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Food and Communication

When we research about the Mayans and the Aztecs, we are amazed by the food and the way they worshipped their gods. Why is food important to humans? Why do most gods require humans to sacrifice to get something in return? Food provides the necessary physical needs but it can be used as a form of communication between the Gods, humanity and lovers. The Greeks entertained their family or guest in the dinner table, like the book The Odyssey. Homer begins the book in a feast, were Odysseus is telling the Phaeacians the adventures he had with his men. In these events, Odysseus and his men had to find food for survival and had to communicate with the gods in order to reach their destination. The Book of J has different food related stories in which the characters use food to show obedience and communication with God. In Like Water for Chocolate, Tita is able to transmit her feelings to Pedro in her cooking. “Short Friday” is the story of a married couple which the narrator describes what they do on Sabbath day.

The story begins in a beautiful garden; the first humans are tempted to eat the forbidden fruit when the snake tells them that God is lying to them. Adam and Hava eat the fruit and are removed from the Garden of Eden. Many people believe in this idea which has created many religions and sects. But why do people make a big deal of this event? God had forbidden them to eat from only one tree because it would show respect but as a punishment they did they would die. Therefore, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and believed Satan, it questioned God’s authority and his power. For the future generations the only way to have some form of communication with their god, they had to offer food as a sacrifice.

One of the stories in The Book of J, Cain and Abel are two brothers who made an offering to their God; Cain offered fruit and Abel from his flock (The Book of J 66). Food is very important to this story because they needed to communicate with their god. In this occasion, God disapproved Cain’s offering and Yahweh said to Cain “if you conceive good it is moving; if not good, sin is an open door, the demon crouching there” (The Book of J 66). After god said these words to him he committed the crime of killing his brother Abel. There are many ideas or reasons that religious people believe why Cain killed his brother. According to the article “Cain and Abel: Gen. 4:3-8”, Ernest W. Altvater he “believes that the answer must be found in the historical situation in which the story grew up (277). Therefore, he assumes that the story was written “before the situation” of the “outgrowth” “struggle which arose between the conservative and the radical tendencies among the Hebrews in regard to the worship of Jehovah”(277).

Food is necessary for everyone. If there is no food, we question our provider just like in the case of The Book of J. Moses had to lead the Israelites to freedom into the promise land. But before they reached their destiny, the Israelites encountered many obstacles. Yahweh provided them with sufficient food: manna. The Israelites complained about the manna saying “But now our spirit dries up from looking at nothing-nothing but manna” (The Book of J 164). They were craving for the food they had eaten in Egypt but forgetting they had been slaves. Instead of being thankful, they began to weep and criticize Yahweh and Moses. The Israelites began to worship another god that they had created. Ernest W. Altvater mentioned in his article that “Jehovah was held to be but one god among many, but he was the greatest of them all, and the only one to whom the Heberw should give his worship” (278).Hearing the Israelites Yahweh spoke to Moses and he said to the people “who will feed us meat as good as we ate in Egypt [...] Yahweh will deliver your flesh, for you to eat” (The Book of J 165). In this story, when the people felt insecure and were not satisfied with the food they ate, it caused them to seek another provider.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus traveled through the ocean with his men, asking for guidance of the gods or magical beings. In order for them to receive help, they had offered a sacrifice. On their journey, Odysseys has to go to the underworld, to seek for guidance. The ghost of Theban Tiresias says to “offer sacrifice to Lord Poseidon a ram, a bull and a boar” and “then return to your home and offer perfect sacrifice to the immortal gods” (Ody.XI.126-130).The similarities of these two books are based on the communication with their gods and the sacrifices. A similar event happened to Odysseus and Moses, when they left to pray to their god. When they came back, the people made a shelter for their gods. When the ship arrived “to the land of the Cyclopes”, they noticed that strangers are not welcomed and they are protected by the gods (Ody.IX.104). So they “lit the fire and offer sacrifice” to make the gods happy (Ody.IX.222). The communication of their gods played an important role, because each character seeks for their guidance. In return the gods wanted their worship, which was to offer sacrifices to them.

The book Like Water for Chocolate, Tita expresses her feeling on her cooking. She has a unique and powerful way of communicating with Pedro and other people. Through out the years, Tita’s cooking had a tremendous affect on people. The day Rosaura got married; Tita cried making the wedding cake. When people ate the cake in the party, everyone except Tita began to cry, remembering their sadness and pain. The food is able to transmit the passion and love. When Tita makes the “quail in rose petal”, something magical happens to the people eating it (Esquivel 42). The book mentions “it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was transmitter and Pedro the receiver” (Esquivel 52). Pedro “let Tita penetrate to the farthest corners of his being” (Esquivel 53). He was able to feel through his body, Tita’s feelings and was satisfied physically and sexually since their love was forbidden.

“Short Friday” is a story of important events in the characters’ life. Shmul- Leibele and his wife Shoshe prepared for the Sabbath day to show “gratitude for each other spiritually and physically unites them” (Eppich 358). These God fearing people followed what their belief and enjoyed doing it.During this event, the purpose of the Sabbath it is to praise God. Food is very important in the story because Shumul-Leibele and his wife transmit their love in the food. The husband “pretends to gobble his wife as he eats the letters of her name”. This is very similar to the novel Like Water for Chocolate, when Pedro was able to feel Tita’s desires through his body as he ate the food.

In The Book of J, people had to communicate with their god by offering what was sacred to them, which was food. It was a form of communication to let the people know, they had a provider. Odysseus needed the gods to help him, in order to return home safe. These books show how the people were devoted and trusted their gods because of they wanted survival. For the gods, they wanted to be worshiped and offered sacrifices. Tita was able to make people feel her sexual desires and emotions when eating her food. She found a new way of communicating her feeling. Shmul-Leibele and his wife show communication to god and themselves on a Sabbath day. Therefore, they are happy with themselves and their god. In these books, food used to transmit a message, feeling, love and obedience.


Works Cited

Eppich, Linda." Isaac Bashevis Singer's Short Friday: Semantic Parralels.." Studies in Short Fiction 27.3(1990).Academic Search Complete.EBSCO.Web.24 May 2010.

The Book of J. Trans. David Rosenberg. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York,NY: Grove, Print.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Trans. Ellen Claire. New York, NY: Double Day, 1989.Print

Homer. Odyssey .Trans. Stanley Lombardo.Ed. Indianapolis,IN:Hacket Publishing. 2000.Print.