Food: The Trademark of Wealth

In the Odyssey, I have found that the amount of food one consumes, shows of their wealth and social status. In the Epic, the distribution of food from one to his guests, has been connected to the beginning of hospitality, as a guest enters the home of someone. I have noticed that every time that one is welcomed into someone else's estate, they are offered food before anything else. It has also been shown that the amount of prime cuts of meat and wine have been connected to a social status. I have concluded that since the greatest amounts of food are often tied with the highest social classes, that food is very valued in the different societies in the story. At the beginning of Book 9, Odysseus is thinking back to the banquet that King Alcinous has thrown for him, before his journey home. Thinking about the large amounts of food, Odysseus says,

"There's nothing better than when deep joy holds sway throughout the realm and banqueters up and down the palace sit in ranks, enthralled to hear the bard, and before them all, the tables heaped with bread and meats, and drawing wine from the mixing-bowl the steward makes his rounds and keeps the winecups flowing. This, to my mind, is the best that life can offer" (pg. 211).

With Odysseus saying that the amount of food is the best that life can offer, he is implying that he himself values food. Food is also important because it is used in rituals and sacrifices to the different gods. Usually, a part of the animal that is being cooked, will be burned, as a symbolization of a sacrifice. I think that Odyssues values food as showing his thanks to the gods, by having enough food to become full. He is also implying that he is grateful to be able to eat the kind of food he is eating, instead of being stranded during one of his long journeys, scrambling for the luxury of having large amounts of food.