She has written and published continually since then.

The novel became popular internationally, and was adapted to film in 1992. She began writing for television, and in 1989 she wrote her first and best-known novel, Like Water for Chocolate. She married director Alfonso Arau in 1975. She started her writing career by writing stories and plays for her students to perform. Esquivel first worked as a kindergarten teacher. (Oct.Laura Alicia Palomares Esquivel was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the daughter of César Esquivel and Josefa Valdés. In a poignant conclusion, Tita manages to break the bonds of tradition, if not for herself, then for future generations. Tita's unrequited love for Pedro survives the Mexican Revolution the births of Rosaura and Pedro's children, even a proposal of marriage from an eligible doctor. Esquivel does a splendid job of describing the frustration, love and hope expressed through the most domestic and feminine of arts, family cooking, suggesting by implication the limited options available to Mexican women of this period.

Forced to make the cake for her sister's wedding, Tita pours her emotions into the task each guest who samples a piece bursts into tears. Esquivel mischievously appropriates the techniques of magical realism to make Tita's contact with food sensual, instinctual and often explosive. But Tita has one weapon left-her cooking.

When she falls in love, her mother quickly scotches the liaison and tyrannically dictates that Tita's sister Rosaura must marry the luckless suitor, Pedro, in her place. The youngest daughter of a well-born rancher, Tita has always known her destiny: to remain single and care for her aging mother.

Each chapter of screenwriter Esquivel's utterly charming interpretation of life in turn-of-the-century Mexico begins with a recipe-not surprisingly, since so much of the action of this exquisite first novel (a bestseller in Mexico) centers around the kitchen, the heart and soul of a traditional Mexican family.

Como agua para chocolate author