Like Water for Chocolate

In Like Water for Chocolate, how people feel when they are cooking affects what they are creating, and the people eating that food feel what the cook was feeling. I love that. It shows how truly magical, healing, and transformative cooking can be even though it is an ordinary everyday task that most of us perform. Each chapter has a recipe, and each recipe is tinged with magic. As a bonus, the book taught me to pay attention to how I feel when I cook—I try not to cry or be angry when preparing dishes. Just in case.

A classic, bitter-sweet love story taking place in turn-of-the-century Mexico. Tita, the youngest daughter on the De la Garza Ranch, grows up to be a master chef. Through whimsy, wit, and a dash of magic, she expresses her heartaches, hopes, and dreams, through her dishes. Esquivel takes us on a journey that is both meaningful, emotional, and heartfelt, as Tita discovers her worth, strength, and passion for life and love. Emotionally, this book can be a challenging read, but perhaps that bit of realism is what resonates with me so profoundly.

As I love chocolate almost as much as I love reading, Like Water for Chocolate was always going to be on my reading list. On the surface, the book is a simple love story set during the Mexican Civil War. Digging deeper, the story is an allegory for the suffering of the Mexican people, particularly women, under the strict rules and traditions of an elitist government. This book is a subtle, sumptuous feast in which the recipes Tita concocts magically transfer her passions into her food and from the food to those who eat her cooking. The final choice she… show more.

Like Water for Chocolate is a blend of romance and magic realism in which food is integral to the story. Each section begins with a beloved Mexican recipe that is woven into the story. The novel takes place in the early 1900s and follows a fifteen-year-old girl seeking true love and independence. While pursuing her adoration of a young man, her mother’s disapproval gets in the way and the girl finds her way toward independence as she cooks. The themes of coming of age, revolting against constraints, following one’s bliss, and cultivating passion—all the while cooking. 

Magical realism is a gift of the world that most people never learn about. This book was one of my first introductions to magical realism and I’ve never related to characters and emotions that I personally have no connection or relation to more than in this book. You can feel the words on the page come to life and overcome you as you read.

The book combines an outlandish plot with very real-world emotions. This works to have readers escape into an unfamiliar world with the familiarity of their own lives.