What type of food do the boys consume in Lord of the Flies?
The most abundant food on the island was fruit. There were groves of fruit trees, and the littluns spent most of their days eating more or less non-stop. The fruits aren't named, but tropical fruits like star fruits, genip, sea grapes, bananas, and chellomello would be representative of the types of fruit on such an island. If you are trying to simulate these fruits, you could use grapes, cherries, and kiwi; you can find star fruit in most supermarkets. You can also find unusual varieties of bananas (or plantains), so that could be a fun thing to try.
Palm trees are mentioned often in the book. Different varieties of palms grow different varieties of fruits. We think of coconuts, but many softer fruits grow on palm trees (see the link below). Dates are from palms. We thinki of them as dried fruits; however, the boys were not drying their fruits,...
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but simply eating them right from the tree, sometimes before they were even ripe. Some palm fruits you may be able to find at a grocery store (depending on where you live) are acai berries, jubaea, butia, and peach palm fruit.
You have mentioned pig, so having some pulled pork would be a way to represent that part of the menu.
In chapter 4, the diet is described as "fruit and nuts, with an odd crab or fish." So you could add crab meat and a smaller fish like orange roughy. For nuts, almonds would be a good choice.
Chapter 9 shows Jack's feast; they ate on palm leaves and drank from coconut shells. It is easy to find coconut water in supermarkets now, or you can get actual coconuts.
Have fun with your meal!
There is plenty of food available to the castaway boys on the island in Lord of the Flies, but they literally live and die for the meat of the pig that is found there. With all of the fish and crustaceans from the sea at their disposal, roast pig is what many of them seem to live for. There is also plenty of fruit, but it is rarely identified. Specific foods mentioned in the novel include:
- pig
- coconuts
- nuts
- bananas
- an "olive-grey, jelly-like fruit"
- crab
Additionally, the boys may have eaten dates from the various palms. There is mention of "small animals" which could also have been eaten, as well as various birds. Of course, there is also the repeated mention of the conch shell, so conch was probably in abundance, though there is no evidence the boys actually ate any.
What have the littluns in "Lord of the Flies" grown used to due to their eating habits?
In Chapter 4, the narrator of The Lord of the Flies explains that the littleuns have learned to adapt to their new situation: "They ate most of the day, picking fruit where they could reach it and not particular about ripeness and quality. They were used now to stomach-aches and a sort of chronic diarrhoea."
The fact that the youngest boys have grown accustomed to a constant discomfort as a result of their eating habits represents their general ability to adapt to life without grownups. They now can choose what they eat, rather than have meals prepared for them, and they live with the consequences of both good and bad food choices. This resilience is both a positive sign and a troubling one: many of the youngsters are indeed very resilient, as they cry less for their mothers than the narrator expects and they live as a group without bothering the older boys much, but the difficulty lies in their inability to take good enough care of themselves, which leads to illness and pain, and an appalling absence of good hygiene that endangers them and others.
In chapter 4, Golding writes that the littluns live relatively simple lives on the island, as they go around eating random edible fruit from trees and bushes. The littluns are not particular about what kind of fruit they eat, or its ripeness. As a result of their eating habits, the littluns begin to suffer from stomachaches and chronic diarrhea. The littluns begin relieving themselves at random locations near the platform, huts, and pool, which upsets Ralph. In chapter 5, Ralph holds an assembly to address numerous issues regarding following through with agreed-upon tasks. One of the topics Ralph mentions is where the littluns are relieving themselves. Ralph chastises the littluns for relieving themselves near the shelters, platforms, and areas with fruit. However, the littluns find it hard to control their bowel movements because they suffer from diarrhea and often cannot make it to the rocks by the beach to relieve themselves.
What did the boys eat besides meat in Lord of the Flies?
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a group of British school boys are stranded on an island without any adult supervision. Their main objective is to survive until adults rescue them, for which they need food. A major plot point and tool of character development is the concept of meat. The characterization of someone as a "hunter" contributes greatly to certain conflicts and themes.
Likewise, the other food sources on the island also have symbolic associations. Many of the boys eat fruit, nuts, and the occasional crab or fish. Each of these foods is easy to gather with little to no concerted effort or organization. This contrasts sharply against the militaristic connotations of Jack's hunters. The fruit in particular contributes a degree of chaos, as it causes many of the boys, particularly the littluns, to suffer from diarrhea.