Food and Dominance

As we have learned in our class discussions food can transcend a bold message in literature like food and gender; food and magic; food and knowledge or food and communication. Yet, I was quickly appealed to the conveying message of food and dominance. In Like Water for chocolate and The book of J, certain characters use food as a domain of obtaining control. Hence, in these books we can see that a reward when food is used as control is acquiring a higher dominance or it can be a punishment leading to an equality being taken away.

In Like Water for Chocolate, Tita is a very likeable character that drives you with anticipation throughout the story, hoping she can finally be reunited with her long love Pedro, though he is married to her older sister Rosaura. Yet, what is so amazing and differentiates Tita from her sisters and other characters is not only her great cooking ability but that the emotions she undergoes before or while cooking in some way are instilled and stirred in the food while it is being cooked. She came out of the womb in that kitchen, on a table, surrounded by the smells of thyme, bay leaves, and cilantro and has made an identity for herself in that kitchen. Being the youngest of all sisters she was cursed with the tradition of never being able to marry because she would have to take care of Mama Elena. It’s no surprise Tita had to find a place to dominate and though Nacha taught her all she knew, Tita surely took control of the kitchen. A great example of Tita’s magical emotions in food is when she is preparing the meringue icing for Rosaura’s weeding cake. She can't help herself but cry and cry that the color of the icing turned pink, but everyone who ate from the cake became sick to their stomach's throwing up. Yet, those same exact people had an immense uproar of nostalgia longing a love one. Another is when she made Quail in rose petal sauce but the rose petals where from Pedro. Through her feelings for him and the heat between Pedro watching her body sway as she cooks found its way in the food. It became an aphrodisiac to her sister Gertrudis who had such heat running through her body that she goes out to shower and Juan, a soldier see her. She runs butt naked to him and they ride off on his horse making love. Through food Tita became dominate and did things her way.

In The Book of J, Yahweh told “the man” (Adam) he can eat of any tree but the tree of knowing good and bad, yet Hava(Eve) partook of the fruit because the snake told her death will not touch her if she eats from it. She saw how “good” the tree looked and reached for it, ate, then gave to man. Yet, when Yahweh realized of their disobedience and that they knew they were naked he said to Hava that she would have "Pain increasing groans that spread into groans: having children will be labor. To man's body your belly will rise, for he will be eager above you." Now Hava ate out of curiosity and desired to gain wisdom out of the tree of knowing good and evil but one of the many results in tasting the fruit is her husband shall rule over her. Therefore, she lost her dominance or "equality" by food.

By comparing both Hava and Tita you see that both women in some way found themselves doing what they wanted in the end, either because the serpent beguiled Hava or because Tita no longer wanted to care what anyone else thought of her love for Pedro. Though cooking will always be Tita’s outlet, she learned to express her inner feelings in other means and finally stood up to her domineering mother. Also, Hava did gain a new perspective of life and new knowledge in things she did not know before. Their contradictions are even more evident because Tita found authority in the kitchen with making food; meanwhile Hava lost her dominion or “equality” by eating of the fruit. Both stories are good examples of various ways food can help one feel/become dominate or lose our dominance.

Reference
The Book of J. Trans. David Rosenberg. ED. Harold Bloom. New York: Grove, 1990.
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York: Double Day, 1989.