Yum. What a visual experience this movie. The central theme of this movie was cooking. First, Dona Elena forced her daughter Tita to become a servant in her own home, because she was the youngest daughter. As a servant, she waited on her mother and learned to cook. Her older sister, however did not have to spend time in the kitchen, so she did not have any culinary experience. Tita became an excellent cook, using the recipes her grandmother had, and making them with love.
When Tita's mother did not allow her to marry, Pedro used bad logic to marry her sister so he could be near Tita. As they all sat at the table, Pedro carried on his romance with Tita by enjoying her cooking. When his new wife made dinner, Tita's sister, he could not love the experience, because she was not able to cook.
Pedro gave Tita roses because she was such a wonderful cook, and he absolutely adored her. Her mother requested that she throw the roses out, but Tita made a recipe of quail in rose petal sauce, which was so delicious that everyone loved it.
Tita's cooking was more than wonderful, it was magical. The movie created a use of magic by allowing Tita's cooking to create experiences for the audience to view. When her sister was married to her boyfriend Pedro, Tita made the cake for the wedding. Her tears in the batter caused the guests to have vomiting and illness. When Tita cooked, strange things happened. The movie used the theme of magic for the realistic act of cooking. Tita made her dishes with love. So, when Tita cooked, her food was fantastic, because it was made of ingredients that she had embellished with her love. No one else was able to cook like Tita. She gave of herself like no one was able to.
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I too enjoyed the food in this film. I thought the quail dish showed the magic realism very well. I think food is so important to the American culture and it seemed so important to this Spanish culture in this film as well. The wedding cake sure looked beautiful, but it didn't produce beautiful results. I thought the onion and crying was also interesting. I'd never seen anyone put an onion on their head before. I also thought it was interesting that at least twice in the film people asked Tita for the recipe because her cooking was so amazing. Dona Elana seemed to be the only one who complained about Tita's cooking. Her comment on the quail being too salty was just one of her criticisms. Although Dona Elana was such a mean woman I was not surprised by her negative comments.
ReplyDeleteSue Davish
Kristine, I really enjoyed reading your blog. How interesting it was that Tita developed some much of her culinary expertise due to the time she spent in the kitchen with Nacha and how cooking was such an emotional experience for her. As she stated, everything tasted so wonderful because it was made with love. It was interesting how this theme threaded through every aspect of this film and how her cooking had such a magical effect on those who ate what she cooked. Even when Tita was staying with the doctor, she regained her ability to speak after eating the broth that Chencha brought on her visit. That food theme persists even with the magic broth. Even at the end of the film, we see Tita's cookbook surviving the fire allows her recipes of love to be carried on.
ReplyDeleteDianne Cordrey
Kristine, I agree this film is about the magic realism of cooking. Nacha brought Tita up in the kitchen with all it's aromas and textures. Nacha was one of my favorite characters. She was more like a mother than Elena. Nacha taught Tita the love of cooking and more important pouring love into cooking. Whereas Elena's ghost haunted Tita after her death, Nacha ghost visited Tita in love. She was always there to guide Tita. It was very fitting that at the end of Pedro and Tita, all that was left was the cookbook.
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