A paper presented at the 2nd Australia’s Homosexual Histories Conference at the University of Melbourne, 5-6 November 1999
Two moments in the global history of fags, dykes and food resonate across the last 100 years. The first, when a bed-bound Marcel dipped that madelaine in his chocolate condemning us all to endless hobby courses in memory writing and sundry experiments with biscuits and hot liquid of which the tim-tam dunk is the most recent manifestation. The second when Alice, exhausted after one of those afternoons when that vile Pablo had carried on about painting with his prick, turned to Gertie and casually inquired – ‘Shall I fix us a little something?’, creating both the cause and the cure for the munchies and condemning us to endless re-runs of films in which people wear tie-dye bandanas and say ‘groovy’ a lot.