Food, Memory, and a Starving Dentist: Jesús Díaz’s Special Period in Times of Peace

Abstract:The obsession with food and its relation to our nutrition, diet, identity, and communication seems endless. With all this discussion (and consumption) of food, the food studies field is making a significant impression in the humanities. Literary critics, in particular, have focused on how food and its surrounding cultural mores allow for new insights into artistic works. This article addresses the peculiar presentation of food, memory, and hunger in Jesús Díaz’s Dime algo sobre Cuba and focuses on the representation of food (or intentional lack of food) and memory portrayed in this bicultural novel—specifically how Díaz examines representations of hunger in relation to Cuba’s Special Period and the mass exodus of balseros during the 1990s. By referencing critics such as David Sutton and Roland Barthes, I analyze the roles of food and hunger in the novel and the protagonist’s “survival” on memories fueled by the absence of food.