"Food is all those substances which, submitted to the action of the stomach, can be assimilated or changed into life by digestion, and can thus repair the losses which the human body suffers through the art of living." (Brillat-Savarin)
Today I will be focusing on two compatible books: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (by Aimee Bender) and Like Water for Chocolate (by Laura Esquivel). The protagonists of both novels seem to have a mystical connection to food. The protagonist of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, young Rose Edelstein, discovers that she can taste the emotions in food that others have prepared. Alternatively, the protagonist in Like Water for Chocolate, Tita, seems to have the ability to infuse her cooking with her own emotions. Ah, the power of food!
We've all heard the expression 'made with love,' but what if there was a different, more unsettling, emotion behind your food. Rose used to love her mother's lemon cake, but suddenly she tastes something besides sugar and frosting in the cake: she tastes her mother's emptiness and dissatisfaction. Rose gets an unwilling glimpse into her mother's emotional life, one which differs from her mother's typically cheery public facade. Rose says, " "I knew if I ate anything of hers again it would likely give me the same message: Help me, I am not happy ... And now my job was to pretend I did not get the message." Rose's sixth sense when it comes to food does not just end with her mother, though. Rose can taste any emotion felt by anyone preparing her food, or even the ingredients in her food. Anger, despair, joy - Rose can taste them all. The power becomes too strong for her to handle, though, and Rose soon resorts to eating only highly packaged and machine made food to minimize feeling others' emotions.
Tita, on the other hand, uses her food as an outlet for her emotions. While the kitchen begins as a source of sanctuary for Tita and a place where she can freely express herself before Nacha, the cook, Tita soon is able to express herself outside of the kitchen through her food. Cooking serves as a form of communication and empowers Tita to express her emotions without offending her sister Rosaura (who married the man Tita loves) and her mother (who forbid Tita to marry, since the youngest daughter must remain single and care for the mother). Tita, having been trained in the art of cooking since she was a child, is able to reach the heart of Pedro, whereas Rosaura, having no culinary experience, is unable. (The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right?) Tita's frustration and despair over Pedro's and Rosaura's wedding manifests itself in their wedding cake she helped prepare. After tasting the cake, the couple and the guests are subject to this same despair and frustration. "The moment they took their first bite of the cake, everyone was flooded with a great wave of longing. Even Pedro, usually so proper, was having trouble holding back his tears....But the weeping was just the first symptom of a strange intoxication - an acute attack of pain and frustration - that seized the guests and scattered them across the patio and grounds and int he bathrooms, all of them wailing over lost love." The following chapter shows how Tita's sexual desire for Pedro is poured out into her dish of quail in rose petal sauce and the startling effects it has on her sister, Gertrudis.
Now I would like to return to the starting quote by Brillat-Savarin, 19th century French author of The Physiology of Taste. While it is unlikely that Brillat-Savarin wrote this metaphorically, the quote can describe what both Rose and Tita are experiencing. For both characters, food serves to repair a loss. For Rose, food mends the emotional disconnect she feels with those around her, even if reestablishing that connection is painful. For Tita, food repairs the losses in her personal life (her inability to become a wife and mother) and allows her to find other fulfillment.
With that being said, let all food you cook be cooked with love.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThe scene at Pedro and Rosaura's wedding where everyone was crying and feeling this sense of longing gave the book a mystical type of feel to it. Yet, everyone starts vomiting all of a sudden. I was wondering if, even with the heavy emphasis on food holding emotions throughout the entire novel of 'Like Water for Chocolate,' I'm still curious if Tita did put anything in the cake to make people sick. However, if this were the case, that really wouldn't fit in with the whole theme of the book. Tita is aware of the power she holds because she can communicate her feelings to people through the meals that she makes. Personally, I don't think when everyone was vomiting at Rosaura and Pedro's wedding that it was due to Tita, but I'm still not sure what can be attributed to that scene where everyone was throwing up.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteYou brought forth a very good comparison between the two books and how food holds such powers. Focusing on the book 'Like Water for Chocolate', because I have not read the other book, Tita knows she holds an incredible power. Even at the beginning of the book we get a glimpse at the incredible person Tita is. They describe how her tears flooded the home. I think you brought up a good scene from the book, that stands out when talking about the power that Tita has in the food. The wedding scene is great scene, along with the rose petal sauce. It very strangly gave Pedro and Tita satisfaction, yet left her sister Gertrudis burning with desire. Referring to Emma's comment , I think that we feel Tita may have poisoned it is because Mama Elena put those twists in our head as we read, because she doesn't like the way Tita acts and always assumes that Tita did something to rebel against her words.