The Element Encyclopedia

by Theresa Cheung
Freud associated eating with sexuality insisting, for example, that dreams about fruit were always about women’s breasts or buttocks. But it is true to say that dreams about eating do often have a sexual implication. The ancients believed that, because of their shapes, certain types of fruit and vegetable were aphrodisiacs; these associations linger to this day. Your physical actions in the dream may also be significant; sucking and licking food, for example, probably have a sexual reference. Biting and chewing food can also have a sexual reference, but they may also refer to your ability to absorb new information.

Eating might, in addition, represent a need to be more body conscious or grounded in material reality.

To dream that you are eating alone signifies loss, loneliness and depression. Alternatively, eating alone may reflect your independent nature. Also consider the pun, ‘what’s eating you up?’ in reference to any anxiety that you may be feeling. To dream that you are eating with others denotes prosperous undertakings, personal gain and joyous spirits. To dream that you are overeating suggests that you have an indulgent sexuality or lifestyle, or that you have been expending too much emotion and effort recently; dreams of not eating enough, on the other hand, signify a denial of sexual needs or a lack of fulfillment in your waking life.

Dreaming of eating in uncomfortable or frightening surroundings may represent unhappiness with your relationships. Dreams of desperately seeking food or even becoming food yourself may underline the message that you have voracious appetites in waking life that are not being satisfied. Your hunger may be a symbolic cry for more attention, love, power or status. An alternative explanation is that eating suggests qualities you are assimilating or making part of yourself. This may refer to nourishment of the emotions, senses or the mind. Hunger sharpens the appetite, so ask yourself what it is you are hungry for.

Could it be the comfort of a fulfilling relationship, a stimulating job or is it food for thought, such as intellectual stimulation? What is currently missing from your real life that is important for your emotional well-being? What wets your appetite for life?

The type of food you are eating is important, as is its quality.

If you were eating leftovers in your dream, are you losing out in some way in waking life? If you enjoy a dream dinner with friends, are you feeding off other people’s ideas? If you were attending a banquet or feast, are you feeling comfortable with yourself and your lifestyle right now? Were you being forcefed or was the food taken away? All these details will help you relate the particular type of food or drink to an appetite or desire in waking life.

A Guide to Dreams and Sleep Experiences

by Tony Crisp
Satisfying one’s needs or hunger’. This can be any area of need, such as emotional, mental, sexual, depending on dream context. Example: I am putting four of our puppies under the grill and cooking them’ (Maureen). Although Mau­reen hasn’t eaten her puppies yet, her dream illustrates how food is used to represent emotional needs. Maureen is child­less, has a lot of mother love, planned the pregnancy of her bitch, and gets enormous satisfaction from rearing the pup­pies. She is literally hungry for the exchange of love and care she finds in dealing with her puppies.

Occasionally shows information about actual nutritional needs or physical allergies. Also, to eat is to continue involve­ment in the fundamental processes of life, a celebration of interdependence.

To not eat: shows a conflict with the physi­cal reality of one’s body and its needs, an avoidance of growth or change; an attempt to be isolated from others, reality, the whole. Avoiding cenain foods: expression of decision making in dealing with needs; food allergy. Giving food to others: giving of oneself to others, or nunuring some aspect of one­self. Eating objects or repulsive food: meeting objectionable experiences; trying to ‘stomach’ things which make you ‘sick’.

Example: 1 ran into a house and came face to face with a huge stag. I noted the open back door, whereupon he staned eating my leg. I was pushing against his horns and managed to stop him chewing me’ (Jasmine C). Being eaten : the first pan of Jasmine’s dream (not quoted) is obviously sexual. Be­ing eaten therefore suggests she is being consumed by her sexual drive. Being eaten, especially if it is the face, also shows how our identity, or our fragile sense of self, is feeling attacked by emotions or fears, other people, or internal dnves.

The classic story of Jonah illustrates this, and shows how the conscious personality needs to develop a working relationship with the unconscious. Eaten by dogs, maggots: feelings about death.

See food. Sec also dog under animals; individuation. Idioms: eaten away; eat din; eat humble pie; eat like a horse; eat one’s hean out, eat one’s words; eat out of one’s hand; eat you out of house and home; what’s eating you?; proof of the pudding is in the eating; dog eat dog.

The Language of Dreams

by Patrica Telesco
(see Food by type, Beverages, Candy, Fasting, Hunger)

If you have been dieting lately, this is likely a circumstantial dream that needs no further explanation.

The ideas, concepts, or beliefs currently being internalized (e.g., “you are what you eat”).

In esoteric traditions, eating is a way to ground energy and reestablish foundations in the material world. Consider if both feet have been on terra firm a lately.

Metaphorically, is there something for which you hunger in your life, physically, mentally, or spiritually? If so, find the right food to fill that hunger so that strong, healthy growth may begin (or continue).

A representation of your current eating habits. Are you eating well-rounded meals—or too much junk food? Consider what the dream shows you in terms of how you’ve been feeling lately, and make appropriate adjustments in your diet.

Eating a celebratory feast represents sampling a little from many different aspects of life, and enjoying each fully. It may also portend a period of abundance and pleasant surprises soon to follow.

Arriving late for a feast indicates the presence of many pressing personal matters that often detain social interactions.

Reviewing a menu in a dream signifies life’s decisions and how metaphorically “good” they are for you. Consider what types of foods were chosen, and if the choices were costly, for more specific symbolism.

Leaving a table hungry represents being dissatisfied bv the results of an effort, the answer received from a question, or a situation that is less fulfilling than you might wish.