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Peaches and Their Cultural Significance
Peaches (Latin name prunus persica, meaning »Persian apple«) are rich in antioxidants, vitamin A and potassium. Whether as cake (like the Peach Cobbler), smoothie or ice, peaches do not only accompany us in our everyday lives in the 21st century but have been popular in literary and cultural representations for centuries. As symbols of fertility, immortality and the fleetingness of life. A brief overview.
Cultural voyage of peaches from the East to the West
Originally from China, peaches have grown as wild fruit from the 10th century BC onwards; but they soon became a transnational product. It was already the Persians who took the so-called »Persian apple« (literal translation from its Latin botanical name) from China to Rome. Alexander the Great introduced peaches to Europe on his voyages of discovery.
Over the centuries, the different cultures and foodways of peaches began to blend through colonial expeditions. The globally biggest peach producer – the USA – had first come to know this fruit in the 1500s when Spanish explorers brought peaches to North America.
Christopher Columbus, for instance, took peach trees with him on his journeys of discovery
to the Americas. In England and France, peaches were seen as exotic fruit and were considered a prized and exclusive food throughout the 17th century. During Queen Victoria's reign, no meal was complete without serving a peach in a cotton napkin. A truly revolutionary invention: canned food! While imported food had been strictly limited to dried fruits and spices until then, the invention of the tin can in 1810 made it possible to conserve fresh fruit for a longer time without getting infested with bacteria. From the 1880s onwards, canned peaches were an integral part of middle-class Victorian homes and rapidly turned into a popular ingredient for dessert.
Cultural Significance of Peaches in China
In China, peaches were popular in literary and cultural representations from the 10th century BC onwards. Whether in novels, folk tales, poems or art – many old Chinese script rolls are about peaches, their blossoms and peach trees – often as a protection against evil spirits. Thus, peach soup was served on New Year’s Eve to chase away evil. Peach-wood bows were used to shoot arrows in every direction in an effort to dispel demons. As a symbol of fertility, peaches were ascribed with nearly magical qualities. Peaches were a status symbol and a popular food with Asian kings and emperors. In Daoist mythology, the Queen Mother of the West ensured the deities' everlasting existence by feasting them with the peaches of immortality. Like no other word in China, »peach blossom spring« has become the epitome of paradise. In his famous work »The Peach Blossom Spring,« poet Tao Yuanming tells the story of an ideal society living apart from civilisation and in harmony with nature. It is still associated with notions of an ethereal utopia. Thus, peaches are also an integral part of contemporary religious rites – many illustrations show Buddha holding a peach for instance.
Peaches in European Art
Until the 17th century, peaches were considered as a subgenus of the apple which is also implied by its Latin name. Thus, in cultural representations (like in paintings or poems), the European symbolism of apples was partly transferred onto peaches, especially the connotations of fertility and immortality. At least since Baroque and Renaissance times, peaches have been a popular part in still lives and have gained significance in paintings by Caravaggio and, later, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edward Manet, and Van Gogh. A ripe peach often signified a ripe as well as a good state of health. In the painting The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) by Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck, single peaches in the left corner of the image refer to a context of female fertility. This is also indicated by the round forms of the female body which traditionally were rather an artistic symbol of fertility than pregnancy at the time.
Peaches have also been utilized in European paintings as a stylistic device for depicting realism and the fleetingness of life. In his still lives, Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio (1571–1610) repeatedly used peaches which were wilted, discoloured, with wormholes and in the early stages of decay – frequent circumstances in modern peach production. Such as in his painting "Basket of Fruit" (1596), one of the earliest Italian still lives. With the precision of natural science illustrations, Caravaggio depicts leaves in an early state of decomposition and portrays peaches with black rotting marks. As vanitas symbols, those natural signs of decay refer to the transience of life and the inevitability of death.
Peaches in Post-War Novels
In novels of the post-World War "I era, for instance in Evelyn Waugh's "The Love One" (1948), peaches signify an existential crisis. The radio advertisement cited above anticipates the suicide of Aimee Thanatogenos in the novel. Aimee, a cosmetic mortician, is overwhelmed by the futility of modern life. As empty as a Kaiser’s stoneless peach, she is killing herself in the end. Waugh’s cynical notion of a perfect peach without stone also precipitates the empty promises of modern fruit marketing and can be read as a critique of industrial consumer culture. The motif of the stoneless peach is also utilized in novels by Aldous Huxley and Sinclair Lewis in this context.
The Cultures of (Peach) Eating
Barbara Eichhammer has a degree in cultural studies. She is a writer as well as the editor of the blog "The Little Wedding Corner" where she writes about modern weddings.
Eating is not simply a trivial daily task but a cultural activity which forms identities and offers possibilities of social in- and exclusions. Eating is a marker of national, social and gender identities: We think, for example, automatically of Great Britain when hearing fish & chips or of rich upper classes when hearing caviar and champagne. Such is also the case with the Peach Cobbler: A peach pie from the Deep South of the USA which embodies the regional identity and cultural heritage of the American South and tells the history of the settlers. The Cobbler developed into a simple meal during the journey West through the American Midlands when early settlers had to do with what they had: canned fruit, dough and an open fire. Eating is therefore also part of a culture and its network of meanings. What and how we eat always tells us something about the respective culture, its lifestyle, conventions and ways of thinking as well. Just like peaches which tell an exciting colonial and mental history.
