Recipes In Like Water For Chocolate

Recipes, in the novel Like Water for Chocolate, play a very important part in the novel. Have the writers from Paper Masters custom write a research paper on the role of recipes in Esquivel's famous book.

In the book Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, tells the story of Tita De La Garza, the youngest daughter of a family living in Mexico. Throughout the story, Tita strives to achieve independence and true love.

• Each chapter in the book begins with a month for the title as is followed by a recipe.
• In each chapter, a recipe follows the chapter heading.
• The main events of the chapter focus on the preparation or consumption of the dishes detailed in the recipes, while additional recipes are given throughout the story.

Recipes are the Central Theme

The books use of recipes to highlight the message contained in each chapter makes food the central theme around which all else revolves. As a girl, the only knowledge Tita has of life is based on her time spent in the kitchen. Fear of poisoned food causes Mama Elena to poison herself. Restricted from the freedoms the other girls have, Tita uses food to express her emotions since her position in the family provides her with no other outlet to do so. It is one of Tita's meals laced with the petals from the flower given to her by Pedro that causes her sister Gertrudis to run away with a revolutionary soldier. Finally it is through food that Tita asserts her identity.

Recipes Signal the Importance of Food

The author's use of recipes to begin each chapter shows the importance of food to the characters of the novel as well as how the various meals prepared according to the recipes' directions affect the members of the family. By using the female chore of preparing food, Esquivel is able to incorporate the mythical themes that bring the novel to its final conclusion.