Like Water For Chocolate Tradition

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, is an installment novel, with family recipes organized according to the months of the year, beginning from January to December. The story relies mainly on Esquivel’s use of tradition and illustration of Mexican culture in the story. That cultural base is paired with characters, food, and sex, and this gives the reader plenty of evidence to support the protagonist’s perspective. Tradition both bless and curse the main character, Tita, as it keeps her away from marrying her love, Pedro. However, tradition also gives her one of the pleasure of life, cooking. Food in this novel is not only used for survival but

also used as an inspiration, means of communication, and the way to pass on traditions and history of a family. Esquivel presents the connection of food with tradition and sex through preparing, serving and eating food .
The preparation of food is very important in order to represent a culture. Esquivel displays the influence of culture in Tita over the preparation of food and her relation to love. Tita was born in the kitchen and possesses superior culinary skills. She is also blessed with the magical skill to add her emotions into the food while she cooks. “With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver”(52). In the novel, Tita makes quail in rose petal sauce, to express her passion for Pedro, whom she loves deeply however, he is her sister Rosaura’s, husband. In many cultures, it is a normal practice for a woman to prepare meals for their loved ones to show their affection and care. The reason that Tita takes a long time to prepare complex and divine dishes is to express her love to Pedro. This shows how much of an impact this cultural custom has on her. A woman’s capacity for cooking affects a man’s attraction .This is clearly shown by making comparisons between Tita and Rosaura’s cooking. When Rosaura made the dish Pedro did not want to insult his wife so he said “No, for her first time it’s not too bad”(51). However, when Tita makes food he says “It is a dish for the gods!”(51).This contrast allows us to reasonably assume that, the growth of Pedro’s love to Tita has increased due to her talent in culinary skill.
Tradition is very important for Tita especially in regard to passing down her family recipes and her responsibility to take care of her mother.

Tita gets her great cooking skills from Nacha, the Ranch cook. Tita then passes the recipes to Esperanza, her niece. Esperanza then passes them to her daughter. The recipes are passed down from generation to generation and this tells us the story of Tita. However, they are taught not only to be followed, but also to know the different ingredients that go into each dish. The recipes in the novel are kept in the family because when the neighbor, Paquita exclaims on various occasions how good Tita’s food is, Tita simply replies, “the secret is to cook it with lots of love.” This shows that Tita is not eager to share the family recipes. In the novel, Mama Elena says “being the youngest daughter… take care of me until the day I die” (10). This displays that the romantic love between Tita and Pedro is prohibited by her mother in order to follow the tradition that, the youngest daughter must be her mother's faithful keeper. This tradition has prevented Tita and Pedro from experiencing true love with one another. Despite many obstacles in their way, Tita and Pedro finally succeed to express their love in open and unite their bodies and spirits. Unlike the

cooking tradition which exists only to serve and please the people, this tradition is disobeyed because it prevents Tita from enjoying true happiness by being with Pedro.
Esquivel also mentions food as a sign of sex.

The recipe for preparing quail in rose petal sauce links the food prepared by Tita’s creativity with sensuousness and sexuality. “Her food seemed to act as an aphrodisiac” (51). This shows that adding the bloody rose petals to the dish has a profound effect on her virgin sister, Gertrudis, who is unable to stop an unknown tide of sexual feelings. Not only Gertrudis, but Tita herself also drives through different types of body experiences. Throughout the dinner Tita and Pedro stare at each other. Tita takes the forbidden token of love from Pedro and returns her expression in the form of food filled with lust. By mentioning that, “tasting these chiles in walnut sauce, they all experienced a sensation like the one Gertrudis had,” Esquivel wants to explain that the consumption of strong chilies in walnut sauce cause the guests to experience feelings of love and lust

(214).
Initially, Tita is an obedient young girl but later she learns to disobey the injustice of her mother, and gradually start expressing her thoughts through various means. Also, the traditional customs enforced by Mama Elena are disobeyed progressively throughout the novel. Food is one of the major themes in the story that causes characters to feel love, sadness, and sexual desire. It shows the sense of knowledge of all the sufferings caused by tradition that a Mexican woman had to endure during the nineteenth century and a better understanding of the pain love can cause.