Novels About Food

For a favourite food novel it is hard to choose between my two favourite novels about Chocolate; Like Water for Chocolate and Chocolat. They both have completely different settings and stories but for both food is an integral part of the story. I love the combination of magic and food which both authors manage beautifully in these novels, weaving the magic into everyday life seamlessly.

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate is set in Mexico and follows Tita and her love for Pedro; unfortunately the family tradition is that the youngest daughter does not marry but looks after the mother for the rest of her life. Knowing that he cannot be with her, Pedro agrees to marry the eldest sister Rosaura because at least then he can keep Tita close by. The heartbroken Tita can do nothing but go along with her mother’s wishes and can only express her emotions through food. I love the scene where Tita is forced to make her sister’s wedding cake and her own heartbreak becomes too much so she weeps as she makes the cake and her tears become an integral ingredient. The guests at Pedro and Rosauro’s wedding love the wonderful cake but then are suddenly reminded of a sorrow they have felt in their own life and they weep too. The reception is filled with weeping guests and Tita’s emotion has expression on what should have been her wedding day. Another wonderful example of food affecting the plot is when Tita makes a quail dish in rose petal sauce which she flavours with her lust for Pedro. When it is eaten the guests become inflamed with lust sleeping with whoever they can find. At the close of the novel as a fire engulfs the ranch, the only thing that survives in the ashes is Tita’s amazing cookbook.

Similarly in Joanne Harris’s Chocolat, magic is the incredible ingredient in the chocolate shop opened by Vianne Rocher in a little Provence village. When Vianne blows into town with her daughter Anouk she transforms the store with beautiful flowers but also incredible chocolates from her mother’s recipes. Vianne’s incredible gift is to know exactly which chocolate is which customer’s favourite and with her cosy little store offering pain au chocolat and hot chocolate throughout the day people start to hang out and enjoy the ambience. This does not go unnoticed; Father Reynaud dislikes the shop opening during Lent and starts to resent Vianne’s easy way with the people he considers his. He starts to notice that some of his congregation are not cutting down during Lent but are actually eating more of what he considers indulgent. During this period some traveller’s moor their barges in the river and start using Vianne’s while they make repairs to their boats. Reynaud preaches against indulgence but it makes no difference to some members of the congregation who continue to flout his rules and regulations. This becomes a war between the two with Reyaud representing the traditional Catholic Church whereas Vianne represents Mother Nature and as they come towards Easter it is a battle between the Christian festival and the pagan festival of Oestre. I love more than anything though the descriptions of the chocolates in the store, how pretty they are and the way Vianne makes them. As Easter comes ever nearer, these descriptions become even more vivid, and her final window display to be unveiled on Easter Sunday sounds mouth-watering. Don’t read unless you’re happy to want a real chocolate fix!