the role of food and starvation in the hunger games 🏹
guess who’s been rereading the hunger games!
SPOILER WARNING: This essay contains spoilers for all the books in The Hunger Games trilogy, as well as The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping!
The first time I read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, I wondered why a brutal death match forcing children to kill each other was called the Hunger Games. Of course, many people in the districts were starving, but surely that wasn’t directly linked to the games? I reread the series almost 5 years later and gained a newfound understanding of just how important the theme of hunger is throughout the series. Food and starvation drive the story and characters forward at almost every turn. And so, here is an exploration of the role of these themes throughout The Hunger Games series.
Take that away and I’m not really sure who I am
“What would my life be like on a daily basis? Most of it has been consumed with the acquisition of food. Take that away and I’m not really sure who I am, what my identity is.” — The Hunger Games
This quote from the first book really stuck out to me when I reread it. This is Katniss’ narration proving that almost every single second of her life has been spent simply trying to find enough food to survive. The choice of the word “consumed” is interesting here because it should be Katniss consuming food, but here it refers to her life being consumed by the pursuit of food. The Capitol’s starving of the districts is intentional because if so much time is spent acquiring food, just trying to survive, people are robbed of identity, and therefore can hardly get the chance to rebel.
We see that food is integral to every part of Katniss’ life. She spends the majority of her time before the Games hunting to provide food for her family, and she meets her only real friend at the time, Gale, through hunting together. Katniss and Gale befriend each other because of this shared need for survival, so not only is Katniss’ life dependent on food, but her relationships are as well. Food impacts her relationship with her family who she does everything to provide for, and even with Peeta, who is always framed in her mind as the boy who gave her food when she was starving. Practically every meal, especially those in the Capitol in the first book, is described in intricate detail by Katniss’ narration, reminding the reader over and over how important food is to her because she is so deprived of it for most of her life. However, at the start of Catching Fire, Katniss can’t remember some of the meals she eats, perhaps because she now eats food more regularly and the effect of the Capitol’s glamorous meals has begun to wear off on her. Despite this, Katniss tries to eat all the food she can at the Capitol during the Victory Tour, proving that she still understands the value of food — her experience with starvation can never be taken away from her. She also describes her attraction to Peeta as “hunger” when she kisses him on the beach, relating her longing to a feeling she is more familiar with as a way of understanding this desire. She sees everything through this framework of hunger. At the end of Mockingjay, after shooting Coin, Katniss attempts to starve herself but doesn’t succeed, arguably because it is in her nature to eat any food she can access. Food and hunger are integral to Katniss’ identity.
This binding of food and identity extends to other characters as well. In Catching Fire, Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch all cope with their experiences in the games through methods revolving around food and drink — Katniss hunts, Peeta bakes, Haymitch drinks. Haymitch seems to understand the value of sustenance well when he advises Katniss to avoid the Cornucopia and instead look for water (perhaps because all of the food and water in his arena during the 50th Games was poisoned). Peeta, though he was not subjected to the same extent of starvation that Katniss was, values food because of his role as a baker. Before the first book’s Hunger Games, he tells Katniss about all the different types of bread from each district (which is how she recognises the District 11 bread given to her as a sponsor gift), which not only shows Peeta’s understanding of the importance of food, but tells us that each district’s identity can be expressed through the food that comes from it. This is also referenced in Sunrise on the Reaping, when Lou Lou is identified as being from District 11 because of the bread she chooses. Food is so important to the main characters that they are even named after it — Katniss is named after a potato plant and Peeta is likely a play on pita bread, each of them named after the foods their parents gathered or made to survive.
It’s clear that food is an essential part of the characters’ identities, but it is also the driving force of Panem itself. Panem means bread in Latin — this country is named after food. Panem is also a reference to the Latin phrase panem et circenses (bread and circuses), as explained by Plutarch in Mockingjay, meaning that the country’s rulers maintain control by giving the people just enough food and entertainment to keep them satisfied. The language used around the Games also relates to food. For example, the cornucopia, traditionally a horn of plenty that spills out food, is used in the Hunger Games to store weapons and supplies, the things that keep the tributes alive. In the first Hunger Games book, the tributes are called together for a feast which will give them what they need the most to heal themselves or survive. And of course, it’s literally called the Hunger Games, arguably because during the dark days, the Capitol was starved when food supplies from the districts were cut off, to the point where people resorted to cannibalism, and the Games are a reminder to the districts of this starvation.
Food is absolutely essential to every character and the world itself in this series.
Bread crumbs on the body
“He’s putting bread crumbs on the body. So Marcus has food on his journey.” — The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
This passage made me notice an understated detail in the series: food is used as a part of important rituals, particularly in the districts.
In Ballad1, Sejanus sprinkles bread crumbs on the dead tributes in the arena, a funeral rite in District 2. Coriolanus finds this tradition silly and wasteful, however it really shows just how important food is for the districts because it has a spiritual connection. People believe that it is needed not only in life but in death as well in one’s journey to the afterlife.
In Sunrise on the Reaping, a slightly different ritual is described. Haymitch mentions his mother making bean and ham hock soup when his father died, a tradition in the Seam. Although in this case food is given to the living rather than the dead, it is still connected to death and funerary traditions, showcasing its importance. Similarly, Peeta mentions in Catching Fire that it is a tradition in District 12 to toast bread as part of marriage ceremonies, yet another instance of food being used in rituals.
Therefore, it’s implied that food is present in almost every aspect of life in Panem, including the people’s sacred traditions.
The rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on
“You can feel the rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on. The way it can make people kinder, funnier, more optimistic, and remind them it’s not a mistake to go on living.” — Mockingjay
The Hunger Games series not only emphasises the importance of food but the importance of enjoying food. Eating allows people to survive but a good meal makes them want to live, as shown by this quote from Mockingjay.
The lavish food from the Capitol brings Katniss joy in the days leading up to the 74th Hunger Games — she even claims in her interview that her favourite thing about the Capitol was the lamb stew. Her enjoyment of her favourite meal almost makes her forget about the perilous situation she’s about to be put in, allowing her a brief respite from the tragedy. After Katniss and Peeta win the Hunger Games, the people of District 12 are given packages of food, a tool used by the Capitol to give the districts just enough hope not to rebel.
We see the way food can make people happier through a part of Peeta’s recovery from his hijacking: he bakes and decorates cakes (including Finnick and Annie’s wedding cake) as a form of therapy. In fact, special foods like cakes and sweets give people hope and joy throughout the series, for example in Sunrise on the Reaping. Before the Reaping, Haymitch goes to the Donners’ sweet shop, and in the days leading up to the Games, he reminisces on the cake his mother used to make for New Year’s. Both times, we are shown how good food can make people feel more optimistic in the face of a tragic situation.
The boy with the bread
“To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.” — The Hunger Games
The act of sharing food in The Hunger Games series is narratively almost sacred, representing salvation and peace. Peeta giving Katniss bread when she was starving as a child is a formative memory for her, and permanently cements Peeta as a saviour in her mind. This act colours their every interaction and is ultimately the reason why Katniss stays with Peeta in the end: he has and always will offer her peace and safety.
Throughout the series, characters share food as a form of alliance. For example, Katniss shares food with Rue after they become allies in the arena and after Rue’s death, District 11 sends bread as a gift for Katniss. In this instance, the sharing of food is not only a symbol of peace but arguably the start of the rebellion. This gift of bread creates solidarity between districts that should be opponents, threatening the Capitol by rejecting the forced separation of the districts.
Time and time again, the act of sharing food is depicted. Katniss gives out food to the people of 12 in Catching Fire; Tigris gives food to the rebels in Mockingjay, Peeta, trying to reach out to Katniss in spite of his hijacking, offers her a can of lamb stew, her favourite food; in Ballad, Sejanus, and later Coriolanus, give food to the tributes in the zoo; Coriolanus gives Lucy Gray bread pudding before the Games; in Sunrise on the Reaping, Maysilee and Haymitch equally divide all of their food when they are allies; Haymitch shares chocolates with Silka, his enemy in the Games. Each time, the sharing of food creates peace and solidarity, and often allows characters to save each other.
Food is also used as a way for the rebels to communicate. For example, Bonnie and Twill show Katniss a cracker with the mockingjay symbol on it in order to gain her trust, and the rebels use bread from different districts to communicate in the arena during the 75th Games. Food is not only a symbol of peace, but one of rebellion through solidarity.
In a world where food is scarce for many in the districts, the characters still share food countless times to save each other. Starvation does not reduce them to animals as the Capitol may want — instead, they display their utter humanity through sharing such limited resources.
Presidents need to eat, too
“You know, it’s funny how people often forget that presidents need to eat, too.” — Coriolanus Snow, Catching Fire
“The endless dance with hunger had defined his life.” — The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
That quote from Catching Fire really made me pause when I was rereading the books. At first, this line from Snow seems tone-deaf, mocking the starvation of the districts. However, with the knowledge of Snow’s backstory in Ballad, it takes on an entirely new meaning. Snow is not simply being cruel, but also hinting at his own battle with hunger in his childhood. Like Katniss, he barely had enough food to survive on throughout most of his childhood, which should have made him more sympathetic to the situation of the districts. However, his atrocities only become even worse in the readers’ eyes when we find out how similar some of his experiences were to those of the people who he harmed.
Snow’s battle with hunger is emphasised throughout Ballad — in the opening pages of the book, he complains about having to eat cabbage stew due to his near-poverty, and throughout the book, he takes every chance he can get to eat. However, he tries so hard not to make his hunger known to those around him, highlighting his deep sense of shame surrounding being poor and starved, and therefore aligned with the districts. As a child, Snow witnessed Capitol citizens during the war resorting to cannibalism, but he refuses to sink to this animalistic level. His backstory serves to show us that anyone can experience hunger, and starvation can be used as a tool against us all. However, Snow’s high view of himself and the Capitol prevents him from seeing the similarities between himself and the people of the districts, and therefore prevents him from having true empathy.
By the end of Ballad, food no longer becomes a problem for Snow because he is essentially adopted by the wealthy Plinths who always provide food for him. Any sense of empathy he might have for the districts is now entirely erased, and arguably a large part of this complete shift to hatred and apathy is Snow forgetting what it is to be hungry.
Never really knew what it was like to be hungry
“Never really knew what it was like to be hungry before. I mean, really hungry. It hurts. And it scares me.” — Maysilee Donner, Sunrise on the Reaping
The series constantly makes use of characters who have not experienced hunger to create extreme contrast between the privileged and the poor. This line from Maysilee Donner, someone who was from District 12 but was wealthy enough to not experience the poverty that most of its citizens faced, highlights the dissonance between social classes. In the lead up to the Games, and even during them, Maysilee insists on not being treated like an animal and therefore eating with a knife and fork, arguably because she has the privilege to worry about how she presents herself to others, rather than eating at every chance she gets. This draws parallels to a moment in the first book of the trilogy, when Effie complains about past tributes eating with their hands. Katniss understands that these tributes had never had enough food to eat in their lives and didn’t have the luxury to worry about being seen as animals. Katniss herself ends up eating with her hands just to prove this point to Effie.
Another way in which Maysilee’s privilege is shown is through her claiming to not be a breakfast person and skipping the meal. Before being put in the Hunger Games, Maysilee didn’t know what true hunger felt like but the Games tore down the walls between opposing classes, allowing her to better understand the struggles of the poor. Haymitch teases her for now becoming a breakfast person but it is because Maysilee now understands what it is to be hungry for the first time in her life.
Maysilee is of course not the only character who doesn’t face true hunger. Practically every citizen of the Capitol in the original trilogy has the privilege of being able to eat enough food. This is particularly emphasised through a scene in Catching Fire when it is revealed that the Capitol has a drink specifically made so that people can throw up and have room for more food. This moment is a horrific way of highlighting the privilege and excess of the Capitol. Its people have never truly been hungry and are therefore wasteful, because they have so much food they can’t possibly eat it all, a shocking contrast to most of the people of the districts who rarely have enough food to live on.
The Capitol’s weapon of choice
“Coriolanus wondered if [Reaper] would die of natural causes. If starving to death was a natural cause. He wasn’t entirely sure. Was it natural if hunger had been used as a weapon?” — The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
“Another casualty of the Capitol’s weapon of choice: starvation.” — Sunrise on the Reaping
Throughout the series, the Capitol constantly uses hunger as a weapon, starving the districts half to death to prevent rebellion. Interestingly, the two above quotes show both Coriolanus and Haymitch in their narration recognising the Capitol’s “weapon,” proving that both those in the districts and in the Capitol can understand how hunger can be used against people. It’s simply so normalised in this world.
A truly twisted example of the use of hunger as a weapon of sorts is the tesserae system, where children can buy extra grain for their families in exchange for their names to be put on more slips in the Reaping bowl. Therefore, children must either starve to death or increase their chances of being Reaped for the Hunger Games. The Capitol completely controls the supply of food to the districts, making sure that they don’t have enough strength to rebel. Haymitch and Katniss comment on this in Catching Fire as they realise that District 12’s people are too weak and starved to join the rebellion.
Interestingly, Katniss herself seems to learn from the Capitol’s playbook when she blows up the Careers’ food supply, completely changing the course of the 74th Games. As someone who intimately knows the hardships of starvation, she understands that she can use it against others. However, unlike the Capitol, Katniss causes the Careers’ hunger out of a desperate need for her own survival, rather than out of tyrannical malice.
The Capitol’s control over food and hunger is heightened in Ballad, at least when it comes to the tributes in the Games. A student in Coriolanus’ class, Arachne, mockingly tempts her tribute Brandy with food in order to encourage her to perform to the audience at the zoo, a perverse way of making Brandy conform to the Capitol. This does have the reverse effect of Brandy killing Arachne, however Brandy herself is killed as a punishment, with her corpse displayed at Arachne’s funeral, a cruel reminder to those who attempt to break free from the Capitol’s control of food. Practically all of the tributes in the 10th Hunger Games are starving in the days leading up to the Games, so much that they must be given food just so they can survive and entertain the Capitol. The tributes are completely dehumanised as the Capitol only gives them food for its own benefit. Throughout the Games, the mentors are entirely in charge of how much the tributes eat and drink through giving sponsor gifts. Clemensia in particular refuses to give her tribute, Reaper, any food for most of the Games because she feels he hasn’t earned it. The people of the Capitol dehumanise those of the districts by directly managing how much food they eat, and therefore controlling their survival.
Coriolanus Snow weaponises food and hunger in a unique way through using poison. He helps Lucy Gray win the 10th Games by giving her rat poison, which she puts in the water that thirsty, starving tributes have no choice but to drink. He notoriously poisons many people in his rise to power as we learn from Finnick in Mockingjay. Poison is consistently used in Sunrise on the Reaping, as the entirety of the arena is poisonous, tricking the tributes into a false sense of security. Snow sends Haymitch poisoned milk, almost forcing him to drink it, and taunts him with the memories of it after he wins the Games. At the end of the book, Lenore Dove, who was not given enough food in prison, dies by eating a gumdrop which she doesn’t realise is poisoned. Poison is a particularly cruel weapon because, in the case of the tributes especially, it preys on their hunger, and it always turns food, which is supposed to represent survival, into something deadly.
Satisfyingly, Snow’s weapon of poison is indirectly used against him when Katniss and Peeta win the Games through their stunt with the poison nightlock berries, proving that the Capitol cannot stay in control of food, hunger and life forever.
A note on the current state of the world
It is practically impossible now to separate The Hunger Games from events in the world right now, particularly those in Palestine. Israel is currently blocking aid to Palestine as a part of its brutal genocide. It’s terrifying how images from a dystopian book series are so very real. The sponsor gifts in Ballad end up breaking and harming tributes. The air drops currently being sent to Gaza are doing far more harm than good and are critically injuring those who are already starving. In Mockingjay, children are killed by bombs disguised as aid. Horrifically, this has been happening to the children of Palestine during the genocide. The Hunger Games becomes less and less fictional each day and if you’ve ever cared about this series, you should care about its messages — try to help those starving in Palestine, and in fact anywhere in the world. Boycott, protest, donate, sign petitions, spread awareness! Do everything you can to deconstruct this dystopia in the real world.
sorry I will be calling it just ballad out of laziness
this was an excellent essay. i think the hunger games's dystopia//some manifestation of it will be humanity's future. what will happen to those in gaza will happen to us.
however, i am trying to spread awareness about what is happening in falastin and praying for a free falastin. i am also donating/protesting/boycotting/doing whatever i can..
i hope that you are doing alright in these times.
I love your analysis of food in ballad especially- its something i didnt think about as much as i did in the original trilogy. Ive already just reread the series, i wrote an article about the hunger games and just was theory if you want to check it out!