Tita is born on the kitchen table, amidst a flood of tears caused by peeling onions. Condemned by tradition to remain unmarried to care for her tyrannical mother, Mama Elena, Tita finds her life's purpose in the De la Garza family kitchen. Her dishes not only enchant with their exquisite flavors but also convey emotions, pain, bitterness, joy, or desire to anyone who tastes them. When Mama Elena forces Tita's beloved, Pedro, to marry her older sister, Tita learns to maintain and nurture his love with her legendary dishes. Recipes of Mexican cuisine, intense passions, and magical realism are the ingredients of Laura Esquivel's delightful novel, considered one of the most important Spanish-language novels of the 20th century. It has been translated into forty languages, adapted into a highly successful film, and earned the author a place in the pantheon of Latin American literature.