Did You Know...

The zacahuil, or a Mexican tamale is three feet long and weighs about 150 pounds.

Mexico is home to the Volcano Rabbit, which is a rare rabbit that lives near volcanoes in Mexico.

Children in Mexico that celebrate el dia de los reyes magos do not recieve presents on Christmas, but on January 6. This also goes for Spain and many other Latin-American countries.

Mexico's size is 756,066 square miles, which is almost three times larger than Texas!

The Aztecs played a ritual ball game known as tlachtli, and the losing team would usually be sacrificed to the gods!


--Katie


Sources:

http://facts.randomhistory.com/2008/11/25_mexico.html

Question

Why is the book Like Water for Chocolate called like water for chocolate?

According an answer written to a question on enotes, "The title is a simile for Tita's passion for Pedro. Her love for him is as hot as water needs to be to melt chocolate." The simile is comparing Tita's boiling love for Pedro to how hot water has to be to melt chocolate. The title is also compared to how the drink hot chocolate is made in some countries. According to the blog Water for Chocolate, "In some countries, they make hot chocolate with boiling hot water instead of milk, The phrase 'like water for chocolate' is a double entendre. The first meaning, alludes to the actual hot chocolate making process. You have to get the water boiling hot to make what you want with it. The second, alludes to boiling hot passion." 

Sources:

http://waterforchocolate.tumblr.com/faq

http://www.enotes.com/like-water-chocolate/q-and-a/why-book-called-like-water-for-chocolate-17895

--Katie

Onions

For this post, I decided to look for a very symbolic ingredient in Like Water for Chocolate and on of the most symbolic ingredients I found was the onion. Onions can be a symbol of melancholy. In chapter one, or January Christmas Rolls, onions are symbolic to one of Tita's memories. 

"Tita was so sensitive to onions, and time they were being chopped, they say she wold just cry and cry; when she was still in my great grandmothers belly her sobs were so loud that even, Nacha, the cook, who was half-deaf, could hear them easily. Once her wailing got so violent that it brought onto an early labor. Tita had no need for the usual slap on the bottom, because she was already crying as she emerged; maybe that was because she knew then that it would be her lot in life to be denied marriage." -Pages 5-6

--Katie

       

About the author

Laura Esquivel was born September 30, 1950, in Mexico City, Mexico. According to a biography done on Laura Esquivel, "Laura Esquivel began working as a kindergarten teacher. She wrote plays for her students and wrote children's television programs during the 1970s and 1980s." Like Water for Chocolate was the first novel that Esquivel wrote, which became famous internationally and was made into an award-winning film. Esquivel now lives in Mexico City, Mexico.

Laura Esquivel

Source(s):

http://www.biography.com/people/laura-esquivel-185854

--Katie

Rosuara

I have decided to make a blog post just for Tita's hermanita (sister) Rosuara because I feel like throughout Like Water for Chocolate, even though Rosuara has a very important role, her background is barely discussed throughout the book.
According to an essay done by a student done on bookrags, "Rosaura is a very weak person and the main reason she married Pedro was because of her envy towards Tita. Also, Rosaura is the most unhappy and feels the need to ruin other peoples' days because of her nagging jealousy. Rosuara is also most like Madre Elena because she doesn't care if she hurts other people or if she hurts them. Rosaura dying of her illness shows the bitterness she had towards life just the same as Madre Elena did."
There was also a blog I found called Like Water for Chocolate: Rosaura, which is a blog written as if Rosaura was writing in a diary of the important events that happened in the book in her point of view. There are a total of four posts on this blog. The blog posts are written in a very great point of view. I recommend you read this because this blog will give you a greater understanding of this character that isn't really noticed throughout the book at all.




Source(s):

Like Water for Chocolate: Women of the De La Garza Family
http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/2/19/165957/298/

Like Water for Chocolate: Rosaura
http://lwc-pointsofview.blogspot.com/

--Katie