Like Water For Choclate

 

Nana’s food preparation was much like the novel and film Like Water for Chocolate.  Nana, like Tita, the heroine, expressed herself through her cooking.  In Nana’s food her love for others and her love for her creativity were expressed in the simple beauty of the bounty of what she prepared.

Family, friends, and even those not well liked were received with love, gratitude, and respect at Nana’s table.  And all those who were recipients of Nana’s food left feeling nurtured and sustained by what they had received.  This is the legacy that she left to her grandsons. 

Tita, in Like Water for Chocolate was held captive to a tradition that did not allow her to express her feelings except through the food she prepared.  Nana was not held captive; she embraced her cooking and her home with love, respect and dignity.  Through her food her love was expressed and then experienced by those who sat at her table.

Nana was a warm, caring, loving daughter, wife, mother, grandma, sister, and friend.   As her daughter, and only child, I have become aware what a gift she gave me and her grandsons by this her loving energy present at each meal at her table. 
 

I have never captured the essence of her food, the ambiance of her table, or the devotion to her family and friends; this was truly a hallmark of her own, and I am grateful for having been the recipient of her gifts. 

 A friend recently told me a story about Don Deluise.  His memories of growing up in his Italian family and eating the great food prepared by his family; sitting at a dining room table covered with a table cloth stained by foods of previous meals, and with mismatched place settings.

Nana was insistent that part of the dining experience at her table was in the presentation of the food.  So even for a quickly prepared lunch of leftovers she always set a proper table.  Her table was colorful; often set with Fiesta Ware in a mixture of colors.  The tablecloth for years was covered with plastic to protect it from stains, and later, after Tad and Jason were born, she had numerous tablecloths that could be quickly washed and dried to remove stains.

It is the creativity and color presented with food that makes it memorable.  At Nana’s table this was always the case.  If the food is pleasing to the eye even a not-so-good cook can make up for faux pas committed at the stove.  Nana had her share of faux pas but she recovered nicely and moved on with her meal.  I am sure that years of practice taught her this grace and art of always persevering no matter what the challenge.