Tortilla Soup: Movie Analysis

The film “Tortilla Soup” is definitely one of the finest movies made on food. It is a warm and funny comedy about life, love, terrific food and a Mexican American family. The father, “Martin Naranjo” is a great chef but is now retired and depressed, because he has lost his senses of taste and smell after the shock from his wife’s death, his wife died years ago, and after that, he took care of her three daughters. Her three daughters are totally different from each other. The oldest daughter is a teacher, second one is a business women and the youngest one is going to school and still trying to find her way. Their lives revolve around the dinner table because, they prepare the food lovingly and they sit together to have dinner every Sunday
If someone sees it with a naked eye he/she might not see that how many things are being defined at the same time, which we have also read in “Meal as Metaphor”. For Example: Farb states “Most notably in simpler societies, but in some complex ones as well, eating is closely linked to deep spiritual experiences, as well especially important ties.”(Farb 95). Eating is not just filling up your stomach, but it also defines your relationship, your positions, and your religious and spiritual beliefs by what you eat and, how you eat. If we notice this scene of the film, when they sit together for weekly dinners. Every time before starting the dinner, the eldest daughter Letty prays to God and says thanks for all the blessings, which he gave them and, also seeks forgiveness from him. It clearly defines their religious belief, that they should be thankful to God before eating anything because, they believe God has given all these things to them. We read this in “Meal as Metaphor” that different societies have different religious values about eating. The other thing to noticeable in this scene is, the father “Martin Naranjo” always sits on the first seat of the table which defines his rank and, prestige within the family because, it is assumed in so many societies of the world that, the head of the family should sit on the first seat of the dining table. Thirdly, when they sit together on the dining table so, it
He is preparing the food with so much care, perfection and love that it will give you an impression it is the same as raising a child. One thing I noticed in this scene, “Martin Naranjo” always follow the actual procedure to make a certain dish. He does not try new things; he doesn’t like experimenting with food. He likes to follow the same steps he learnt. Although, this looks a little strange to me because, he is a great chef, he can cook so many things and, chefs are like artists who always want to try new things. Except that there are some foods in every society which have symbolic and spiritual values according to the religious occasions which we can also see in “Meal as Metaphor”. “Since in every human society at least some food is prepared by cultural methods, a system must exist, he states, for deciding which foods to prepare in what ways.”(Farb 103). There is another reason, why Martin doesn’t like to experiment with the food because, after the death of his wife he lost the senses of smell and taste which are really important for the chef because, if a chef cannot smell the food, he will not be able know that how the food will taste and smell if he makes any changes in the recipe. Moreover, not only with the food but also with the other things, for example: Whenever their daughter speaks Spanish and English at the same time so, he always asks