“If a strong emotion suddenly lights all the candles we carry inside ourselves, it creates a brightness that shines far beyond our normal vision and then a splendid tunnel appears that shows us the way that we forgot when we were born and calls us to recover our lost divine origin. The soul longs to return to the place it came from, leaving the body lifeless.”
Like Water for Chocolate, or Como Agua Para Chocolate in Spanish, is a best-selling novel by a first-time writer, Laura Esquivel. It was published in 1989 by Anchor Books. In 1992, it was translated to English by Carol and Thomas Christensen and published by Doubleday. Also in that year, it was made into a movie, which screenplay was written also by Esquivel, and had bagged numerous prestigious awards.
The narrator’s great-aunt, Tita De La Garza was born in a well-to-do family in Mexico during the Revolutionary Period. Belonging to a family of culinary excellence, she was brought up well with kitchen skills that made her an exemplar to their country. But paired with that luck, she is bounded by tradition – obliging her to look after Mama Elena until she dies, forbidding her to marry the one she loves. The steel-fist matriarch then gave Rosaura, Tita’s older sister, to Pedro Muzquiz, Tita’s lover, in marriage. Tita had no voice in Mama Elena’s household; hence, she endured years of coldness, with food as her only outlet. This happened to influence every person who eats her food. She then met Doctor John Brown who saved her from despair and from the clutches of her mother. Still, her love for Pedro and Pedro for her continued to burst and so with a number of life-changing events, they both ended up in the lost Garden of Eden.
Esquivel weaves this story through monthly installments of Mexican recipes which happens to epitomize Tita’s experiences and feelings. She used magical realism to let her readers let their imaginations do what has to be done. She incorporated the setting of the Revolutionary Mexico and the farm-life to counter-balance the intenseness of the love of characters in the story. Esquivel elevated the power women have in the society but still citing the importance of men in attaining liberty; thus, both are necessary for each other’s survival. It is also evident in her work how people in general struggle to gain individuality and esteem. Moreover, the drawbacks of tradition especially when it comes to marriage were implied in the tale.
Like Water for Chocolate is a very unique work of fiction. Its story is both entertaining and compulsive. The passion the characters have and how Esquivel had written it really affects the reader. She created such heat in the story without being too obscene. The exaggeration at some point even added flavor to the novel. If it lacked the reinforcement of food as a core of family custom, the book would have been bland. It was moving to learn how love really conquers all, which in this case is time and tradition. It had that certain sensuality that would urge you to read on. This book is just sumptuous and delicious.
Josephine Reubenne P. Sinugbuhan
IV – Albert Einstein
