>>Allende doesn't mention food often, but I did often notice that when it was brought up, it was tea, aside from one almost grotesque mentioning of a roasted pig with a carrot put in a very awkward location and some poisoned wine. Granted I am only two and a half chapters in.
>>The first tea I noticed was "barley water flavored with almonds." Nothing else is said about the drink other than that it was "made on holidays", and so I was curious to know more. Upon some googling I discovered that people take the grain, boil it, pour the hot water over the pulp and skin of a fruit (usually lemon or lime, I imagine an orange may be good), and then add sugar and maybe some of the fruit's juice for flavor. Better instructions and health benefits are listed here:
http://www.tandurust.com/health-faq/barley-water-benefits-to-health.html
>>The next tea mentioned is linden tea, which in the novel was drank
for its therapeutic effects, despite all the sweating it can cause. Although, I suppose perspiration can be considered therapeutic, otherwise why would we have saunas? To bake ourselves? Anyway, I've ordered some out of curiosity; I'll give a report on a later date how it tastes and if it actually helps with fever and airway inflammation. (I'm 90% sure I have asthma, so a natural remedy may be nice to try.)
>>The last tea I've seen so far is cinnamon tea. Allende's translator (the novel wasoriginally written in Spanish) and editor definitely misspelled cinnamon as cinammon. The English major in me winced, the dyslexic stutterer in me thought "cinnaminamon" as I read it to myself, but it is just a typo so I kept reading. Apparently all cinnamon tea is is hot water and pure cinnamon. It's supposed to lower your cholesterol if you have a half teaspoon of cinnamon a day. It either sounds very potent or very bland. I plan to try it too.
>>Stay tuned! The House of the Spirits may bring to my attention more odd foods from 1960s-1970s Spanish haciendas.
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