The picaresque novel, which forms the basis of modern realism literature, features a ‘pícaro’, a character ostracized from the established social order, and represents a narrative dealing with life under a more realistic view, very far from the previous literary tradition of portraying life in idealistic or symbolic ways, such as those appearing in chivalric novels, court novels and pastoral novels. The modernity based on the affirmation of everyday life is related to the meaning of objects as they are perceived by human senses in daily life, breaking away from the allegorical interpretation which presupposed that there is a transcendent meaning behind any object. The modernity of this aspect in the picaresque novels can be seen through food and its grotesque variations, which are linked to pícaro's life journey. His life can be summarized as: first, hunger and step away from it, second, expressing the desire for a rise in status, and finally, as seen in El Buscón, when it is not accepted by the existing social structure, which frustrates his desire. The food and its grotesque variations function as a narrative device intimately connected to those aspects.