exercised by the mothers. But what in turn brings them all together is the meal they share every
week. There is a certain sense of affection that comes out of finding solace in the food and family
you love.
Food and Domesticity
The audience sees the women on Gilmore Girls unpack the idea of domesticity and personal
home space in unique ways. For Sookie, a chef and a mom of three, her home is her sanctuary.
She works for it, she directs her life for the betterment of her family and her home. She
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commands respect for her space. Her kitchen is her means of living and also her mode of escape.
She is passionate and the show commends her work-life balance. She used to spend the majority
of her time at work and after getting married she devotes a considerable amount of time to her
family as well. Sookie’s home is not just a place of relaxation for her husband but also for her.
Through Sookie, we see Palladino's ideal of domesticity- a perfect balance of the modern yet
domestic woman.
An entirely different image is painted through Lorelai. Palladino uses her character to show a
woman who does not fit the ideal norms of pre-modern domesticity but embraces a changed
vision of the concept in her life. Lorelai is seen as an independent businesswoman who is utterly
disorganized regarding her kitchen, home, and space. Her household is managed in an
unorthodox and democratic way where Rory is also given an equal say in deciding household
matters despite her young age. The resultant effect is a blurring between the lines of work and
home, which becomes her preferred mode of exercising domesticity. She still has command over
her home, she still has a space that she controls, and she still demands respect. It is the idea of
alternative domesticity that is brought out by Lorelai’s character.
Lorelai is thus enabling the image of the ‘New Woman’ as first put forward by Hilde Heynen in
her paper on Modernity and Domesticity. Presenting a picture of a modern yet
domestically-centred woman, Lorelai expands the boundaries of the idea of a pre-modern
domestic woman. There is a breakdown of hegemonic gender norms in the Gilmore house.
Lorelai is the master of her space and shows domesticity through a modified lens.
In both of these cases, however, a commonality is brought by food as this concept is placed at the
centre of their domestic life. The love for food is seen as a character trait for Lorelai and her
daughter. She expresses herself through food. Sookie’s life revolves around cooking. Her work,
her family, her home, her friends and her place in the town all reflect her relationship with food.
Her home especially is seen as a loving and warm place because of the vast types of meals she
prepares. Because her character deals with food, the audience sees her as a nurturing figure. This
is something Palladino has done all over the show. People who handle food are seen as
trustworthy and mature characters. We see Sookie as a motherly figure whereas we are meant to
see Lorelai as a friend even though they are both mothers on the show. Lorelai has in fact been a
mother longer than Sookie. But the effect of food and domesticity is used in a way to make the
audience feel the other way around.
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Running with the idea of third-wave feminism, Gilmore Girls observes that it is up to women to
define how they see femininity and domesticity in their space.
Conclusion
Gilmore Girls places strong female characters entering male-dominated fields at the centre of the
stage which is a commendable task considering the show came out 23 years ago. It made a
commentary on complicated everyday issues but reduced the heaviness by the intermediation
through food. Palladino’s use of the idea of a simple meal in carrying the conversation, setting
the tone, and many a time even easing communication is commendable. The heavy use of
gustatory imagery creates a homely feeling. The show is inherently laced with the themes of food
and the subtle yet strong power it can have on emotions. Thus, just like language and action, the
concept of a meal gets used as a means of passing along a message in a very natural manner.
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