Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Sweet, salty, sour, and spicy; food is what sustains us and even treats us to the delicious pleasures this life has to offer. At the same time, food can play a dark role, for it is a pathway between life and death. As seen in the literary works of “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” , “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Short Friday”, the imagery of food is often used to symbolize death. In “The Odyssey”, when food is presented it usually signifies the impending death of a character, as is the case with Agamemnon, his crew and Odysseus’s men. In “The Book of J”, the consumption of forbidden food causes death to enter our world, then becomes the cause of the first murder. In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, the intolerance of food leads to the death of Rosaura and Roberto. “Short Friday” once again demonstrates how death comes knocking when food is consumed without restraint. For although food is a necessity for survival, when caution is not headed and restraint is not exercised food can be a vessel of death.
In The Oddysey, death is a notion the living are constantly preoccupied with, whether it is the idea of offering libations and praise to the dead, or preparing themselves for their own impending death. According to Jean-Pierre Vernant’s interpretive essay “Death with Two Faces”, death is a new form of social existence. Jean illustrates the importance of death to the Greeks in The Odyssey, for it is the manner in which a character dies that determines his fate in the afterlife. The individual who died in the heat of battle, or “in the flower of youth”, would be praised and glorified during death, ensuring “the permanence of their name, their fame” and thus immortality (Vernant 57). However, for those who died “the dreadful death of an old man slaughtered defenselessly”, would find no glory, no fame, and no food offerings (Vernant 57). Death comes in many forms during the course of the Odyssey, but none is more common than the form of food.
The parallel relationship between food and death is clearly illustrated during Odysseus’s trip to the land of the dead, Hades. In order to continue on their quest to find Ithaca, Odysseus and his men must seek the advice of a blind seer who is long dead and can only be found wandering through the underworld. Ironically enough, the only way for Odysseus to engage the dead and communicate with them is through the sacrificial food offering of milk, honey, sweet wine, barley and the blood of a sheep (Ody. XI. 23). As soon as the food is laid out, Odysseus becomes frightened to see “the souls of the dead gathered” around him on all sides, swarming him, trying to get to the food sacrifices (Ody. XI.35). It is through this imagery of food fueling the dead that we truly begin to understand the apparent relationship between the two.
Amidst the feeding frenzy in the underworld, Odysseus encounters Agamemnon, whose own story illustrates the idea of food as the harbinger of death. As Agamemnon “drank the dark blood”, he recounts to Odysseus the events that lead to the untimely death of his men and himself (Ody. XI 400). Upon returning home from battle, Agamemnon and his men were invited to a great feast at the house of Aegisthus. As the unsuspecting men ate food and drank wine, they were mercilessly butchered “like swine for a banquet” (Ody. XI. 426). For Agamemnon and his men, food is strategically used as a guise to lure these battle-hardened men to their deaths.
Much like Aegisthus, the witch Circe also lures unsuspecting men into her home with sweet songs and the promise of food. As Odysseus's sea-strickened men found their way into her home on the island of Aeaea, she prepared for them a Pramnian wine with cheese, barley, honey "and laced this potion with insidious drugs" (Ody. X. 253). When the men were done eating and drinking Circe turns them all into pigs and herds them into sties. Whether or not she was going to eat the pigs is not immediately clear as Odysseus outwits Circe and makes her change them back to their human form. The noteworthy idea however, is that food is a battle tactic Circe uses to capture men and turn them into animals to eventually kill them. It is through Circe, the beautiful seductress offering false sanctuary and food to the unsuspecting traveler that we once again see how sinister food can really be in The Odyssey.
Food as the symbol for death is once again made apparent in “The Book of J”. This literary work, taken from Genesis, describes the origins of the world through the creation of beasts, plants and finally the first two humans who we are introduced to as Adam (man) and Hava (woman). “Untouched by shame” (Book of J 62) and innocent of evil, they live in and tend to the Garden of Eden, where everything they need is provided to them. Yahweh’s only request of Man is that they do not touch (eat from) the tree of knowledge, for on that day death would touch them (Book of J 62). Tempted, they eat the forbidden fruit which brings about the death of paradise and innocence. In his anger, Yahweh casts Adam and Hava out of Eden, forcing them to labor in the soil in order to reap food, and with the promise of death for “Dust you are, to dust you return” (Book Of J 65). As Adam and Hava were the first two humans on Earth, death did not exist until they ate the forbidden fruit.
As Bloom points out in his commentary of The Book of J, the serpent who tempted Hava to eat the forbidden fruit told a “half-truth” when he insisted death will not touch them (Bloom 183). The banishment from paradise for Adam and Hava was, in fact a death sentence. Although the author did not directly state it, once cast out into the world the possibility of death became a reality in the sense that they were no longer safe from wild beasts, waters that could drown them, and they would experience illness and pain (Dean 30).
The first death in “The Book of J” occurs when we are introduced to Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Hava. Cain was “a tiller of soil” and Abel a “watcher of sheep” (Book of J 65). The brothers, in their eagerness to please Yahweh, bring him offerings of food. Cain offers Yahweh “fruit of the earth”, while Abel brings him the “choicest of his flock” (Book of J 66). Yahweh is pleased with Abel’s meat offerings but is “unmoved” by the fruit Cain has given him. Spurned by the rejection of his food by Yahweh, a “disturbed” Cain strikes down his brother and kills him (Book of J 66).
According to Jeol Lohr, Abel’s “superior gift” of a sacrifice, which leaves Cain feeling rejected or “forsaken” by Yahweh, is in fact the driving force behind Abel’s murder (Lohr 491). Rein Nauta, argues that for Cain, the rejection of his food offering also goes deeper than brotherly preference. Cain tilled in the soil and worked the land in order to offer up to Yahweh the fruits of his labor. Yahweh’s disregard for Cain’s offering leaves him feeling abandoned and betrayed, and it is this hurt and humiliation that drive him to punish Abel in retaliation (Nauta 68). As a result of food, Abel becomes the first person to die.
In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, we see food give life to its characters, and by the same token we see food take life from them. Death comes to Rosaura early in life. Plagued through most of the novel, we watch Rosaura battle her inability to tolerate food, which eventually leads to her death by “acute congestion of the stomach” (Esquivel 233). Rosaura’s awkwardness and inability to understand food was her downfall in more ways than one. Rosaura never learned to cook and she never learned how to create food, which in essence, is life. Her inadequacy is especially apparent during the birth of her first child, Rosaura is not able to breast feed and by not being able to provide food, she tilts the scales in favor of death. Tita, in the novel is a direct representation of food and life, at one point even offering “the baby her breast” (Esquivel 76), secretly becoming Roberto’s wet-nurse and providing him with the food he needs to survive. Eventually, Rosaura turns on Tita, refusing her help, and by doing so directly denying food for her son. Rosaura’s denial of Tita, combined with her inability to create food causes the death of Roberto.
In the literary work “Short Friday”, food becomes a doorway that leads Shoshe and Shmul-liebele to Paradise. Shoshe and Shmul-liebele are pious and devoted to each other and their faith. They get by on meager rations all week until Friday arrives, in which Shoshe spares no expense and prepares all kinds of delicious, almost sinful amounts of food. On the Friday in question, upon returning home from temple, Shmul-liebele opens the door to his home and sees Shoshe and the Sabbath supper, which invokes in him a euphoric feeling making him “think of Paradise” (Singer 141). It is interesting to note that parallels between themes exist in “Short Friday”, such as that of the Sabbath meal being a “taste of Paradise” (Eppich 358). After ravenously devouring all the food, Shoshe and Shmul-liebele fall asleep together, and during the course of the night asphyxiate from the fumes of the stove. The food had left them so full and exhausted that they were unable to wake themselves to prevent their own death and thus were guided into Paradise by an angel of God (Singer 145).
Food, albeit wonderful and satisfying plays an equally darker, sinister role, in the stories “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” , “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Short Friday”. Untamed, unlawful, and excessive consumption of food is what brings about the death Odysseus’s men, Adam, Hava, Abel, Roberto, Rosaura, Shoshe and Shmul-liebele. Through these literary works we witness the temptation to lose all restraint over oneself, to consume in excess and unfortunately pay the ultimate price, death.
Works Cited
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. Trans. Ellen Claire. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Print.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. United States of America. Hackett Publishing. 2000. Print.
Singer, Isaac Bashevis. A Literary Feast : Short Friday. New York : Atlantic Monthly Pr, 1993. 136-145. Print.
The Book of J. Trans. David Rosenberg. 1st ed. Harold Bloom New York: Grove, 1990. 61-67. Print.
Annotated Bibliography
Bloom, Harold. “The Book of J: Eden and After” 1st ed New York: Grove, 1990. 175-189. Print
Bloom comments on the text and discusses the main significance behind the key points in The Book of J. Bloom discusses the significance behind the expulsion of Paradise, the tree of knowledge, and even the irony in creating the snake that tempts Adam and Hava to eat from it.
Dean, James M. "Domestic and Material Culture in the Middle English Adam Books." 25-47. University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.
James Dean sets out to compare and contrast the five different versions/adaptations of the story of Adam and Eve. Dean focuses on the story in Genesis and how it contains the “first” murder using a realistic, modern interpretation. Most importantly, Dean illustrates the point Yahweh made when he warned Adam of death. The scriptures do not directly state it, but the exile from Eden is a perilous and uncertain life as Adam and Eve are faced with dangers such as wild beasts, waters that can drown them, illness and pain. In Eden no such hardship (or death) existed.
Eppich, Linda Nielson. “Isaac Bashevis Singer’s ‘Short Friday’: Semantic Parallels..” Studies in Short Fiction 27.3 (1990): 357. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 20 May 2010.
Linda Eppich explores the parallel theme between Shmul-Leibele, Shoshe, Adam and Eve. Eppich also discusses the parallels within the story itself by comparing it to “theme rhyme” and illustrates the patterns the story follows through lettering (A,B,C,D). The parallels show the connection between the Sabbath Meal as Paradise on Earth, or Food as Death.
Lohr, Jeol N. “Righteous Abel, Wicked Cain: Genesis 4:1 – 16 in the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, and the New Testament” Catholic Biblical Quaterly 71, no. 3 (July 2009) : 485 – 496. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 May 2010.
Jeol Lohr analyzes the reason behind Yahweh’s choice of Abel’s offering over Cain’s. Lohr compares the Hebrew text to the Christian Genesis in order to fully explore the themes and ideas as to the reason behind Yahweh’s favoritism and Abel’s Murder.
Nauta, Rein. “Cain and Abel: Violence, Shame and Jealousy.” Pastoral Psychology 58.1 (2009): 65-71. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 May 2010.
Rein Nauta discusses the murder of Abel, and explores the reasons behind the offerings the brothers make to Yahweh. For Cain, the rejection of his offering goes deeper than brotherly preference.
Cain offered up to Yahweh the fruits of his labor, the very food Yahweh bestowed upon man to eat. Yahweh’s disregard for Cain’s offering leaves him feeling abandoned by the One he depends on as a farmer, the hurt and humiliation cause him to punish Abel in retaliation.
Schein, Seth L. (1996). Reading The Odyssey: Selected Interpretive Essays. In. Jean-Pierre Vernant Death With Two Faces (pp. 55-60). United States of America : Princeton University Press
Seth Schein explores the different ways death is illustrated and achieved in the Odyssey. Death is a pathway to immortality, where upon departure from this world, the name of the deceased will be praised and sung and immortality is gained. There is a common theme in every book of the Odyssey and that is death, the most common way of reaching the underworld is through the theme of food, either by eating or by being eaten.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
In Babette’s Feast, we meet Martina and Philippa, two elderly sisters also living a modest life in their yellow house in a small town of Norway. The sisters are the daughters of a Dean, a religious man who established a congregation. The sisters are equally committed to their religion as Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele. Having forsaken love, fame and other earthly pleasures, the two sisters are devoted to maintaining the memory of their father and what few are left of the original congregation. Babette, is taken in by the sisters and much like Shoshe, takes charge of the kitchen and most of the house duties.
The greatest similarities between the novels however, are apparent during the main feasts. After scrimping by on meager portions all week, Shoshe manages to haggle with vendors and acquires fish and fine ingredients to prepare for her Sabbath meal. Shoshe works long and hard at preparing the bread loaf, the pastries and main dishes. Equally as effortful, she (with some help from her husband) cleans her house from top to bottom and meticulously prepares the tableware and linen for the grand dinner.
The day of the feast is referred to as the shortest day of the year since the town had been snowed in and no one was aware of the time of day. As Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele prepare to eat they open with the benediction, drink raisin wine, whiskey and sing hymns as they feast. Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele indulge as all the while candles cast a heavenly glow inside the room giving it a feeling of an earthly Paradise. At the end of the night Shmul-Leibele falls asleep from exhaustion but later awakes with an overwhelming desire to make love to his wife, and gives into his passion for her. Once again they fall asleep, and upon awakening they realize that they have died. As Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele lay together trying to make sense of what happened, an Angel of God comes and takes them to Paradise.
Much like Shoshe, Babette prepared very meager dinners for the two sisters for whom she cooked for the fourteen years she served them. Upon being granted the wish of making the dinner for the Dean’s 100th birthday celebration, she spares no expense and purchases the finest ingredients. Babette worked hard and passionately in preparing the feast, even hiring a helping boy. Babette also goes to lengths to purchase tablecloths, fine china and glassware to serve her fine food on.
Just as it had snowed in Short Friday it did so also on the day of the dinner party. As the guests came inside numb from the cold, they were greeted by the heavenly glow of the dinner candles. This warm glow coupled with the vision of their founding father inspired the congregation to join hands and break out into song. During the course of the meal, the congregation holds true to a promise made to Martine and do not say a word about the marvelous food they are eating, the only one not in on the secret is the General who is beside himself with ecstasy at the food and drink they are being served. The dinner party goes on to become a spiritual and euphoric experience for the congregation, as they sing and forgive each other for past wrong doings. At the nights end we discover Babette has used all her lottery money to fund the party and Philippa puts her arms around her and cries as she assures her that in Paradise she will enchant the angels and be the great artist God meant her to be.
Monday, April 26, 2010
In literature, food is used as a metaphor, a balance between life and death. In the literary works “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” and “Like Water for Chocolate” food is a metaphor for death. In “The Odyssey”, food is a precursor in the death of Agemmnon, his men, and Odysseus's crew. In “The Book of J”, the forbidden consumption of food leads to the death of innocence and dooms all of mankind. In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, the intolerance of food leads to the death of Rosaura and Roberto. Although food is a necessity for survival, when caution is not headed and restraint is not exercised food can be a vessel of death.
In “The Odyssey” food is the harbinger of death when Agamemnon recounts to Odysseus the events that lead to the untimely death of his men and himself. Upon returning home, Agamemnon and his men were invited to a great feast at the house of Aegisthus. While eating they were mercilessly slaughtered and we are subjected to perverse images of the men bleeding into wine-bowls, onto the food and “the floor steamed with blood” (XI. 434). Food, it seems was used as a guise to lure these men to their deaths and the connection between food as death is apparant as these men as murdered while they eat. Similarily, the Goddess Circe, lures men into her home with sweet songs and the promise of food. As Odysseus's men went into her home on the island of Aeaea, she prepared for them a wine with cheese, barley, honey "and laced this potion with insidious drugs" (X. 253). When the men were done eating and drinking Circe then turns them all into pigs and herds them into sties. Her intentions are not immediately clear, one can assume she will eventually kill and eat these pigs, although either way these men are dead as they are now simply swine.
Once again in “The Odyssey” food is the ultimate judge of death. The gluttonous consumption of forbidden food leads to the death of all of Odysseus’s men. Calypso specifically warns Odysseus not to harm the cattle of Helios, the Sun God, for disaster will fall upon them if they do (XII.146). While Odysseus sleeps, his crew collectively decide that the worst way to die is of hunger, so they herd up some cattle, slaughter them and feast. Odysseus’s men not only satisfy their basic hunger, but take it a step further and slaughter oxen for six days and “gorge on the meat” (XII. 410). Furious, Helios demands justice from Zeus. For having eaten specifically what was forbidden to them, Odysseus’s men are killed by Zeus’s thunderbolts.
Food once again plays the evil culprit in “The Book of J”, as it leads to the demise of humanity. In the book of J, we are introduced to man (Adam) and woman (Hava). Blissfully innocent, they live in and tend to the Garden of Eden under the condition that they do not touch (eat from) the tree of knowing good and bad, for on that day death would touch them (The Book of J 62). Tempted, they eat the fruit and although they did not literally die, they inadvertently kill their innocence.
It is not long before this curse comes to light as we are introduced to the children of man and woman; Abel, a watcher of sheep, and Cain, a tiller of soil (The Book of J 65). The brothers, in their eagerness to please Yahweh, bring him offerings of food. Cain offers Yahweh fruit of the earth, while Abel brings him the “choicest of his flock”, fat and succulent (The Book of J 66). Yahweh is pleased with the meat offerings but is unmoved by the fruit Cain has given him. Spurned by the rejection of his food by Yahweh, Cain strikes down his brother and kills him.
In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, we see food give life to its characters, and by the same token we see food take life from them. Death comes to Rosaura early in life. Plagued through most of the novel, we watch Rosaura battle her inability to tolerate food, which eventually leads to her death by “acute congestion of the stomach” (Esquivel 233). Rosaura’s awkwardness and inability to understand food was her downfall in more ways than one. Rosaura never learned to cook and she never learned how to create food, which in essence, is life. Her inadequacy is especially apparent during the birth of her first child, Rosaura is not able to breast feed and by not being able to provide food, she tilts the scales in favor of death. Tita, in the novel is a direct representation of food and life, at one point even offering “the baby her breast” (Esquivel 76), secretly becoming Roberto’s wet-nurse and providing him with the food he needs to survive. Eventually, Rosaura turns on Tita, refusing her help, and by doing so directly denying food for her son. Rosaura’s denial of Tita, combined with her inability to create food causes the death of Roberto.
Food, albeit wonderful and satisfying plays an equally darker, sinister role, in the stories “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” and “Like Water for Chocolate”. Untamed, unlawful, and excessive consumption of food is what brings about the death Odysseus’s men, Adam, Hava, Abel, Roberto and Rosaura. Through these literary works we witness the temptation to lose all restraint over oneself, to consume in excess and unfortunately pay the ultimate price, death
Saturday, April 17, 2010
During dinner, his daughter Carmen announces that she has bought an apartment and will be moving out. Martin is visibly upset that his daughter made such a monumental decision without consulting him or asking for his advice. During the argument he receives a call from his friend Gomez asking him for help at the restaurant and Martin agrees to go help him, which shows us how important his friends are to him.
Martin shows his compassionate side when he arrives at the restaurant and encourages his friend Gomez not to fire the workers who ruined the dinner order. Instead, Martin improvises a dish and gets everyone to work together to save the dinner party. At the nights end, while Martin sits with his friend Gomez drinking tequila, he finally softens up and confides to his friend that he secretly wishes his daughters would include him in their plans or at least ask for his advice. Martin, it seems, has a fear of change, which is further illustrated by the fact that his wife passed away over 15 years ago and he still wears his wedding ring. Martin’s frustration with life is made even more apparent when we discover that ironically, he cannot taste or smell. In an attempt to console Martin, Gomez compares him to Beethoven.
Aside from being the family’s chef, Martin has also taken on the role of homemaker. This is apparent when we see Martin ironing Carmen’s shirts, pulling laundry out of the washing machines and the girls’ complaining that he mixed up their underwear again. When Martin is not busy cooking or taking care of his family, Martin jogs and keeps himself in good shape. Martin is gracious with Yolanda’s over imposing mother Hortencia and worries about April by secretly making her school lunches. His caring nature is further apparent at the funeral of Gomez as he worries out loud as to the futures of the men that worked for Gomez and himself.
During the Climax dinner scene we witness how much Martin has changed, by making his speech in Spanglish, announcing the sale of the house and asking Yolanda for her hand in marriage. Martin’s final acceptance of the inevitable change begins to improve his life as we see when he accepts Carmen’s desire to follow in his footsteps and her food brings back his ability to taste and smell.
Monday, April 5, 2010
In literature, food is used as a metaphor, a balance between life and death. In the novels “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” and “Like Water for Chocolate” we see food take on the sinister role of death. In “The Odyssey”, the excessive consumption of forbidden food leads to death of Odysseus’s men. In “The Book of J”, the forbidden consumption of food leads to the death of innocence and dooms all of mankind. In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, the intolerance of food leads to the death of Rosaura. Although food is a necessity for survival, when caution is not headed and restraint is not exercised food is a vessel of death.
In “The Odyssey” food is the ultimate judge of life and death. The gluttonous consumption of forbidden food leads to the death of all of Odysseus’s men. Calypso specifically warns Odysseus not to harm the cattle of Helios, the Sun God, for disaster will fall upon them if they do (Odyssey, XII, 146). While Odysseus sleeps, his crew collectively decides that the worst way to die is of hunger, so they herd up some cattle, slaughter them and feast. Odysseus’s men not only satisfy their basic hunger, but take it a step further and slaughter oxen for six days and “gorge on the meat” (Odyssey, XII, 410). Furious, Helios demands justice from Zeus. For having eaten specifically what was forbidden to them, Odysseus’s men are killed by Zeus’s thunderbolts.
Food once again plays the evil culprit in “The Book of J”, as it leads to the demise of humanity. In the book of J, we are introduced to man (Adam) and woman (Hava). Blissfully innocent, they live in and tend to the Garden of Eden under the condition that they do not touch (eat from) the tree of knowing good and bad, for on that day death would touch them (The Book of J, 62). Tempted, they eat the fruit and although they did not literally die, they inadvertently kill their innocence and condemn humanity to pain, hard labor and suffering. By eating what they should not have they tilt the scale in favor of death for all humans to come. It is not long before this curse comes to light as we are introduced to the children of man and woman; Abel, a watcher of sheep, and Cain, a tiller of soil (The Book of J, 65). The brothers, in their eagerness to please Yahweh, bring him offerings of food. Cain offers Yahweh fruit of the earth, while Abel brings him the “choicest of his flock”, fat and succulent (The Book of J, 66). Yahweh is pleased with the meat offerings but is unmoved by the fruit Cain has given him. Spurned by the rejection of his food by Yahweh, Cain strikes down his brother and kills him.
In the novel “Like Water for Chocolate”, we see food give life to its characters, and by the same hand we see food take life from them. Death comes to Rosaura early in life. Plagued through most of the novel, we watch Rosaura battle her inability to tolerate food, which eventually leads to her death by “acute congestion of the stomach” (Esquivel, 233). Rosaura’s awkwardness and inability to understand food was her downfall in more ways than one. Rosaura never learned to cook, she never learned how to create food, which in essence, is life. Her inadequacy is especially apparent during the birth of her first child, Rosaura is not able to breast feed, by not providing food, she tilts the scales in favor of death. Rosaura, who cannot give food to Roberto, eventually refuses the help of Tita; who is a direct representation of food. Rosaura, by denying Tita, denies food, combined with her inability to make food, Rosaura becomes the reason her son, Roberto dies.
Food, a means of survival, but also a way to express oneself, albeit wonderful and satisfying, in the novels “The Odyssey”, “The Book of J” and “Like Water for Chocolate”, food plays an equally darker, sinister role. Untamed, unlawful, and unrequited consumption of food is what brings about the death Odysseus’s men, Adam, Hava, Abel, Roberto and Rosaura. For it is food that causes man to lose all restraint over himself, tilting the beam of life in favor of death.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Growing up in Spain was a real treat for me, literally, as the food there is like in no other place. Christmas time in Spain spilled forth a plethora of exquisite traditional foods with Turron being the choice of dessert at every Spaniard’s table. A long standing tradition, Turron is the essence of Christmas, symbolizing culture, hope and Christianity.
Turron comes in a variety of textures, however they are all made from the same two basic ingredients, almonds and honey. The two most popular and widely distributed are Turron de Alicante, hard nougat with whole almonds, and Turron de Jijona, which is of a softer consistency made up primarily of almond paste. There are many theories as to the exact origins of Turron, however, most sources agree that it began as a recipe introduced by the Moors (Arabs) during their early occupancy of Spain. Turron is mentioned in historical Spanish documents dating as far back as the 1500’s, so its integration into Spanish life is well established. Source
The Moors occupancy in Spain from the 700’s to the 1400’s had a great cultural impact on Spain, as much of its architecture, food and even some customs were interchanged between the two nations. Turron is a perfect example of this deep rooted cultural mix, as it originated in Mediterranean lands rich in Almond trees. The Moors brought over the concept of Turron, however, the Spaniards changed the recipe around and personalized it into a more Hispanic flavor, like they did with much of the Moorish influences still apparent in today’s Spanish culture. Source
The story behind the changing of the Turron recipe is one of Hope for the Spanish people. It is said that in the 1700’s in Catalunya, during the colder months of the year the people were suffering from hunger due to food shortages. The only abundance in the royal food stores were Almonds and honey, due to their long shelf life. In Barcelona, an artisan called Pablo Turro, decided to start making Turron for the people, as it was rich in nutrition, it kept for a long time and supplies for the tasty treat were always abundant. So in a time of hunger and need, this delicious treat gave the people sustenance and hope until the warmer months came and the harvests came in. Source
Traditionally, Turron is mass produced between September and December to meet the demands at Christmas time. Turron is made primarily of almonds, a tree whose nut has many biblical references and symbolism in Christianity. The main religion in Spain, is Christianity, and Christmas time is of great importance, as it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The almond is referred to in the bible several times, with almond branches representing a symbol of the Virgin Birth of Jesus, which is celebrated during Christmas. Almonds are also seen in paintings depicted as a Mandorla, the glow encircling the baby Jesus and as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. Source
Turron is delicious, with the soft almond paste (Turron de Jijona) being my personal favorite. In Spain, Turron means so much more, as it tells a tale of the country’s heritage, of its peoples hope during times of scarcity and represents the celebration of Christmas. Turron is always present at my table during the holidays, and I recommend that next December, while doing your holiday shopping, be sure to pick up a bar of this tasty treat and try some for yourself.
