Introduction


Laura Esquivel
The kitchen is very important to author Laura Esquivel. She believes it is the heart of the house and a source of knowledge and understanding that ultimately serves to bring pleasure. Her highly regarded novel Like Water for Chocolate centers on that theme. The title refers to boiling water to make hot chocolate. The English translation of the book was published in 1993, which is the same year the film based on the novel arrived in theaters. The book and the movie were runaway successes and earned Esquivel a Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures award along with the distinction of having one of the highest grossing foreign language films in the United States. She continues to write well-received books.

Essential Facts

  1. Esquivel began her career writing plays for the kindergarten class she taught. She went on to write children’s television programs.
  2. Mexico plays a central role in all of Esquivel’s books. She still lives in Mexico City and often writes about Mexico’s culture and history.
  3. Esquivel’s most recent novel, La Malinche, is about the woman whom Hernan Cortez used as a translator and eventually took as a lover.
  4. Esquivel writes often about destiny and says, “It is a path you must follow, or travel, and it is up to you to decide how you are going to travel it.”
  5. Esquivel has expressed frustration with the fact that some of the humor in her novels does not translate into English properly.