Hot-Dogs Full of Beetle Legs and Wood Shavings, Washed Down with Pepto-Bismol: A Gastrocritic Analysis of How Identity is Ingested in Angels in America

American playwright Tony Kushner’s characters in Angels In America: Millenium Approaches (1992) and Angels In America: Perestroika (1994) are faced with the consequences of the HIV AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City and all attempt to escape from their physical or psychological reality to another. Previous analysis on these plays have focused on how broader societal issues affect the characters in the play. In contrast, this thesis investigates human relationships through the medium of the food to show how identities are expressed and received. Using the theory of gastrocriticism, which investigates this relationship, I argue that the foodways and the food consumed, denied, or rejected present a new interpretation of central characters in Angels In America, revealing how the characters show their connection to or rejection of each other through food. I conclude that this essay presents a new understanding of the characters and that food and foodways can be used to inform the identities and relationships of Kushner’s characters, while also leaving room for a further expansion of the gastrocritic analysis for this play.