Laura Esquivel's 1989 novel Como agua para chocolate became a bestseller in Mexico and has been translated into many languages. The story follows Tita, the protagonist, who expresses her emotions through cooking as her status does not allow other opportunities. Food is often a direct cause of unrest and a way for emotions to be transmitted. The title refers to how water must be brought to the brink of boiling several times like emotions cannot be controlled. The book had a film adaptation written by Esquivel and directed by her husband.

1. Like water for chocolate Review by Manuela P.

2. The cover of the book I read First published in 1989, Laura Esquivel’s first novel, Como agua para chocolate ,became a best seller in the author’s native Mexico. Originally written in Spanish, it has been translated into numerous languages.

3. The author This is Laura Esquivel. The photo was taken last June in Gijon during the annual festival called “Black WeeK”

4. The film based on the book The film version, scripted by the author and directed by her husband, Alfonso Arau, has become one of the most popular foreign films of the past few decades.

5. The idea In a New York Times interview, Laura Esquivel said that her ideas for the novel came out of her own experiences in the kitchen: "When I cook certain dishes, I smell my grandmother's kitchen, my grandmother's smells. I thought: what a wonderful way to tell a story."

6. The meaning of the title. The title of the novel: like water for chocolate refers to the fact that water must be brought to the brink of boiling several times before it is ready to be used in the making of hot chocolate. However the heat of emotions cannot be so controlled. Heat is a symbol for desire and physical love throughout the test . Images of heat and fire permeate the novel as expressions of intense emotion.

7. Cooking Food is often a direct cause of physical and emotional unrest, and serves as a medium through which emotions can be transmitted.Tita, the protagonist, prepares most of the food in the novel and she uses food to express her emotions because her lowly cultural status affords her no other opportunity to do so.

8. A funny metaphor In chapter 6 you can find a curious theory about inner fire. All of us have an internal box of matches, each one containing the explosions neccesary for an individual to live. We only need to know how to set off our explosions. Tita knew what set off her explosions, but each time she had managed to light a match, it had persistently been blown out.

9. An explosive ending Tita's inner fire is finally free to blaze. The fire is full of beautiful explosions that the townspeople mistake for fireworks .