The Question and Answer section for Charles Lamb: Essays is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
As a Romantic, Lamb brought a key innovation to the somewhat new form, inserting his own personally to give the essays a conversational tone. His essays showcase his passions and anxieties, imbuing the non-fiction form with a personal and literary...
The major theme is that of the "poor relation"... their irrelevance and unpleasant place in one's life.
The essay describes the discovery of the exquisite flavour of roast pig in China in a time when all food was eaten raw. This is really a light hearted theme speaking to how odd it is that humans eat cooked animals at all.
