Blog 5

 
In the film, Like Water for Chocolate, food plays a big part in the formation of personal and national identities. 
Our protagonist, Tita, has spent her whole life cooking, being a servant to her mother. As such, she is an expert at her craft and her food is delicious, especially when compared to others, such as Rosaura, who tries cooking for the first time only to find that no one is particularly enjoying it. Tita is so good she is even able to express her emotions through her dishes. There remains something deeper to the recipes that are intangible. These intangible ingredients consist of love, patience, sorrow, and hate all of which are feelings that Tita has during the film. These can only be experienced by others when the meal has been eaten. For example, the meal that Tita prepares with the rose petals. 
She prepares this meal with passion and love. Rather than throwing the roses out as her mother tells her to, she cooks them into an exquisite dish that amazes everyone. Especially Gertrudis, who has some crazy stuff happen to her right after eating it, basically being (willingly) abducted by a man riding a horse, being drawn by her aroma and desire for a man. This also happens at the wedding for Pedro and Rosaura, Tita is responsible for cooking the wedding cake, but she is so upset over the idea of Pedro marrying someone else she starts to cry and her tears fall into the batter. Later when the wedding guests are eating the cake, they all feel a grave sadness sweep over them and can't help but desire the person they love most.