---
title: Decoding Shakespeare’s food references tell us about characters’ temperament and morality
url: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/food-in-shakespeare
edition: /collider/2025-12-16/index.edition.md
position: 5
date: 2025-12-16
source: mailchimp
original: https://mailchi.mp/pathwright/collider-december-16-17474255
retrieved: 2026-11-09
visibility: public
author: /people/justin-hall.person.md
emoji: 🍗
---

🍗 **[Decoding Shakespeare’s food references tell us about characters’ temperament and morality.](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/food-in-shakespeare)** It was the era of humors. Falstaff’s love of anchovies is the last thing his phlegmatic mood needed. When Hamlet says he’ll drink vinegar after Ophelia’s death, he knows it’ll make his melancholy worse. Secret code!

[Atlas Obscura](https://www.atlasobscura.com/) ∙ Article