Last year, fans were outraged when Asterix and his Gaulish friends were shown feasting at a McDonalds outlet. The heroic Gaul who stood up to the Roman Empire had “sold out” to “consumerism”, people felt. Affronted, the publishers who own the image rights to the comic had said, “We are not defenders of ‘malbouffe’ [bad food].” Asterix was still a “rebel” and the Gauls ‘come as they are’ to feast at McDonalds. The fast food chain may have made the cut, but the publishers refused to let Obelix star in an advertisement for Diet Coke. Greasy surfeit could be supported, even if it was fast food. Counting calories went against the “values” that Obelix stood for. Indeed, so much of the Asterix comics is about consuming, about louche, glorious excess. And so much turns on this act of consuming.

You are what you eat, most of the characters seem to suggest. The resemblance between Obelix and his favourite repast, wild boar, may not be entirely coincidental. Food and eater are both drawn on generous lines; the horns of one are repeated in the helmet of the other. Both are ferocious in battle — before the wild boar is demolished by Obelix, of course. The menhir collector devours a boar at a time. Not for him the feeble slices of roast beef with mint sauce served in Britain. The Gaulish feasts consist mainly of wild boar and ale — simple, hearty fare. The apparently civilized Romans, on the other hand, favour more sophisticated debauchery. Greedy Roman officials wallow in wine and sauces, in glutinous, decadent fondues. Bunches of grape are dripped into the mouth. Legs of finely-cooked game are torn into.

At times, the fate of the ancient world depends on food and drink; battles are lost and won. In Asterix in Britain, for instance, the Britons are losing against the Romans because they stop fighting every day to drink hot water with “a drop of milk”. Asterix and Obelix ferry a barrel of magic potion to help them. When the potion is confiscated in a pub cellar, the Romans get drunk on “warm beer” while trying to locate the crucial barrel. After the potion is lost, Asterix pretends to brew it again for the Britons. And so the English national drink of tea is born.

Food becomes a weapon, pelted on the enemy. Or a means of subversion — in Asterix and the Banquet, when the Romans have laid siege to the Gaulish village, Asterix and Obelix slip out and bring back food from every corner of Gaul. Or a vehicle of treachery — the Egyptian queen is sent poisoned cake in Asterix and Cleopatra. Food comes as the end — at every story’s finish lies the great Gaulish feast.