Characters and Foods

The most prominent role food plays is relaying Tita's emotions. They are added into the mix as if they were a regular ingredient. Food can be grievous, sorrowfully reminiscing of, and longing for, lost love (as with the Chabela wedding cake), passionate and lustful (as with the quail served in rose petal sauce), remedial or bitter (as with the ox-tail soup), and so on.

It can all be explained simply through Tita's emotions. When she made the wedding cake, she was grieved that she had lost Pedro. She was unwilling to throw away the rose, so she made a dish that kept the momento of love from Pedro. The ox-tail soup reminded her of her love for the kitchen while it only served bitterness to her mother for having suppressed her from her desires for many years.

In relation to other characters, foods have the effect of transferring Tita's emotions. Because Tita was grieved, full of desire, and bitter, the eaters received the same emotion. The remedial ox-tail soup is an exception, for which I have no explanation. It could have been any other food that was "foreign to [John's] house" with the same effect. Chencha made it, but she didn't transfer any emotion; the dish and its aroma only aroused in Tita memories of her past life.

Rosaura became a conduit for Tita and Pedro's lust for each other after eating the quail. She received a portion of that passion through that role, and that heat led her to a different path in life. Food not only transfers Tita's emotions, but it changes things. It changes people and their story. It touches their heart, which contributes to that change. The only exceptions are the Chabela wedding cake and the turkey mole, which produced feelings of sorrow and happiness for a short time. The only exception to that is Nacha, who took her life after remembering her lost love.

For Mama Elena, food had a negative effect on her. Tasting the bitter ox-tail soup made her even more miserable as it made her take foolish measures in order to counteract the 'poison.' She realized how no one appreciated her, and yet she tried to protect herself even more. She did not realize her true image. Perhaps it reminded her of her own bitter experiences of lost love and being forced to marry another through set customs and tradition. Maybe that was what drove her to take a dose or iperac, to do something crazy.

Pedro, Chencha and John seem to be the odd ones, as food has no powerful effect on them. Champandongo is a mystery in that the food itself had no effect. It was made with bad temper, but it did not transfer that emotion but overcame it to be an enjoyable meal. In a way, I guess it says that the situation is good although the feelings are not. So now food is immune to emotions.

Food seems to have its own personality.