Week 5- Like Water for Chocolate

Dr. Amy McNichols talked a lot about Latin American culture, specifically in the movie “Like Water for Chocolate”. I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation. I enjoyed it because I have always loved Latin American culture so this made it super interesting for me to learn more things that I did not know before hearing the presentation. Dr. McNichols also mentioned that cookbooks are an important source of information about women’s daily lives. I think that this is definitely true because women are usually the ones that are in the kitchen so cookbooks are the most important thing that they need to succeed in the kitchen. Another extremely interesting point that Dr. McNichols brought up was that you’re never just American, there’s always a little bit of everything. Another way of saying this is that there is “one foot in two worlds”. To me, this means that no person is solely from one culture. There are so many different cultures that someone can be a part of. Chicano culture refers to Mexican Americans. This is something that Dr. McNichols really made sure she reiterated many times in her presentation. This is very important to our topic because like I mentioned earlier, there are often a few different cultures that people can be a part of. In the movie that we watched (“Like Water for Chocolate”), it was pretty evident that the characters were Mexican American. Another thing that Dr. McNichols talked about was all of the various kinds of Pre-Hispanic foods. The ones that she mentioned were Tomato, Chile, Cacao (chocolate), Avocado, Corn (la tortilla), papaya, and beans. These are all types of food that were represented in the movie that we watched. When you typically think about Latin American culture, all of these foods are basically staple foods for these people. Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation. I love Mexican food so this is one reason, but I also enjoyed it because it was interesting to learn some new facts that I did not know before.

Week 4 - Soylent Green

When I think about food and the metaphorical meaning that it has, this movie is a great example of how much food can mean metaphorically. Soylent Green is basically about an interesting dystopian society set in New York City in 2022 (so like 2 years from now). The city is very overcrowded and when I was watching the movie, I really did not think about the role that food would play in the narrative. There are a bunch of riots that take place which leads to a lot of disarray and the people that are living in New York City have no idea what they should do about this. Soylent green is actually a type of food that these people are eating to keep themselves satisfied. If I was in this sort of situation, I would honestly feel the same way. Living in a society and a city that is very overcrowded and full of issues such as political upheaval and euthanasia is not anyone’s idea of a peaceful life. Another thing to consider about being in that situation is the fact that the Soylent Green can only be a good option for so long. The people who are living in New York City at the time of this film do not have any idea what they should do. The food that they have to eat only can help sustain them for a finite period of time. When I really think about it, Soylent Green is in a way a scary concept to think about. This is because our world could be moving towards a dystopia and that is something that I am sure no one wants to have happen. This movie really got me thinking about how much I appreciate the food that I have to eat now in my life.

Week 3 - Mostly Martha

The themes of love and romance are represented in many ways in the film “Mostly Martha”. Martha’s sister unfortunately passes away so she decides to take in her 8 year old niece, Lina. She shows her niece love and by taking her in she learns to be more gentle with other people and the way that she treats them every day. Love and romance are also represented in the romantic relationship that she forms with Mario. He is a chef that comes in to the restaurant to replace Martha’s previous sous-chef, Lea, who is having a baby soon. Mario is very fun loving and he turns Martha’s kitchen into a relaxed place instead of having the preciseness that was there before. Even though Martha originally does not want to form a romantic relationship with Mario, she eventually does. Having Mario in the kitchen actually turns out to be a good thing for Martha because he helps Lina come out of her depression and because of this Martha becomes more accepting of him. As for the role of food in this film, it means everything to the characters. One example of this would be when Mario comes over to make a picnic style dinner for Martha and Lina. The three of them have a great time throughout the evening and while there is a mess at the end, the food that they shared caused the three characters to grow closer. As with any film about food, this one has a lot of focus on the kitchen itself and the way that all of the food is being prepared. I enjoyed the fact that by the end of the film, Mario and Martha get married. None of this would have happened if he never had the personality that he did in Martha’s kitchen.

Week 2 - Babette's Feast

There are many interesting aspects of the movie “Babette’s Feast”. One of these very interesting aspects is the main idea of the “Power of Food and the Protestant Ethics”. The main part of this idea that is important in this movie is the way of life that the two sisters have. They have an extremely simple way of living and so food is something that they can truly experiment with. When Babette shows up at their house and she offers to be their maid basically working for free, this really sounds appealing to the two sisters, Martine and Filippa. The sisters honestly do not get that creative when it comes to the food they are making on a daily basis. With all of that being said, Babette coming into their lives is truly a great thing. This is because they now have more interesting dishes being served to them in their house. When she (Babette) wants to serve a very fancy French dish to the two sisters and the churchgoers, this definitely comes as a shock because the sisters do not want everyone else to know that Babette is actually an incredible cook. When it comes to the Protestant Ethics, this is a very interesting subject as well. Protestant Ethics basically state that there must be a very strong work ethic and also frugality when it comes to a person’s values. As it relates to the film, the sisters, Martine and Filippa, were definitely very frugal when it came to their ways of living. In terms of the food that they would eat on a daily basis, it was very basic without many extravagant flavors. As a whole, the movie was interesting in the ways that food and the ethics were compared. I would be interested to somehow see a remake of some kind.