After reading “The Book of J“, “The Odyssey“, and “Like Water for Chocolate,” it is evident that food played a major role in the choices people made in their lives as each story showed a connection between food and knowledge. In the literature, the authors gave examples of how food symbolized knowledge and how knowledge comes through food. Food and knowledge was clearly seen in The Book of J, when Hava ate the fruit from the tree of knowing good and bad and her life was changed drastically. In the book of Odyssey, the main character Odysseus received a special herb that ultimately saved his life from Circe. The connection between food and knowledge was also seen in Like Water for Chocolate through Esperanza’s daughter who used a cook book to connect with the memory of her great aunt Tita. The life of each character changed because they gained knowledge through food being forbidden, offered, or passed down to them. Food was
used as a gateway to into knowledge which caused the characters to experience a new life and new experiences.
In The Book of J, Yahweh created the earth. He also created man, animals, birds, mountains, rivers, and trees. Yahweh then took a rib from the man while he was sleeping and shaped the rib into the formation of a woman. Then the man and the woman became husband and wife and were able to live in the Garden of Eden. Yahweh told them that they were free to do whatever they wanted to do and they are allowed to eat from any tree except from two trees in the garden. The first tree they were forbidden to eat from was the tree of life and the other one was the tree of knowing good and bad. Yahweh had forbidden them of eating from these trees because they would have become immortal gods in one sense, defeating the purpose of their creation. They would have also received knowledge from the tree of knowing causing them to be held responsible for their actions which could ultimately lead to sin. By eating the food Yahweh forbade, the man and woman would have gained knowledge and Yahweh knew that this knowledge would most likely be used to gain power and control over creation.
The knowledge that would have been gained by eating the forbidden fruit would have caused chaos in Yahweh’s creation. One day, the snake that had knowledge about Yahweh’s instruction went to the woman in the garden and tricked her into eating from the forbidden tree of knowing. The snake had enticed her so much about the knowledge she would gain if she ate of the fruit to the point where her desire to eat the food was uncontrollable. According to Rosenberg, “the woman sees how good the tree looks, to eat from, how lovely to the eyes, lively to the mind. To its fruit she reached; ate, gave to her man, there with her, and he ate… and the eyes of both fall open, grasp their naked skin. They wound together fig leaves, made covering for themselves” (63). If Yahweh did not punish them and banned them from the Garden of Eden, the man and the woman would’ve gotten the knowledge to stick around and even eat from the tree of life. Yahweh did not want them to turn into one of the God’s, so they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden for that reason.
In the book of “Odyssey”, Odysseus was one of the characters that were smart, and he had enough knowledge get himself out of troubled situation. Food plays an important role in Odysseus’s life. Food did not come easy for Odysseus and his peoples. They had to hunt and fight to find their meals. But when they ate, they ate like kings. Some of Odysseus’s people were not as smart as Odysseus. Two of his men ran into trouble when they visited the Goddess Circe. According to Lombardo, “when they had eaten and drunk, she struck them her wand and herded them the sties outside”. “They looked just like pigs, but their minds were intact” (X 255-258). These two men were poisoned by Circe and they were going to her meal in the future. When Odysseus came to free his men from Circe, she tried to do the same thing to him. But her tactics did not work on Odysseus because he was prepared for her tricks. Odysseus was also blessed in a way because he always found a way to get out of trouble. When he was on his way to Circe’s home, he ran into a God named Hermes. Hermes gave Odysseus a special herb that can save him from Circe’s tricks. When Circe saw that nothing happened to Odysseus after he ate her meal, she knew that he was a special person.
If Odysseus did not have any knowledge, he would’ve ended up just like his men. Turned into pigs and be Circe’s future meal. The author clearly showed how food is connected to knowledge in this story.
Knowledge can be translated to generation to generations through food. In “Like water for Chocolate”, Laura Esquivel shows us that how this example actually works. This book covers three generations and the story is being told by Esperanza’s daughter who happened to be in the third generation. When Esperanza’s daughter came across her late great aunt Tita’s cook book, she was able to make her Christmas Rolls that her mother used to make it on her birthday every year. Esperanza’s daughter stated that, “how wonderful the flavor, the aroma of her kitchen, her stories as she prepared the meal, her Christmas Rolls! I don’t know why mine turn like hers…” (246). We can clearly see that Esperanza’s daughter had interests in her great aunt Tita, how she lived and the problems she went through. Tita’s life actually changed the generation rule. This is the youngest daughter of the family have to take care of the mother until she passes. Tita’s knowledge was passed to Esperanza and down to Esperanza’s daughter. Esperanza’s daughter was able to understand and see her great aunt Tita through the cook book. If they were no cook book from Tita, Esperanza and her daughter would not have the knowledge they have now. They would not understand about the generation rule or struggle that Tita went through. Tita actually gave Esperanza and her daughter knowledge without even knowing. Knowledge is a powerful thing and it can be passed down to generations through food.
We can clearly see that food actually symbolize knowledge from these literatures. Knowledge can be taught, passed down to generations through food. Life is full of surprises and filled with food and knowledge. Some characters used their knowledge for good and some used it for wrong doings.
Works Cited:
Esqivel,Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Trans. Carol and Thomas Christensen. New York: Double Day, 1989.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indiana: Hackett Publishing, 2000.
The Book of J. Trans. David Rosenberg.Ed. Harold Bloom. New York:Grove,1990.
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