Food in Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Fantantastic food in Fantastic Mr Fox!

Roald Dahl introduces us to his three main antagonists, Farmer Boggis, Farmer Bunce and Farmer Bean in the very beginning of the novel and in his description of the three he compares them to unusual and rather disgusting foods; 

Farmer Boggis; "He eats three boiled chicken smothered with dumplings every day for breakfast, lunch and supper."

Farmer Bunce; "His food was doughnuts and goose livers. He mashed the livers into a disgusting paste and stuffed the paste into the doughnuts."

Farmer Bean; "Never ate food at all, he drank gallons of cider he made from apples in his orchard."

A noticeable characteristic in Dahl's writing is his comparisons of food to characters. Describing nasty, stomach-churning foods to describe characters builds up a more physical disgust in response to them and their actions.

As the farmers keep the foxes confined to a small hole underground they are stuck there for days and as a result of there painful hunger the mother fox grows weak and as Mr Fox digs frantically for food for his foxes he discovers they are beneath Farmer Bunce's farmhouse and as they enter to their amazement; "Against all the four walls of the great room stacked in cupboards and piled upon shelves reaching from floor to ceiling, were thousands and thousands of the finest and fattest ducks and geese, plucked and ready for roasting! Up above, there must have been at least a hundred smoked hams and fifty sides of bacon." In the fear and desperate need of this small fox family to get food the beautiful, mouth-watering food that they are greeted with is of luxurious quality, 'the finest, fattest ducks and geese', 'a hundred smoked hams', 'fifty sides of bacon.' 

It is the fantastic hunting of the fantastic Mr Fox that brings all of the animals together in their underground world, the countless luxuries they discover and deliver to their furry families brings happiness and full stomachs to all. Their dinner is described as; "It will make the feast into a banquet." The words, 'feast' and 'banquet', two of the highest ways in which to describe an elegant evening meal, just goes to address the amazement and beauty of food that lays before the animal's eyes.