Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel is a novel that reads almost like a recipe. In fact this work was originally published as a series of monthly installments each containing a recipe that ties in very closely to the material in the chapter. In cooking as in life smell is a very important sense. The author employees smell in this novel as almost a magical or larger than life, way in many places to add to the expressiveness of the work. No where is the use of smell more important than how it affects the three sisters that the novel centers on.
The three daughters of Mama Elena each receive or give off specific odors that give readers deeper insight into their character. Gertrudis, the most wild and passionate of the sisters, emits a powerful odor which summons her ideal husband to her. Tita, the most intelligent of the three, also attracts men with the aroma of her cooking. Both of these sister give off smells either through their body or their cooking that act to attract men. Rosaura, the most traditional of the three sisters, emits a smell that drives her own husband away from her. In this way the various smells in this novel help readers understand the three sisters.
Gertrudis is the first of the sisters to display the power of smell in this novel. She does this by emitting a wonderful smell that arises from inside her body as soon as she eats the quail in rose petal sauce. This dish caused Gertrudis to lust after the rebel soligiers in the village and to imagine the smell of the soldiers which she dreams are smells, “of sweat and mud... [and] life and death” (Esquirel 51). In this way the author paints a picture of the type of man Gertrudis is after using only smell. However, smell does more than clue in readers to the nature of the novel’s characters, it also acts in a magical way to help Gertrudis escape from her mother’s oppressive rule. This occurs when the rose petals in Gertrudis’ body cause a pink cloud to be emitted from her body. This cloud travels to the rebel soldiers and brings the man Gertrudis was after to her door, delivering her into the life of excitement and danger that she desires.
Tita manages to gain the most good from the smells surrounding her. Thankfully for her, Tita uses a little more discretion than Gertrudis when selecting her mate. Shortly after Gertrudis’ aroma attracts the solider to her, the smell of Tita’s cooking brings Pedro to her. In fact Tita’s almost magical cooking ability is so powerful that “Pedro couldn’t resist the smells” (67). Months later, after losing her mind and spending many months mute Tita is almost instantly restored to health by, “a smell that struck her....A smell that was foreign to this house” (124). This smell was of the ox tail soup that, along with the support of the doctor, healed Tita of her insanity.
The terrible odor that Rosaura gives off is symbolic of her cruel nature. Pedro’s wife begins to reek of a terrible odor shortly after announcing that she expects her daughter, Esperanto, to be completely devoted to her mother. In this way, Rosaura chooses to bind her own daughter to the unjust fate that had been imposed on Tita by Mama Elena. Even after the stern warning given by her sister Tita not to continue this unfair tradition Rosaura insists. Therefore, the repulsive physical odor given off by Rosaura is both physically repulsive and symbolic of the flaw in her character. This stench is the outcome of Rosaura’s decision to oppress another generation of women in the family with an outdated tradition.
In this story smell acts as both a powerful aid to the characters memory and as a magical quality giving the reader insight into the three daughters. The ability of smell to bring back old memories is well established. Tita knows this well from her younger days which she spent in the kitchen experiencing its rich aromas. These pleasant memories of time spent preparing food are brought back to Tita through smell and help remind her of her past. Smell also reveals a great deal about the character of the three sisters. The odor associated with each sister tells us about them. One might say that the smell of each sister gives us a flavor of their character.

Works Cited
Esquirel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.

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