The natural world as it is shown here is one of youth and age, growth and decay in a pattern that follows Venus' own changes of mood. But not even this transformation is as dramatic as her metaphorical transformation into a snake, an action which immediately associates her with Eve. There are two separate myths of Venus in medieval literature, the 'good Venus' who represents pure, constructive love and the more dangerous Venus who represents sinful lust. George D. Economou links the Double Venus with Eve, arguing that just as Eve is linked with carnal pleasure and concupiscence yet provided an opportunity for mankind's redemption, so Venus can link the two sides of love, both sexual and spiritual. The link between the Venus of the poem and the biblical Eve is also one of sexual desire expressed in terms of physical hunger.
Food becomes a symbol for the female body and thus eating becomes associated with sex.
Venus, as a 'witch' or woman who takes pleasure in her sexuality, has control over this food. She is able to choose whether she is bitter, sweet or sour. But of course, she is fictional, the creation of a long line of storytellers, priests and writers culminating in Henryson. For a real, non-fictional woman such as Margery Kempe, this control is much harder to find. This is the only time in the entire passage that Margery is the subject of a verb which does not have implications of passivity.