For my project, I compared and contrasted two books: Like Water for Chocolate & The Hindi-Bindi Club.
Along with reading the books, I also watched many movies and shows. I watched Like Water for Chocolate and studied how Tita cooked in the novel. I saw the kitchen and compared it to the kitchen in my maternal grandmothers home. I also watched a couple of episodes of Mater of None. Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang beautifully wrote and acted in the second episode "Parents" that showed their immigrant parents. I studied their stories and compared it to my own parents'.
By doing all of that, I saw the true similarities between all of us. Listening to Alan and Aziz on NPR, I found myself, in the middle of the library, laughing and saying, "My parent's do that too!" When talking about food, I connected with both pairs of immigrant parents, even when I am Bengali. Alan's dad had to sacrifice his pet chicken-- I remember seeing my aunts cut off a chicken's head for the first time. Aziz's parents innocently confusing a Taiwanese place as a Chinese place.
When I first started this project, I wanted to create two meals to represent the two books I was comparing. However, much like any other project, as I got further along within the project, I changed that idea. Instead, I decided that I would cook one "meal."
This "beef patty" is what my mother made for my father as he would go out to work when they first settled in New York. They lived in one bedroom with my 3 oldest siblings, while my mother was heavily pregnant. They came to America with only $300 and no sense of the American language. My siblings and father would only have these patties for lunch as they set off to school or work. I felt as if this was the perfect representation of my project: food connects us.
Now, when I take these patties to my school for lunch, I can easily say to my peers, "Oh it's like an empanada or an egg roll with tougher bread." Food has no language. Just by saying that simple sentence, almost everyone could then get an idea of what this beef patty is.
In The Hindi-Bindi Club and Like Water for Chocolate this theme really showed. The Hindi-Bindi Club used food to represent comfort, growth, and nostalgia. Like Water for Chocolate uses food in a direct way to show the power of emotion and love. These two books, whether it was directly or indirectly, used recipes and food to help progress the novel and help readers really connect with the characters in a different level.
Along with reading the books, I also watched many movies and shows. I watched Like Water for Chocolate and studied how Tita cooked in the novel. I saw the kitchen and compared it to the kitchen in my maternal grandmothers home. I also watched a couple of episodes of Mater of None. Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang beautifully wrote and acted in the second episode "Parents" that showed their immigrant parents. I studied their stories and compared it to my own parents'.
By doing all of that, I saw the true similarities between all of us. Listening to Alan and Aziz on NPR, I found myself, in the middle of the library, laughing and saying, "My parent's do that too!" When talking about food, I connected with both pairs of immigrant parents, even when I am Bengali. Alan's dad had to sacrifice his pet chicken-- I remember seeing my aunts cut off a chicken's head for the first time. Aziz's parents innocently confusing a Taiwanese place as a Chinese place.
When I first started this project, I wanted to create two meals to represent the two books I was comparing. However, much like any other project, as I got further along within the project, I changed that idea. Instead, I decided that I would cook one "meal."
This "beef patty" is what my mother made for my father as he would go out to work when they first settled in New York. They lived in one bedroom with my 3 oldest siblings, while my mother was heavily pregnant. They came to America with only $300 and no sense of the American language. My siblings and father would only have these patties for lunch as they set off to school or work. I felt as if this was the perfect representation of my project: food connects us.
Now, when I take these patties to my school for lunch, I can easily say to my peers, "Oh it's like an empanada or an egg roll with tougher bread." Food has no language. Just by saying that simple sentence, almost everyone could then get an idea of what this beef patty is.
In The Hindi-Bindi Club and Like Water for Chocolate this theme really showed. The Hindi-Bindi Club used food to represent comfort, growth, and nostalgia. Like Water for Chocolate uses food in a direct way to show the power of emotion and love. These two books, whether it was directly or indirectly, used recipes and food to help progress the novel and help readers really connect with the characters in a different level.
Transcript
INTERVIEWER: Hey this is Kurry Kitchen, I’m Mohtaz Mahmuda. Laura Esquivel uses magical realism in the classic novel, Like Water For Chocolate, to enhance the story of a young girl named Tita who is forced to watch her lover get married to her sister as she is exiled to watch over her mother for as long as she lives. The novel became a bestseller and eventually was adapted into a film written by Esquivel as well. Laura is here with her translator, along with Monica Pradhan-- writer of the Hindi-Bindi Club; a novel similar to Esquivel’s that touches the relationship between immigrant mothers and their first-generation daughters.
MONICA PRADHAN: Hey Mohtaz! Thank you for having me.
TRANSLATOR: Hello! We are actually going to do a simultaneous translation. Laura is very excited to be here, but knows that few listeners are native Spanish speakers, so we’re just going to do this phrase by phrase.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Yeah, for me, it’s really a great pleasure to be here. I am sorry I am going to be answering in Spanish, because sometimes my English is not good enough. So that is why, Jordan is going to help me. I would really like to thank you, Mohtaz, for contacting me and making this happen.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you both for coming down here. I have to say, I have been such a huge fan of both of your books. I first read the Hindi-Bindi Club in 5th grade and I hav-
MONICA PRADHAN: What? It’s a young adult novel, how could you have read it when you were about what, like, 11?
INTERVIEWER: I must admit, I read it because my older sister did. So I read it, at the time I couldn’t relate to it as much. Like you mentioned, I was 11 and didn’t do too much that would have gotten me to be in any of the positions that Rani, Preity, and Kiran were in. So when I was finally in High School and was over the icky world of Middle School, I had to read Like Water for Chocolate for an English requirement. I fell in love with the book and read it four times within 3 weeks. When I had to analyze it, I soon saw its resemblance with the Hindi-Bindi Club. So I dug the book out, and reread it. I can tell you, after reading it and experiencing more of life, I finally understood why my sister cried reading this book.
MONICA PRADHAN: Well, thank you.
INTERVIEWER: It’s quite an honor, finally being able to meet you guys. I found, growing up, that not only could I connect with both of your novels because of the relationship between mothers and daughters that is seen in the text, but because of the recipes. I would love to know, what inspired you both to use the recipes within the book?
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Al crecer, yo vivía en un hogar moderno , pero mi abuela ... ella vivía al otro lado de la calle en una casa antigua que fue construida cuando las iglesias eran ilegales en México .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Growing up, I lived in a modern home, but my grandmother… she lived across the street in a old home that was built when churches were illegal in Mexico.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Ella tenía una capilla en la casa , justo entre la cocina y el comedor. El olor de los frutos secos y los chiles y el ajo consiguió todo mezclado con los olores de la capilla , claveles de mi abuela , los linimentos y hierbas curativas.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) She had a chapel in the home, right between the kitchen and dining room. The smell of nuts and chilies and garlic got all mixed up with the smells from the chapel, my grandmother's carnations, the liniments and healing herbs.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Como he aprendiz en la cocina de mi abuela , vi como la cocina cambió el cocinero , del mismo modo que transforma los alimentos.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) As I apprenticed in my grandmother’s kitchen, I watched as cooking changed the cook, just as it transforms food.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Quería mostrar cómo el uso de recetas y cocinar en una novela puede ayudar a avanzar la historia. Puede ser una parte de la historia . Las recetas nos permiten tener la estructura dramática .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) I wanted to show how using recipes and cooking in a novel can help progress the story. It can be a part of the story. The recipes allow us to have dramatic structure.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Siempre he tenido una pasión por la estructura dramática porque es útil en nuestra vida cotidiana . La estructura dramática sencilla de conseguir al punto A al punto B realmente puede ayudar a superar los obstáculos en nuestras vidas , al igual que lo ayudó a Tita .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) I have always had a passion for dramatic structure because it is useful in our everyday lives. The simple dramatic structure from getting to point A to point B can really help us overcome the obstacles in our lives, just like it helped Tita.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Tita utiliza las recetas de expresar sus emociones y eso es lo que hizo la historia mágica . El que come la comida de Tita será superada por la emoción que pone en ella, y los lleva a hacer cosas para el progreso de la historia. Gertrudis , por ejemplo, fue con Juan .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Tita used the recipes to express her emotions and that’s what made the story magical. Whoever eats Tita’s food will be overcome by the emotion she puts into it, and it drives them to do things to progress the story. Gertrudis, for example, ran off with Juan.
MONICA PRADHAN: I can relate to Ms. Esquivel. My father did not have a privileged childhood in Mumbai. My father always told me that when he was growing up, certain foods and books were considered luxuries, and he always wanted me to have them. To this day, he has never denied me those two things. Food in Indian culture is so important to who we are.
I remember visiting my maternal grandmother’s home. All the ladies of the house congregated into the kitchen. The kitchen was actually separate from the main section of the home. It was it’s own little building, and all my aunts would gather there. The oldest sisters would be at the stove and cook while the younger sister's fixed up the table and got ready to serve the food.
Each recipe in my book was so carefully chosen. My mother wanted me to put more in, but I felt like the book would end up becoming a cookbook! In my book, I want you all to feel the characters, yes, but I also want you to smell what the characters are smelling. The Indian culture is so very different from the average American’s.
The food pretty much sums it up. You see the first generation girls Kiran, Preity, and Rani Americanizing the recipes they grew up with. They seek comfort in those foods, and that says a lot.
INTERVIEWER: Wow. So, would you say that it was different, for you both, to see so many American families that probably eat outside more than they eat a homemade meal? The cultures and value of food is so different.
MONICA PRADHAN: Yeah, of course it’s different! In my house, it’s like Thanksgiving every day. The kitchen, growing up, was filled with Aunties gossiping away, helping my mother in any way they could. There’s a whole behavioural aspect apart of my culture that revolves around food.
It was always weird going to my friends house for a project or something. Their mom would either pick up pizza or something for us, or make some sort of instant meal.
Don’t get me wrong, I also received more hugs from those afternoons than I had from either of my parents in my lifetime! Respect in India is like showing love. In America, showing affection is how you show love. It’s all cultural! And as a first-generation I’ve just been trying to get accustomed to embracing both aspects of my two cultures.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Como una chica muy joven, he entendido que las actividades interiores de la casa son tan importantes como las actividades exteriores de la sociedad.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) As a very young girl, I understood that the interior activities of the home are as significant as the exterior activities of society.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) El abandono de la cazuela de barro tradicional para un horno de microondas plantearía problemas . Pones un paquete y lo cocina y que te lleva de vuelta a la fábrica en la que todo estaba hecho . No vuelvas a la tierra ; no te recuerda de tu naturaleza . La comida puede cambiar todo.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Abandoning the traditional earthenware cazuela for a microwave oven would pose problems. You put a package in and cook it and it takes you back to the factory where it was all made. You don't go back to earth; you don't get reminded of your nature. Food can change anything.
INTERVIEWER: Wow, that was brilliantly said. Thank you Laura, and thank you Monica, for being here today. I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop this interview short, but it was such a pleasure meeting you both.
MONICA PRADHAN: It was lovely being here with you.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Encantada.
INTERVIEWER: Well folks, that’s all we have today! This is Kurry Kitchen… have a great day!
MONICA PRADHAN: Hey Mohtaz! Thank you for having me.
TRANSLATOR: Hello! We are actually going to do a simultaneous translation. Laura is very excited to be here, but knows that few listeners are native Spanish speakers, so we’re just going to do this phrase by phrase.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Yeah, for me, it’s really a great pleasure to be here. I am sorry I am going to be answering in Spanish, because sometimes my English is not good enough. So that is why, Jordan is going to help me. I would really like to thank you, Mohtaz, for contacting me and making this happen.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you both for coming down here. I have to say, I have been such a huge fan of both of your books. I first read the Hindi-Bindi Club in 5th grade and I hav-
MONICA PRADHAN: What? It’s a young adult novel, how could you have read it when you were about what, like, 11?
INTERVIEWER: I must admit, I read it because my older sister did. So I read it, at the time I couldn’t relate to it as much. Like you mentioned, I was 11 and didn’t do too much that would have gotten me to be in any of the positions that Rani, Preity, and Kiran were in. So when I was finally in High School and was over the icky world of Middle School, I had to read Like Water for Chocolate for an English requirement. I fell in love with the book and read it four times within 3 weeks. When I had to analyze it, I soon saw its resemblance with the Hindi-Bindi Club. So I dug the book out, and reread it. I can tell you, after reading it and experiencing more of life, I finally understood why my sister cried reading this book.
MONICA PRADHAN: Well, thank you.
INTERVIEWER: It’s quite an honor, finally being able to meet you guys. I found, growing up, that not only could I connect with both of your novels because of the relationship between mothers and daughters that is seen in the text, but because of the recipes. I would love to know, what inspired you both to use the recipes within the book?
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Al crecer, yo vivía en un hogar moderno , pero mi abuela ... ella vivía al otro lado de la calle en una casa antigua que fue construida cuando las iglesias eran ilegales en México .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Growing up, I lived in a modern home, but my grandmother… she lived across the street in a old home that was built when churches were illegal in Mexico.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Ella tenía una capilla en la casa , justo entre la cocina y el comedor. El olor de los frutos secos y los chiles y el ajo consiguió todo mezclado con los olores de la capilla , claveles de mi abuela , los linimentos y hierbas curativas.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) She had a chapel in the home, right between the kitchen and dining room. The smell of nuts and chilies and garlic got all mixed up with the smells from the chapel, my grandmother's carnations, the liniments and healing herbs.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Como he aprendiz en la cocina de mi abuela , vi como la cocina cambió el cocinero , del mismo modo que transforma los alimentos.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) As I apprenticed in my grandmother’s kitchen, I watched as cooking changed the cook, just as it transforms food.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Quería mostrar cómo el uso de recetas y cocinar en una novela puede ayudar a avanzar la historia. Puede ser una parte de la historia . Las recetas nos permiten tener la estructura dramática .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) I wanted to show how using recipes and cooking in a novel can help progress the story. It can be a part of the story. The recipes allow us to have dramatic structure.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Siempre he tenido una pasión por la estructura dramática porque es útil en nuestra vida cotidiana . La estructura dramática sencilla de conseguir al punto A al punto B realmente puede ayudar a superar los obstáculos en nuestras vidas , al igual que lo ayudó a Tita .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) I have always had a passion for dramatic structure because it is useful in our everyday lives. The simple dramatic structure from getting to point A to point B can really help us overcome the obstacles in our lives, just like it helped Tita.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Tita utiliza las recetas de expresar sus emociones y eso es lo que hizo la historia mágica . El que come la comida de Tita será superada por la emoción que pone en ella, y los lleva a hacer cosas para el progreso de la historia. Gertrudis , por ejemplo, fue con Juan .
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Tita used the recipes to express her emotions and that’s what made the story magical. Whoever eats Tita’s food will be overcome by the emotion she puts into it, and it drives them to do things to progress the story. Gertrudis, for example, ran off with Juan.
MONICA PRADHAN: I can relate to Ms. Esquivel. My father did not have a privileged childhood in Mumbai. My father always told me that when he was growing up, certain foods and books were considered luxuries, and he always wanted me to have them. To this day, he has never denied me those two things. Food in Indian culture is so important to who we are.
I remember visiting my maternal grandmother’s home. All the ladies of the house congregated into the kitchen. The kitchen was actually separate from the main section of the home. It was it’s own little building, and all my aunts would gather there. The oldest sisters would be at the stove and cook while the younger sister's fixed up the table and got ready to serve the food.
Each recipe in my book was so carefully chosen. My mother wanted me to put more in, but I felt like the book would end up becoming a cookbook! In my book, I want you all to feel the characters, yes, but I also want you to smell what the characters are smelling. The Indian culture is so very different from the average American’s.
The food pretty much sums it up. You see the first generation girls Kiran, Preity, and Rani Americanizing the recipes they grew up with. They seek comfort in those foods, and that says a lot.
INTERVIEWER: Wow. So, would you say that it was different, for you both, to see so many American families that probably eat outside more than they eat a homemade meal? The cultures and value of food is so different.
MONICA PRADHAN: Yeah, of course it’s different! In my house, it’s like Thanksgiving every day. The kitchen, growing up, was filled with Aunties gossiping away, helping my mother in any way they could. There’s a whole behavioural aspect apart of my culture that revolves around food.
It was always weird going to my friends house for a project or something. Their mom would either pick up pizza or something for us, or make some sort of instant meal.
Don’t get me wrong, I also received more hugs from those afternoons than I had from either of my parents in my lifetime! Respect in India is like showing love. In America, showing affection is how you show love. It’s all cultural! And as a first-generation I’ve just been trying to get accustomed to embracing both aspects of my two cultures.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) Como una chica muy joven, he entendido que las actividades interiores de la casa son tan importantes como las actividades exteriores de la sociedad.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) As a very young girl, I understood that the interior activities of the home are as significant as the exterior activities of society.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: (in Spanish) El abandono de la cazuela de barro tradicional para un horno de microondas plantearía problemas . Pones un paquete y lo cocina y que te lleva de vuelta a la fábrica en la que todo estaba hecho . No vuelvas a la tierra ; no te recuerda de tu naturaleza . La comida puede cambiar todo.
TRANSLATOR: (a little faster) Abandoning the traditional earthenware cazuela for a microwave oven would pose problems. You put a package in and cook it and it takes you back to the factory where it was all made. You don't go back to earth; you don't get reminded of your nature. Food can change anything.
INTERVIEWER: Wow, that was brilliantly said. Thank you Laura, and thank you Monica, for being here today. I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop this interview short, but it was such a pleasure meeting you both.
MONICA PRADHAN: It was lovely being here with you.
LAURA ESQUIVEL: Encantada.
INTERVIEWER: Well folks, that’s all we have today! This is Kurry Kitchen… have a great day!
After creating this Podcast and making the "beef patties" I feel more connected to both my own Bengali culture and the Spanish culture a bit more. I played Bollywood songs, danced with my mother, and even dug deeper and asked my mother how food was prepared and distributed in her home growing up. Above, Monica Pradhan really represented a mixture of what the author has said about herself, and what my mother told me about her life. The part of the maternal grandmother is true, because of the memories I have.
I also put on some bachata to get connected with the Spanish culture. I found myself dancing and laughing with my mother just as much as I did when the Bollywood music was on. While cooking, I found myself in the "zone" much like when I am acting or painting. It became an art to me, and I treated the food differently than just throwing a bunch of ingredients together.
Food can really connect us: to our family, to ourselves, to different cultures.
I also put on some bachata to get connected with the Spanish culture. I found myself dancing and laughing with my mother just as much as I did when the Bollywood music was on. While cooking, I found myself in the "zone" much like when I am acting or painting. It became an art to me, and I treated the food differently than just throwing a bunch of ingredients together.
Food can really connect us: to our family, to ourselves, to different cultures.
