Como agua para chocolate
Love, family and recipes: each chapter opens with a dish. Magical realism in accessible Mexican Spanish.
What it's about
Tita is the youngest daughter of the De la Garza family on a ranch in northern Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Family tradition says the youngest daughter may never marry: she must look after her mother, the strict Mamá Elena, until she dies. Tita loves Pedro, but Mamá Elena marries him to Tita's older sister Rosaura instead, and Pedro accepts so he can stay close to Tita. Tita pours her feelings into her cooking, and the dishes she makes cause magical effects in everyone who eats them. Each of the twelve chapters is a month of the year and opens with a recipe.
Resumen en español fácil
Tap any underlined word for its meaning
Tita es la hija más joven de una familia del norte de México. Según la tradición, la hija menor no puede casarse: tiene que cuidar a su madre hasta la muerte. Tita está enamorada de Pedro, pero su madre, Mamá Elena, lo casa con su hermana Rosaura. Tita expresa todo lo que siente en la cocina, y su comida tiene efectos mágicos: quien la come llora, se enamora o siente lo mismo que ella. Cada capítulo empieza con una receta.
Main characters
- Tita — the youngest daughter, a brilliant cook who isn't allowed to marry
- Pedro — the man Tita loves, who marries her sister to stay near her
- Mamá Elena — Tita's harsh, controlling mother
- Rosaura — Tita's older sister, Pedro's wife
- Nacha — the old cook who raised Tita in the kitchen
- John Brown — a kind American doctor who helps Tita
How to read it in Spanish
Good for upper-intermediate readers: the chapters are short and the recipes give you a lot of kitchen vocabulary. Mexican Spanish, with some cooking terms you can look up as you go. The 1992 film is a good companion after you finish.
Where to read it
The book is under copyright, so there is no legal free PDF. In the US you can usually borrow the Spanish ebook free from your public library through the Libby app.
