To whom is Miss Maudie referring when she asks, “His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?” Why does she ask this?

Miss Maudie is referring to Atticus in this question. This incident occurs during Aunt Alexandra’s social event with the other ladies in town, which Scout unwillingly attends wearing a clean, starched dress instead of her preferred tomboy clothing. The ladies have an extremely hypocritical discussion about missionary work in Africa and how wonderful it is that J. Grimes Everett is helping the poor people there, before immediately turning around and making negative comments about Atticus’s work defending Tom Robinson. Miss Maudie takes offense to this, not only because she is friends with Atticus and thinks he is doing the right thing, but also because they are all sitting in Atticus’s house and eating his food. Miss Maudie thinks Mrs. Merriweather is being quite rude to criticize Atticus while enjoying his hospitality. Hence her comment, “His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?” In other words, she is saying to Mrs. Merriweather, You are criticizing this man, but you sure don’t have a problem eating his food.


In chapter 24, Scout attends Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle and listens as the local ladies discuss J. Grimes Everett's missionary work in African before discussing current community affairs. Mrs. Merriweather then proceeds to comment on how her black servants have been acting depressed following the Tom Robinson trial.
She then indirectly criticizes Atticus for defending Tom by referring to him as "Good, but misguided." Miss Maudie responds to Mrs. Merriweather's indirect criticism of Atticus by saying, "His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?" (237) Miss Maudie is referring to Atticus (and his food) when she questions Mrs. Merriweather. Rather than directly confront Mrs. Merriweather about criticizing a man who has allowed her to dine in his home, Miss Maudie passively reproaches Mrs. Merriweather by asking her a question that gets her attention and makes her consider her comments.

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