Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in With the Fire on High, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Teen Parenthood
Creativity vs. Professional Norms
Food and Connection
Caregiving, Independence, and Identity
Support, Community, and Mentorship
Summary
Analysis
On Saturday, the students’ last day in Spain, Chef Ayden still has them go to their apprenticeships. Emoni works on a marinade for a pork shoulder, which will take 24 hours. Emoni wishes she’d be here to try it, but she decides that maybe this is the point of traveling. Chef Amadí asks if Emoni added the lemon, and Emoni says she used sour oranges instead. Chef Amadí praises Emoni for her choice. After they discuss what Emoni has learned, Chef Amadí invites Emoni to come back as an apprentice after she’s done with school. Emoni is so surprised that she cuts herself. She cries less from the pain and more because she knows she could never leave ’Buela, Babygirl, or Philadelphia.
This passage highlights how different it is working for Chef Amadí than for Chef Ayden: where Chef Ayden scolded Emoni for changing the recipe, here, Emoni gets praise for subbing in oranges for lemons. But it’s also worth keeping in mind that Chef Amadí and Chef Ayden have very different goals; Chef Ayden wants to instill basics, while Chef Amadí wants Emoni to learn to trust herself. Chef Amadí’s invitation to return to Spain as an apprentice is bittersweet for Emoni. It shows Emoni she has what it takes, but Emoni also knows that for the time being, at least, her focus is on her family members in Philadelphia.
Themes
Later, Chef Amadí thanks Emoni for her hard work, invites her to return, and hands over her academic evaluation. She also gives Emoni teabags that she put together from her own garden. Emoni can’t identify one of the ingredients, and Chef Amadí says this is part of the magic—not everything in life can be deconstructed. Shooing Emoni out the door, Chef Amadí tells Emoni to trust herself and the world. As the door closes, Emoni feels naked, like she’s suddenly a new person.
Through what she says about the teabag ingredients, Chef Amadí essentially encourages Emoni to not take things quite so seriously. It’s okay, she implies, that Emoni not know everything—she can just accept that parts of cooking (and of the world) are mysterious and unknowable. But Emoni also has the skills to navigate that mysterious world. This is shocking for Emoni to hear, as it seems like the first time she believes an adult when they say she’s truly capable.
Themes
