Sforno on Genesis 3:14/ספורנו על בראשית ג׳:י״ד

1ארור אתה מכל. The serpent was condemned henceforth to attain its needs as well as its desires only through experiencing more pain and greater lack of pleasure than all the other creatures. Compare Kidushin 82 ראית חיה ועוף שהם בני אומנות והם מתפרנסים שלא בצער, “Did you ever see a beast or bird practicing a vocation, and yet they find their livelihood without pain?” [the scholar makes the point that our parnassah lies in the hands of G’d and is not due to our professional level. Ed.] G’d’s curse is explained in detail by the words על גחונך תלך, “you will have to crawl on your belly.” This means that the serpent will find its sustenance only laboriously, experiencing frustration in doing so. Our sages (Berachot 58) mention how many laborious stages the kernel of wheat had to undergo until Adam finally was able to eat the bread that he made out of it.

2ועפר תאכל, you will not enjoy the food (or other earthly pleasures) previously enjoyable. The Talmud Sotah 49 describes something similar happening to the Jewish people as a whole after the destruction of the Temple, saying: הטהרה נטלה את הטעם ואת הריח, והמעשרות נטלו את שומן הדגן, [the subject being the negative fallout for the entire nation of the destruction of the Temple, Ed.] “previously pleasant tasting and fragrant foods no longer tasted as well with the exception of food which needed to be consumed in a state of ritual purity, and the tithes now assumed the richness of cereals.”