Food is essential in the culinary memoir, The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber. Food reveals truths and induces feelings for its consumers. Food holds one’s culture, heart, and identity, compacted in a delicacy made for others to experience. Food speaks to the consumer and inflicts emotions upon them. Despite the surface level taste of food, there is a dimension of the past, the creator, and the soul put into making food. Thus, food is made to share, and in this memoir, allows Diana to discover its truths and experience its influence on one’s life. Through profound revelations inspired by food, Diana gains a more holistic view of people, her cultural conflicts, and her own feelings concerning the two.
The revelations about both Jordanian …show more content…
She challenges her nationality and questions if she is “still an American” (58), yet the drinking of hot chocolate reminds Diana of the truth. Although she loves Jordan, she still has a soft spot for America. She “craves the tea service” (58) in Jordan because it comes with hot chocolate. Diana reckons that its taste is “much better than the original”, and states that in it, she can taste “echoes of the sharp, sweet Hershey’s bars” of America (59). Diana identifies the hot chocolate as ‘Sentimental Hot Chocolate’, and the sentiment is from the memories it stimulates. These sentimental memories allow her to realize that she still feels a part of America. She is neither fully Jordanian or American. The “echoes” (58) of her American memories mix with her developing love of Jordan. Both of the comfort foods’ influences lead Diana to conclude that she can embrace both cultures since they have a part in her life …show more content…
Manarelli more thoroughly and can convey them seamlessly. After Diana’s troubling week of being either judged or confronted for her culture, Mrs. Manarelli’s presence and her food are significant in her life. Mrs. Manarelli urges Diana to eat her pannacotta to console her. Diana’s “first spoonful of panna cotta is so startling”(84), and she is so enamored by its “sweetness” that she wants to “confess [her] sins”. (In this case, it is the problems that she chooses to keep to herself). Afterwards, Diana opens up to Mrs. Manarelli about her problems, and the sweetness she credits to the panna cotta later applies to her feelings towards Mrs. Manarelli. Unlike the so-called ‘Gypsies’, or people of the neighborhood who judged her cultural practice, barbecuing in the front yard, Mrs. Manarelli accepted Diana for who she was and for her culture. On account of this acceptance, Diana views Mrs. Manarelli as sweet and heartwarming, just like the panna
The revelations about both Jordanian …show more content…
She challenges her nationality and questions if she is “still an American” (58), yet the drinking of hot chocolate reminds Diana of the truth. Although she loves Jordan, she still has a soft spot for America. She “craves the tea service” (58) in Jordan because it comes with hot chocolate. Diana reckons that its taste is “much better than the original”, and states that in it, she can taste “echoes of the sharp, sweet Hershey’s bars” of America (59). Diana identifies the hot chocolate as ‘Sentimental Hot Chocolate’, and the sentiment is from the memories it stimulates. These sentimental memories allow her to realize that she still feels a part of America. She is neither fully Jordanian or American. The “echoes” (58) of her American memories mix with her developing love of Jordan. Both of the comfort foods’ influences lead Diana to conclude that she can embrace both cultures since they have a part in her life …show more content…
Manarelli more thoroughly and can convey them seamlessly. After Diana’s troubling week of being either judged or confronted for her culture, Mrs. Manarelli’s presence and her food are significant in her life. Mrs. Manarelli urges Diana to eat her pannacotta to console her. Diana’s “first spoonful of panna cotta is so startling”(84), and she is so enamored by its “sweetness” that she wants to “confess [her] sins”. (In this case, it is the problems that she chooses to keep to herself). Afterwards, Diana opens up to Mrs. Manarelli about her problems, and the sweetness she credits to the panna cotta later applies to her feelings towards Mrs. Manarelli. Unlike the so-called ‘Gypsies’, or people of the neighborhood who judged her cultural practice, barbecuing in the front yard, Mrs. Manarelli accepted Diana for who she was and for her culture. On account of this acceptance, Diana views Mrs. Manarelli as sweet and heartwarming, just like the panna