Like Water For Chocolate
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First published in 1989, Laura Esquivels first novel, Como agua para chocolate: novela de entregas mensuales con recetas, amores, y remedios caseros, became a best seller in the authors native Mexico. It has been translated into numerous languages, and the English version, Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies, enjoyed similar success in the United States. The film version, scripted by the author and directed by her husband, Alfonso Arau, has become one of the most popular foreign films of the past few decades. In a New York Times interview, Laura Esquivel told Manalisa Calta that her ideas for the novel came out of her own experiences in the kitchen: “When I cook certain dishes, I smell my grandmothers kitchen, my grandmothers smells. I thought: what a wonderful way to tell a story.” The story Esquivel tells is that of Tita De la Garza, a young Mexican woman whose familys kitchen becomes her world after her mother forbids her to marry the man she loves. Esquivel chronicles Titas life from her teenage to middle-age years, as she submits to and eventually rebels against her mothers domination. Readers have praised the novels imaginative mix of recipes, home remedies, and love story set in Mexico in the early part of the century. Employing the technique of magic realism, Esquivel has created a bittersweet tale of love and loss and a compelling exploration of a womans search for identity and fulfillment.
The Mexican Revolution
Although Mexico had been independent from Spain since the early nineteenth century, their governments were continually beset by internal and external conflicts. In the early part of the twentieth century, revolution tore the country apart. In November 1910, liberal leader Francisco Madero led a successful revolt against Mexican President Porfirio Diaz after having lost a rigged election. Diaz soon resigned and Madero replaced him as president in November 1911. Considered ineffectual by both conservatives and liberals, Madero