食物與飲食在張愛玲的小說中，具有豐富的象徵意義，呼應了小說的情節與人物，營造出環境的氛圍，呈現獨特的藝術美感。張愛玲透過食物意象，巧妙的將隱喻寄託在其中，所創造的食物意象大致分為：一、象徵情愛與情欲的食物，用來表現人物的愛、欲世界；二、象徵母性愛的食物，反映有時女性對愛情的付出近於母愛；三、象徵不祥與吉祥的食物，暗示了人物的命運。張愛玲運用食物與飲食的描寫，塑造人物形象、揭示人物心理、鋪陳情節，並寄託深刻的寓意，展現有別於以視覺描寫人物形象的創意，而小說中精彩的飲食場面，也極具巧思，用來表現人物之間複雜的關係。張愛玲小說裡的食物意象與飲食書寫，傳達出人物真實的內心世界，也呈現了現實生活的樣貌。

Food and diet in Zhang Ailing’s works symbolized something and associated with the plot and characters of her novels. She created her stories from real-life situation, not imagination. She described food and diet as the following: Firstly, food and diet symbolized love and amour. Secondly, they were alluded to maternal instincts. And thirdly, it was highly symbolic that ominous or fortunate food and diet are omens of what’s to come for the characters. Zhang Ailing often used the metaphor of food and diet to depict scenes of reality. She expressed the intrinsic world of the characters. Indeed, Zhang Ailing described food and diet variously and vividly.