Furthermore, the kitchen plays a significant role in acting as a kind of safe space for Tita, and the meals she cooks affect the events of the novel. The plot revolves around the concepts of food and cooking each chapter begins with a recipe for a certain Mexican dish.
What seems to distinguish Como agua para chocolate from other romance novels is the sense of warmth and homeliness running through the entirety of the book. But what makes this take on the classic topos of forbidden love so unique? Why has it sold close to a million copies in Hispanic countries and been translated into numerous languages? It would seem that such a familiar plot and recognisable themes might make for something predictable, tedious and unsuccessful, yet Como agua para chocolate was the number one bestseller in Mexico for more than two years.
Laetitia Hosie, Lower Sixth pupil at Westminster School (London)Ĭomo agua para chocolate, the 1989 novel by Mexican author Laura Esquivel, tells the story of Tita, the youngest daughter of the De La Garza family, who is forced by tradition to remain single in order to look after her mother, whilst her lover Pedro marries her older sister, Rosaura.
