Babette's feast - Short Friday

Paradise…I can imagine how many different ways people embrace this idea. Well, on second thought, I actually can’t, because what may seem as paradise to one may be the complete opposite to someone else. For now, I will speak of heaven being paradise, for in the stories Short Friday, and Babette’s Feast that is what paradise seems to be. Not only are these stories similar in the fact that they both deal with religion, they also seem to have the same idea of paradise; A place where all is great and one is taken in as they come. The religions followed in both stories are different, but the sisters (Martine and Phillipa) in Babette’s Feast, and the humble couple (Shoshe and Shmul-Leible) in Short Friday honor and respect them the same. In Short Friday, before the couples journey to paradise, they share a very intimate/special night. Though Shoshe believes her husband crossed the line and disobeyed the gods, she falls into his new ways of caressing her and expressing his love to her. In Babettes feast, when Phillipa experiences her first kiss with a man she felt extremely uncomfortable. It shows how both characters may have disobeyed their religions, but immediately reacted to their actions. In short Friday, their last dinner was very important because they followed their original traditions, but that one was special. He appreciated his wife so much he made love to her in a new way. Despite the fact that it eventually lead to their death, they still went on to paradise. In Babette’s feast, the dinner made everyone think differently. Brothers and sisters let go of old grudges and two people re lived the love they once had for each other. Though this was important, more important was Babette’s great detail behind preparing this whole dinner. The sisters embraced and appreciated her so much, they said her good deed will lead her in to paradise, and she will there be what she was meant to be.

Blog 5 - Revision

Isn’t it magical how some of the best home remedies come from natural foods and herbs? But, is it really magic? In the stories The Book of J, The Odyssey, and the novel Like Water for Chocolate, the authors use food and magic to connect to emotions. The “magic” in the foods affect the characters depending on how they are feeling before or while they eat. Whether the feeling is curiosity, nostalgia, or desire, these characters experience changes after they eat.
In the Book of J we learn about the story of Adam and Hava. Adam was brought to this earth first and created by god himself. He then had the companionship of Hava. They were both warned about eating from the Tree of Knowledge; if they did something really bad would occur. “The god knows on the day you eat from it your eyes will fall open like gods, knowing good and bad.” (Rosenberg 63) As Hava disobeyed the gods she went ahead and ate a fruit from the tree of knowledge sharing it with Adam. When they both ate from this delicious fruit they realized something they were blind to before. Soon after eating the fruit they were aware of how abnormal it was to walk around naked, and were then punished. Hava would now know the pain of labor when having children, and Adam would have to work for his food. It is unreal that by eating a fruit one is now aware of all these things and must be punished. Since Hava was so curious and unaware of many things, eating the fruit answered all of her questions unintentionally.
In The Odyssey by Homer, there are also many examples in which food is known to have magic. One of them is when Odysseus and his men arrive to the land of the lotus eaters. When he and his men arrived to this land they were given a delicious lotus fruit. “Whoever ate that sweet fruit lose the will to report back, preferring instead to stay there, munching lotus, oblivious of home.” (Homer 127) The lotus fruit had something in it that made these men forget about homesickness. The way they felt before eating the fruit was nostalgic. After eating they would put aside all of their pain and desire to return home. To forget home it takes much more than eating a simple fruit, yet these people believed it was the fruit that made it happen.
In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, the main character, Tita, has a great way of meeting people’s emotions through her food. One of the many occasions was when she prepared a quail in rose petal sauce. This delicious meal had an affect on everyone at the table, but for her sister Gertrudis it had a very special effect. “On her the food seemed to act as an aphrodisiac; she began to feel an intense heat pulsing through her limbs.” (Esquivel 51) When Tita prepared the meal she used the roses the love of her life had given her in the recipe. Therefore, some of what she felt for this man was passed on to Gertrudis as she ate. It was so intense her sister ran across the field naked to climb into her desired lover’s arms. Though it may seem unreal and exaggerated for this to occur, it shows how food can have such magic in it. Whether it is to act as aphrodisiac or allow someone to have the passion inside to commit such actions.
In these stories, the magic in food comes from the heart. It may come from how the person making the food feels, or from how one feels before eating the food. Though some of these characters believed it was real magic, it is very unrealistic. It is only an idea that there is magic in food, but when is comes to matters of the heart we have no control. We believe what we see and feel no matter how unrealistic it may be. Most of the magic from food in the stories link to the emotions the characters already feel as they eat.

Some what like me....

To start, I really enjoyed watching the movie “Tortilla Soup”. The whole idea of how close a family can be really moved me. Getting to know the three sisters was interesting because I tried to read each one of them before it went into details. The character which caught my attention immediately was Maribel, The youngest of the three daughters in this movie. Her free spirited way of living, and the way she won her way into Andy’s heart reminds me of myself. Also the fact that she was pretty confused about her life and which way to go after high school relates to me. In the very beginning I assumed she was all into love and finding out how it works. I also saw she was kind of the small rebel in the family when she got home late for dinner. She was, but she was not ashamed of it. She was willing to stand up for her own choices.
Maribel kept me going, but after a while my attention moved over to Carmen. In the beginning of the film she comes off as a professional business woman and very flirtatious. It seemed she knew what she wanted and was sure about the way she chose to live. As the movie continued I realized I was wrong. What she really wanted was to follow her dad’s footsteps and become a chef. Cooking was her passion but she did not choose to pursue a career in it to respect her father’s decisions. She also didn’t believe in being married to a man, nor depend on one to live her life. Those two details caught my attention because I can also relate to it. Both characters are different yet similar in the fact that they did not know exactly what they wanted to do with their lives. The only difference was that Maribel was not afraid to show her true self to her father, and Carmen was. I cannot choose a favorite yet because I fell in love with both their attitudes and when I put it all in one it reminds me a lot of myself. But for the most part I can say the characterization on Maribel’s part was great, they way she spoke, dressed and acted at home all gave away some sort of hint on how she really was within.

Holiday treats

It is white with shiny red stripes. Sweet mint that tastes just right. Some may use them to give our tree a better sight, and sometimes share them on that snowy night. We see them hanging around every Christmas holiday, but who has really thought of what they may represent? The ginger bread man is so nicely decorated and owns a home. They are cookies that are so sweet and tasty, but why the form of a man? Fruit baskets on Christmas eve, or eating 12 fruits once the new year is gone, what does it mean? The stories behind the candy cane, the gingerbread man, and why we eat fruit on Christmas aren’t accurate. But they sure are spiritual and nice to follow.
The candy cane has five details within in that have great meaning. The story comes from the reason a candy maker created this candy around Christmas time. It was to represent Jesus Christ. The color on the candy cane which is white represents the pure life of Jesus and the virgin birth. The three red stripes are on the candy cane to represent the whip marks he received while being crucified. The thicker one stands for the blood he shed. The form of the candy cane is that of a “J” which of course is the first letter of his name. The flavor of the candy cane is similar to something called Hyssop. Hyssop was a plant used by Hebrews which stood for purification, and has a mint aroma. They state it was used at the cross before Jesus died. This story is not accurate, but if you think of it and follow this religion it makes sense and is nice to share with kids, or family.
As hard as it was for me to not think of the great character in the movie “Shrek”, I did find the gingerbread man does have significant meaning on Christmas. The gingerbread man is used to represent the similarity between god creating us humans and how we reunite with him. Since the gingerbread man is something we create, (cook, bake, etc) it is similar to that of god creating us. He is meant to be eaten by who created it. Eating represents “reuniting”. Of course god will not eat us, but once we die we unite with him and then take in his body and blood. The spices used to make the gingerbread man are similar to the color of earth. This stands for the way god created Adam, and he came from dust and earth. Again, this may not be true but I find it makes a lot of sense, and of course the gingerbread man does taste pretty good so it’ll make me think of this from now on.
When I was younger, my mom would always make me eat twelve grapes on New Years Eve. She never quite told me why. I just assumed it was because it was twelve midnight, or because of the 12 months in a year. After reading about it, I noticed it’s not only because of that. On Christmas people give away fruit baskets to represent the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. These twelve things are part of what we go through in a year or overall. However I do recall my mom mentioning each one before eating each grape. They are, “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, purity and chastity.” If you think about it, all of these emotions are most likely to be felt during a year or life time. Eating the fruit gives you the faith and strength to keep facing them or receiving them. At least that’s what I understand from this tradition.
There are many different meanings for a lot of foods in every holiday or food over all. The Christmas holidays are filled with different food and candies. But these three in specific were the most religious. They may not be entirely true, but they do have great meaning. Hope the spiritual version of it all allows us to think of how the simplest thing can have such detail and meaning to it.

food =)

Food to us is like gasoline for cars. The minute we start to lose out on it, our bodies will not function the same. We lose energy, weight, some can’t think straight anymore, until eventually we stop running; but besides the fact of food being essential in our lives, it eventually has an effect on our persona, and or the way we think.
Personally I love food, I mean who doesn’t? Not only does it let me survive, it tastes awesome. Of course not everything does, but for the most part yes. Like many things in life, food can have different affects on people. It can bring happiness, sadness, shame; some even see certain dishes as aphrodisiacs. The way I see it food does have an affect on how I think sometimes. Also, my mood varies among the different things I eat, or when I eat. Most of the time I am satisfied when I eat, I enjoy it and love trying new foods. But there are times in which I do feel nostalgic after I eat a certain dish. This happens to me when I eat something that reminds me of Puerto Rico, or plain and simple a plate of rice, beans, pernil and or berduras. Being that we are in NY we have all the necessary products to make the same food as over there, but nothing like eating it while you’re actually in P.R. The smell is different, the joy of seeing them cook it outside in open air sometimes. I may be eating the same thing here, but it just doesn’t feel the same. There are times where I can even get flashbacks, when I smell certain foods. For example, if I pass by Central American restaurants and smell their cooking, it reminds me of the first time I tried food from Honduras, and when I actually lived with people who were from Honduras. Without even trying to think about it, it just comes naturally.
In conclusion, yes food does make me feel nostalgic sometimes, and may cause unwanted flashbacks to occur, but it does not mean I hate it. It is impossible to do so. over all i still believe theres much more to say about food. about the different emotions it may cause. but these are two of the things that come to mind when I think of it.