The Good Table Summary

This chapter starts with a description of a culinary writer's experience regarding food and meals. It tells of a person who grows up in a household that values good food, fine wines, starched linens, expensive china and silver, and fresh flowers and candles to adorn the table.

After that description, Allende follows with a description of her childhood home, which belonged to her grandfather. In Allende's family the only values that were acceptable were those having to do with the mind and the spirit. Earthly pleasures, such as fine dining, were ignored. Allende's grandmother died at a young age, after ignoring many of the household responsibilities in favor of pursuing telepathic and levitational abilities. Domestic chores and maternal duties were turned over to nannies and housekeepers.

Following her grandmother's death, Allende's mother took control of the domestic responsibilities of...