February - Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
“It was very pleasant to savour its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present.”
Tita
An Exciting Start
February 2025 we held our very first book club dinner. For this first evening we decided to read and cook from the bestselling Mexican writer Laura Esquivel. Like Water for Chocolate tells the tale of Tita, the youngest daughter in her family who is forbidden from marrying her love, Pedro, who instead marries her older sister. Relegated to the kitchen and forced to look after her mother, Tita’s emotions pour into the food she prepares, triggering a series of surreal, magical events.
For guests who were unable to read the whole book, there were links, summaries and videos about the themes of the novel so that everyone can be in the loop without the pressure of having to read the entire book if they didn’t have the time.
“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves”
The menu for this evening consisted of some of the dishes that were most pivotal to the plot, such as the quail in rose petal sauce served at the wedding feast that resulted in mass food poisoning (only in the novel!) as Tita poured all her despair into the wedding feast she was forced to prepare. The main course was composed of various recipes described in the book such as the walnut stuffed peppers and the chocoflan was served for dessert.
We were delighted to have such a lively evening with groups of friends and solo guests all joining in to share their perspective on this compelling novel and it confirmed to us that we had a good thing going!