Foods are often cohesive to one
another, ever binding. Foods go well with other foods and are often blended,
mixed, and or kept together. What's more? Food can bind more than just itself
and other foods, but it also has a binding and sometimes building affect on
people. Like Water for Chocolate clearly establishes its narrative
emphasis on food within traditional, personal, and national boundaries.
This film takes place in early 20th Century
Mexico. As the name of the film implies, the traditional recipe for hot
chocolate in Mexico includes water when mixing rather than milk, which is used
in countries where milk is plentiful. By boiling back and forth the water and
chocolate (cocoa) together, the two mix and form a more so overstimulated
bond/mix. Linking both personal and national ideas, this can be personified
through how Tita feels personally around and in relation to her love interest,
Pedro. We can see this side of her and her personal feelings through the meals
she cooks in the film.
When Pedro and Rosarua are married, Tita is to
prepare a wedding day meal. Within this meal, Tita essentially adds her tears
of sadness over the loss of her beloved Pedro to her sister Rosaura. Upon
eating the prepared meal, the wedding guests become overturned with emotion
from Titas tears in the cake and begin to mourn their loved ones as well.
Across the films plot, Tita is learning and growing. From being with her illegitimate
mother who didn't allow her to marry, all the way to taking care of Esperanza
and finally being with Pedro once more. Bound by nationality and location,
certain food and the concept of cooking depicts how Titas emotions take shape
to form her personality, attachments, and lessons she has learned throughout
the film.
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