Laura Esquivel grew up in Mexico, where she set her first novel, Like Water for Chocolate. Integral to the novel and drawn from her own experience is the relationship between its characters and cooking, a connection that involves the cook, the dishes prepared, and the effect they have on those who consume them. Esquivel explores the ability of cooking and foods to transform people in a story that is intimately connected to the traditional position to which women have been relegated in Mexico and to the technique of magical realism in Latin American writing.
Nineteenth-century women's magazines. The subtitle of Like Water for Chocolate, "A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances and Home Remedies," reflects its intent. The novel sets out to parody popular women's magazines of the nineteenth century. Often called "calendars for senoritas," these publications were some of the first literary pieces directed specifically toward women in Mexico. Similar to almanacs, the magazines generally had a moral tone to them, expressing the "proper" role of the female in Mexican society. They consisted of poems, recipes, sewing instructions and household remedies.
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