According to Maud Ellmann’ food is the thesaurus of all moods and all sensations’ (Ellmann 1993: 112). Ellmann goes onto suggest that food is not only an important signifier within culture and the symbolic order but also plays a vital role in our sense of self. In terms of gender and identity, a lack of academic interest in food has also meant that important ideas concerning religion in terms of the scared and the profane have been neglected. This article looks to literature in order to begin to redress this gap in academic study. Gender identity and food, the scared and the profane. Here I focus upon two types of ‘food’ (Bread and Chocolate) through the work of two female authored, contemporary novels: Chocolat by Joanne Harris (1999) and Give Them Stones by Mary Beckett (1987).