The Language of Baklava: Exploring the Symbolism of Food and Cultural Identity
The book serves as an example of how literature can depict society. The author's use of food to illustrate important problems related to culture, race, gender, and language is fascinating. Every living thing needs food to live, so Ms. Abu Jaber's story revisits the first literary allegory that not only represents culture physically but also symbolically. Food is the essence of survival, and every living thing depends on it. Food in the book is used symbolically and figuratively in the book, and the images of eating created in the mind of the reader express the importance of food more than one could think. The story falls into the genre of food writing memories which incorporate the aspect of food and recipes in the narratives (Abu-Jaber 32). The narrative presented by the author focuses on the symbolic representation of food and the memories related to eating. In the novel, the author provides a clear depiction of the story of food and the memories associated with cultural and ethnicity issues. Although, the memories in the cookbook seem to be food centered the book illustrates themes much more than food like individual identity, race, and culture from a Jordanian-Arab-American lens.
Theme of Personal Identity
The representation of food in literature presents an interesting platform for exploring personal identity and cultural belonging in the memoir. The cookbook memoir employs food as a literary device in which the authors create a face able way to identify with their culture and origins. In the novel, the author identifies her culture by attributing it to some foods that his father cooked in the restaurant (Abu-Jaber 13). Food is used figuratively to portray the Arab culture and to create imagery on the author’s growing environment. The narrative offers a good concept of food and subjectivity in the sense that the author associates food with specific past memories. Food description is used by the author as a structuring device and it is a source for describing the Jordan –Arabian –American way of life. The narratives show the way Arabs maintain their origins and ties even in a foreign country. For instance, at the restaurant, they talk English although not very fluent but in the house, they maintain using Arabic language, and their father constantly reminds the narrator of her identity.
The food imagery created in the novel creates a platform for the narrator to link up to her connection with her mother. She recalls the moments that they spent at the hotel preparing food for their customers which brought about the childhood memories about the different foods and the Arabic hotels that one could find the foods (Abu-Jaber 12). Food becomes an ingredient that brings the involved communities together for a commonality and the author and other children come together during mealtimes to explore their sense of belonging and their cultural identities.
Food becomes a common language that communicates the identity and formation of a society and as Abu-Jaber portrays in the novel, ethnic aspects of the diasporic community are brought out through the food (Abu-Jaber 28). Though the narrative the author clearly portrays her origin and her father’s Arab primitivism giving was to a new construct that confirms the American imaginary, as analyzed in many cases, the author presents the migrant Arabs as naıve but goes the extra mile of portraying them as hospitable (Abu-Jaber 10). The book shows the author's commitment to her culture, and this is evident in her praise of culture and identity.
Food in the novel becomes a symbol of cultural celebration
and the author clearly offers an idea of what Arab Americans go through in the multicultural societies. The survival of Arab American society in the larger contemporary American society requires some sense of cultural and personal identity, and as a result, the author explains her interaction with their cousins (Abu-Jaber 24). The group membership and cultural celebrations offer a sense of identity and belonging to the cultures, and it exposes the collectivity of the Arab culture. The act of cooking and eating brings the various characters in the novel together, and the recipes remind the community of the world that they left behind. Food assists the protagonist to remember different cultural practices that show them how they remain insignificant within the larger American culture.
The food offered in the cafes assists the different characters in the novel come to terms with their inner selves their likes and dislike. It also serves as a reminder of the pain of missing home. The author cites different kinds of conflicts between her personal identities between the conflicting cultures of Americans and Jordanian Arabs (Abu-Jaber 10). For example, it is at meal time that the families gather together and share their past memories and the experience, the practice of collectivity at meal times is contrary to the American individualistic approach to meals and mealtime. American societies do not view meal time as importantly get-together functions for self-evaluation.
Food relates well with cultural identity
and the process of preparation enables one find his identity. In the book, cooking offers the moment for the mother to educate the daughter about native recipes and dishes. Heating the spices and preparing the food is a ritual that every child should master and the process of cooking has been similar all throughout the ages (Abu-Jaber 24). It is at the cooking time that mother and daughter get to interact and talk about serious social issues affecting the community. Also, it is during cooking that the role of gender in food preparation comes up. According to the Arab traditions, women are supposed to learn about cooking, and it is demanded that they encourage their daughters to learn from them.
Food as the Central Theme of the Book
The central theme of the book, “Language of Baklava” is food and how it brings about the ideas of life habits, traditions, and interactions. The book enables the reader’s appreciated the food and how different cultures work. In addition, the author gives the link between food and mood; it is evident that foods can heighten personal attention to find details. For example, at some point, the author describes that at some point her memory goes, “soft and silvery as a piece of driftwood.” (Abu-Jaber 34) and as she proceeds she drift further to her experiences while she was in Jordan she says she sipped the “lovely, golden iced tea, delicately brewed with cardamom,” (Abu-Jaber 34), her writing help the audience see how she drifts her mind around food to recall important events that happened in her life. The author helps the audience to learn about her life, and through her vivid food descriptions, the audience is able to translate her feelings and opinions.
The memoir shows the readers the recollections and memories of an immigrant family
and the importance of storytelling. The stories told throughout the book illustrate the recollections and memories of the author’s father, mother, and uncles. Food centered story sharing is important, and although the entire story is about the food there is something much larger that the author wants to pass across. At some point, the author cites that stories are about, “grace, difference, faith, love” (Abu-Jaber 21) and thus food is a story which carried large messages to the targeted audience.
Food in its self is a language that the author uses to communicate his mind and recollections to the audience. In practice, communication involves sending and reception of messages, and as a result, the author expects his audience to open up and share their food stories too. It is through memories that people live their lives to the fullest, and it is helpful to have a story to remember. For example, in the first chapter, the author humorously describes the life of the child narrator and her entire family getting ready for dinner which is chicken served with stuffed squash (Abu-Jaber 18). During tea time the audience learns about the story of the lamb that was recently bought, and the uncle gets a clue that at one point the lamb will be slaughtered for dinner. However, the uncle indirectly explains the story of the lamb to the children. The plan to slaughter the lamb came up out of the Jordanian tradition of sharing and living together as a family. Here, the audience notes the role of food in bringing about unity and close relationships.
The author also highlights the issue of relationships between family members, and as highlighted in the chapter, there are relationships between cousins, aunts, and uncles. The entire extended family is united and lives together through sharing food. The recipe at the end of the first Chapter creates a relationship with the readers by erasing the memories of the slaughtered lamb with the recipe for the preparation of peaceful vegetarian lentil soup, Food can create divisions as evident in people who eat meat and vegetarians, the vegan recipe talks of the divisions among cultures on the nature of foods that difference groups of people prefer. For example, she says that in America meat became, “bloodless, gleaming with cellophane stacked in cold rows.” (Abu-Jaber 17). The recipe also reaches out to the vegetarian audience that could have disappointed by the act of slaughtering the lamb hence creating a relationship between the author and the vegetarian groups.
Conclusion
As noted, the story The Language of Baklava is a food memoir, but the themes presented in the book are not entirely about food but about personal identity, cultural identity, and interpersonal relationships. The process of food preparation and eating enables the characters to connect with their past and remember their lives back in Jordan. The story about food assists the characters to unwind about their roles and responsibilities and the need to maintain their identity in the new country. In reading the story, the audience connects with the cultural practices of Arabs and how they maintain their strong bonds and connections with one another.
Works Cited
Abu-Jaber, Diana. The language of Baklava: A memoir. New York: Knopf publishing group, (2005).
