Reel Food: Like Water for Chocolate
On 27 January, cinema lovers will enter an intense world filled with garlic, honey, chiles, cilantro, rose petals and corn meal, passion and comedy at FC Hyena.

Tita and Pedro, the leading characters in the lively family saga Like Water for Chocolate (1992) live in a Mexican border town and are deeply in love. As youngest daughter of three, she is bound by tradition to remain unmarried while taking care of her mother at age, she will not marry Pedro. Tita is heartbroken, especially when Pedro decides to marry her oldest sister Rosaura.

In Mexico hot chocolate is made with water, instead of milk. The water is brought to a boil before the chocolate is spooned into it and has a double meaning in Mexico’s surroundings. A person in a state of sexual excitement is said to be ‘like water for chocolate.’ Food and passion create a sublime alchemy in the Mexican movie Like Water for Chocolate, whose leading characters experience life so intensely that they sometimes literally erupt. Titas life is mainly carried out in the kitchen, where her emotions have such force that it infects her cooking: all who eat it her feel her heartbreak, sadness or passion or joy with the same intensity. Film director Alfonso Arau presents the acts of love and cooking with the same glossy, sensual sheen.



FC Hyena, Cineville and Foam organize this film screening, starting with an introduction and accompanying food, in which we look at food rituals beyond European borders. Habits and cultural identity come to life when food is shared, which results in a reflection of the values and identity in images of food. Around the table is one of the three leading themes in the exhibition Feast for the Eyes – The Story of Food in Photography, exhibited at Foam until 3 March 2019.

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The film is based on the best-selling novel Como agua para chocolate (1989) by Mexican novelist Laura Esquival.


Feast for the Eyes – The Story of Food in Photography is organised by the Aperture Foundation, New York and curated by Susan Bright and Denise Wolff.

The exhibition is made possible by the Blockbusterfonds.

Mediapartners: ELLE Eten, Het Parool.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Foam Members, Gemeente Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

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Reel Food: Like Water for Chocolate