The understanding of one’s culture provides a better view of the world this worldview may help identify the locale’s distinctiveness. It offers awareness of the different types of hunger brought along by the socio-historical and political issues.

The entire novel suggests hope and positivity amidst the evident “hunger”. This descriptive-qualitative type of analysis employed on the novel highlights how cultural-domestic issues and socio-political problems brought along by poverty for food and love can be triumphed over through strong family bonds, religion-induced faith, culture-bound tradition, and palatable dishes on the table. Likewise, the cultural and gender studies and semiotics are applied in the treatment of material. Richly imagined, gloriously written, Banana Heart Summer is an incandescent tale of food, family, and longingat once a love letter to mothers and daughters and a lively celebration of friendship and community. The researcher employed Freud and Lacan’s psychoanalyzes particularly on the pleasure and reality principles. : In her lush, luminous debut novel, Merlinda Bobis creates a dazzling feast for all the senses. The paper presents an analysis of the novel’s creative representation of food towards characters and their relationships with one another. As a contemporary novel, Banana Heart Summer depicts the material and nonmaterial culture of Region V known as the Bicol Region. This paper aims to unravel the culture of the Bicolanos as the theme highlighted in Merlinda Bobis’ Banana Heart Summer. Food and love may be extreme needs of humans, but the fulfillment of a human’s wants through food and love may help ease such societal problems. She will appease her familys hunger and win her violent mother’s affection. Accordingly, desire and longing result in societal problems. The myth of the banana heart inspires 12-year-old Nenita, growing up in a small, impoverished Filippino town. Food satisfies hunger and hunger obeys desire. Available in the National Library of Australia collection.

Banana heart summer by merlinda bobis