What’s Up With The Fig?

Figs, due to their luscious texture, plump shape, and abundance of seeds are associated with life. They were a favorite of Aphrodite, the Roman goddess of love, as well as Dionysus, the god of merriment, wine, and sexual excess. Both female and male symbolism are represented within the fig’s umbrella. Its round shape and desirability invoke female fertility, the sap of the fig tree likens it to male potency.

In Buddhism, a species of fig tree called the Bodhi Tree represents an essential symbol of the faith. It was beneath the Bodhi Tree where Siddhartha Gautama, the prince who became the Buddha, underwent an intense, 49-day meditation, and achieved enlightenment. The tree is such an important symbol that it was used to signify Buddha, not in human form but in this symbolic representation.

In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve hide their nakedness with fig leaves after they had partaken of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This imagery has been illustrated in countless paintings and sculptures. In this way, the fig can be seen as a symbol of knowledge and intelligence; it wasn’t until after consuming from the forbidden tree that Adam and Eve became aware and ashamed of their nakedness. The use of fig leaves as coverings is an indication of knowledge.

As people who both enjoy the tangible love of others’ cooking as well as providing said love for others, Forbidden Fig recognizes what food truly is. In its own right, food is sensuality, emotion, love, anger, memories, experience, enlightenment, and foreplay. Some uncooked foods can kill you, while consuming other foods, such as mushrooms (containing Psilocybin) as practiced by Shamans, can allow you to speak to God. The term “cooked with love” is real. Having a love for the food you create or partake in, paired with love for the person or people you are consuming it with can’t be replicated. And so, we invoke the centuries-old symbolism of the Fig in all we do.

-Enjoy!