I read Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica and I can't stop thinking about this one scene

As we know, Tender is the Flesh is a very carnal commentary on society as a whole, a major theme being how most people will blindly follow what their government dictates, whether or not they believe it (which adds to the theme that the main character judges the "predators" of being livestock just the same as the "prey") but I thought it was a lovely piece of symbolism when Marcos visits his sister (who makes a show--especially later on in the book at their father's wake--about how she loved and cared for him without ever visiting him or giving monetary support) and she gives him lemonade, a symbol of being a good host and keeping up appearances. Once he drinks it, he remarks on the fact that it tastes "artificial," speaking to the fact that despite that she performed the part of a good host, it had no substance, therefore further describing the character as superficial, and I just don't see that in books anymore, I'm obsessed with this kind of symbolism.