Food and Cultural Appreciation

The main theme of Love and Saffron is the idea that cuisine brings people together and fosters understanding between cultures and peoples of various backgrounds. For Imogen, international food allows her to look beyond her small, northwestern comfort zone and ponder the plight of others. For Joan, Mexican cuisine offers insight into her love for Mateo and the lives of people living in California. Ultimately, her final book Cooking California Style represents the unity of the past, present, and future generations through cuisine.

Imogen is the greatest example of this, however, because she shifts from only eating food that she is familiar with to trying almost anything she is given a chance to. Joan's initial gift of saffron, for example, inspires Imogen to try a new recipe for the seafood she and Francis are used to. From there, she willingly looks for ways...