Born in Mexico, novelist and former kindergarten teacher Laura Esquivel (1951–) said her grandmother had a chapel in her home, between the kitchen and dining room.

“When I cook certain dishes, I smell my grandmother's kitchen, my grandmother's smells. I thought: what a wonderful way to tell a story.”

The story became her international best-selling novel, Like Water For Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate, 1989), which chronicles the life of Tita De la Garza who lives in northern Mexico during the early 1900s, a time of revolution. Because she is the youngest daughter, she is required by her family's tradition to remain single and care for her mother.

When Tita is forbidden from marrying Pedro, her childhood sweetheart, she retreats to the kitchen to prepare magical dishes that stir strong emotions in all who eat and enjoy.

“The joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food,” Esquivel explained about her first novel. For Tita, the kitchen became her haven to create and an outlet for her passions.

Translated into over 20 languages, Laura Esquivel’s bestselling novel Like Water for Chocolate was adapted into a 1992 film directed by Alfonso Arau. The movie earned 10 Ariel Awards, including Best Picture, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Upon its U.S. release, it became the highest-grossing foreign-language film at the time, earning over $21 million domestically.

“What others call >"magic realism" is an everyday thing to me,” she said—inviting us to pause, breathe deeply, and savor the quiet magic of mindful living.