How is food used as a symbol in the novel, Bright, Precious Days?

McInerney uses food to highlight the classism the characters exhibit with their upper-middle class lifestyle. Corrine’s charity gives leftover restaurant produce to those in need, which contrasts with Russell’s passion for gourmet eating. The contrast between Russell’s epicurean interest in food and Corrine’s passion for feeding the needy, while still being concerned with being thin, like all the other women in her social circle, shows how food is used to symbolize socio-economic class.