I will admit that I don’t know the meaning of “like water for chocolate,” though I saw and liked the movie. To my writer brain the words are like water bubbling over smooth pebbles in a fountain. My brain’s instinct is to make more word strings that reflect repeat even mimic the sound. But I am sure there is a meaning to like water for chocolate that maybe I knew once, someone said it in the movie at a particularly poignant moment or maybe it is a proverb or a line from a song or a poem. I am also certain that there is an actual physical reference to the title in the action of the movie All the best titles are multivalent and reveal themselves to have layers and meanings far beyond the initial recognition. Like those drawings where some people see the face of a young woman and others see the face of an old woman. The movie “Race,” about Jesse Owens is about his Olympic race, physical, concrete, actual thing and about race, that big word we trip over and toss away from us like the hot potato that it can be.
Setting aside any metaphorical or magical meaning for the time being, I say like water for eggs because I love omelets, I love making omelets, and I make a pretty darn good omelet. There are days when I think of myself as the omelet whisperer.
I wasn’t born the omelet whisperer, though I acknowledge and give thanks that this is a gift bestowed upon me by the universe and by James Beard. Once, a very long time ago, I was on a cook book thing and I was determined to read the canon of the food world. I am sure I diligently and purposefully went to the library, tracked down, checked out, and brought home a big pile of books by the Experts. Guaranteed I did not read every word. I did however read the James Beard. Water is the secret to a fluffy omelet. For some magical molecular reason adding water to eggs makes for the perfect degree of fluff in an omelet. Try it. Make an omelet with a splash of water and one without. The no-water eggs are thin and rubbery. Not so the water.
Bon Appetit!