Circe was an interesting chapter due to its playlike structure and the deployment of hallucinatory scenes from Bloom. The hallucinations reflect various anxieties and desires that we have seen Bloom to have throughout the day. Similar to most of the chapters, food and cooking was referenced sparsely but not prominently.

Much of Circe does not remain constant throughout the chapters, characters move in and out constantly while Bloom goes through many different outfits. Bloom has a pig’s foot in his pocket throughout Circe which, along with the dog, ground the chapter by providing something constant.

One particular instance that i believed to feature food in a significant way was when Molly was eating a spiced beef sandwich (15, 564-565). Spiced beef elicits a masculine image which gives Molly- who is eating the spiced beef sandwich- a more masculine appearance. This serves in continuing Molly’s image as someone whose body is distinctly different from the slender figure of Gerty’s, while questioning the construction of femininity. Perhaps it could also be taken as a crass joke.

Bloom’s potato is also of interest as it appears twice throughout Circe. Initially a prostitute takes it out of his pocket. She later takes it out of her stocking. Bloom later reveals that the potato is of sentimental value claiming it as “a relic of poor mama” (15, 3513). It is interesting how the potato is seemingly sexualized while also relating to Bloom’s mother.

During Bloom’s hallucination involving him adopting a quasi Jesus identity, food appears as a measure of prosperity. This hallucination has a joyous tone; a baby is described as having milk flowing out of it’s mouth and later Bloom is offered a radish as praise. In this hallucination, food is used  as an object given to denote thanks as well as denoting prosperity.

Food appears more substantively in Circe than in other chapters. I found this to be a very engaging chapter.