{"id":2355,"date":"2019-10-16T11:43:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T15:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2355"},"modified":"2019-10-17T09:59:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T13:59:23","slug":"recipes-apothecaries-wellness-and-everything-in-between-blog-post-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2355","title":{"rendered":"Recipes, Apothecaries, Wellness and everything in between Blog Post #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part one of <\/span>Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo<\/span><\/i>, the story is broken up by recipes to fix various different ailments and afflictions. Immediately, upon reading this I was reminded of a similar form of narration expressed in Laura Esquivel\u2019s book-turned-movie, \u201cComo Agua Para Chocolate\u201d which translates to \u201cLike Water for Chocolate\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The narrative in \u201cComo Agua Para Chocolate\u201d follows the story of Tita, the youngest daughter of three, who is forbidden to marry until her mother\u2019s death, but has a mutual longing for her childhood love, Pedro. Tita turns to cooking as her primary skill of controlling the emotions within the household that she shares with her mother and two older sisters. I\u2019ve included the movie clip from one of the most famous scenes where Tita makes quail dipped into a rose petal sauce and serves it to everyone in her family, including Pedro. Through her recipe, she seduces everyone and transforms them into incredibly sensual beings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, these recipes both highlight the intimacy of family recipes that involve the supernatural with the ordinary parts of life. So often are these recipes dismissed as fictitious or fraudulent, but how different are they from any apothecary that passed through certain cultures that supposedly rectify \u201cproblems\u201d- whether it be joints, headaches, love, pregnancy etc?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that a lot of these recipes are nowadays stripped and exploited to make a profit for commercial businesses to promote wellness. Consider, for example, that Goop, Gwenyth Paltrow\u2019s $250 million dollar wellness company, sells jade eggs that supposedly \u201cincrease sexual energy and pleasure…for optimal self-love and well being\u201d for $66 dollars. (I have included a link to an article about Goop’s contribution to the wellness movement. I strongly recommend that people read it). Not only have many of her products been proven false and even dangerous by many members of the medical community, it also grossly misrepresents and even appropriates practices that are integral to indigenous communities and communities of color, where recipes and medicines are inherited and passed down through generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/07\/25\/magazine\/big-business-gwyneth-paltrow-wellness.html<\/a><\/p>\n