Food in Films – Coco

~ foodinbooks

El Dia de los Muertos – the Day of the Dead in English – is a Mexican holiday that celebrates the spirits of our beloved dead. It is far more complex than that, but who among us can’t relate to having lost a loved one, missing them, and wanting to honor their spirits? I know I do. Having lost both my parents, most of my beloved grandparents including my Nana Jean who raised me and who I loved more than any human on this earth, my first love just a few months back, as well as my sweet pug baby Sparky, I can well understand and relate to the themes in the film Coco.

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Death is part of life. That is an unarguable fact. How death itself is seen, however, and how it is conceptualized, is as varied as the cultures across the world. The concept of El Dia de los Muertos as we understand it currently comes predominantly from Mexico, and has its roots in ancient sun worship by the Aztecs as well as Catholic rituals brought from Spain by the conquistadores, as evidenced by the fact that El Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on All Saints and All Souls Days on the Catholic calendar. Obviously, this is a very simplified version of the meaning of the day, but I could write 50 blog posts about the meaning of death and the cultural concept and constructs of El Dia de los Muertos, and that isn’t happening. Anyway, the overall idea is to honor the dead by celebrating them with food, drink, music, and parties, since death is considered only another part of life and on this day, the dead come back to celebrate with us.

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Coco embodies this concept so beautifully. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that me, a grown woman, had a major ugly cry at the end of this film, so closely did it hit me in the heart, both when Mama Coco remembers and engages with the world again, and when her spirit is reunited with her father. I loved my grandmother, Nana Jean, so very much and losing her was like losing a limb. I think when you lose someone you love so much that a part of your heart dies along with them. In this case, she was my rock, my security, my mother in every possible way, my source of advice, my teacher, my mentor. So the idea of a grandmother, locked in her own senility and her own memories of loss, and the wonderful journey of Miguel, the main character, who wants to become a musician very badly, really hit home. He is forbidden to pursue his music due to his great-great grandfather (a musician as well) having supposedly abandoned his family when young and turning the family against music.

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Miguel lives with his shoemaker family, including his elderly great-grandmother Mama Coco, who has lost most of her memory and sits in a wheelchair. On El Dia de los Muertos, the family makes an altar with photos of their beloved dead relatives, marigold wreaths, food and drink that the dead loved, candles, and many other items. (This is actually my permanent altar that I keep year-round so it gives you an idea of what they can look like.)

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Miguel accidentally takes a photo of his great-great grandmother and tears it, seeing a torn-off part of the photo that leads him into his next great adventure. He needs a guitar for a music competition so he heads over to the enormous crypt of Ernesto de la Cruz, Mexico’s most famous musician, and whom Miguel believes to be his long-lost dead great-great grandfather, where he takes Ernesto’s iconic guitar and subsequently enters the Land of the Dead. Being that it is right around El Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, November 1, the dead are allowed to visit for the day and see the altars and ofrendas their families make for them. He meets up with Hector, another long-dead musician who offers to show him around the Land of the Dead, and they get into many hilarious scrapes and funny adventures. Of course, if you have any kind of brain at all, you figure out pretty quickly that Hector is really Miguel’s great-great grandfather.

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The most touching part of the film is when Miguel returns from the Land of the Dead with the song that Mama Coco learned from her father and is the only thing she really still remembers. She and Miguel sing it and her memory returns. It is so incredibly beautiful. The entire film is visually stunning, in addition to tugging at your heartstrings, and I particularly loved how respectful of the Mexican culture it really is. In this time of such ugliness and hatred toward those of Mexican background and ethnicity, the joy and beauty and love demonstrated in this film gives me hope.

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Pan de los muertos – bread of the dead – is a dense, orange-flavored cake made each year and set on altars in honor of the dead, who are believed to come back just that one day to visit their families, enjoy offerings made in their honor, and enjoy food and drink of the living for one night. Traditionally it is made in the shape of a skull and crossbones, though I’ve seen in made in the shape of coffins, graveyards, crosses and skeletons, and I think nowadays you could make your pan de los muertos in any shape you desire. I made mine in a skull-shaped cake pan and used it as part of my altar I have every year with photos of my Nana, my parents, and others I have loved and lost.

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INGREDIENTS
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup full-fat milk, room temperature
1/2 cup lukewarm water
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons anise extract (you can use anise seeds but I hate them because they get stuck in my teeth)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons orange extract
1/2 cup sugar
Zest of 3 clementines
4 eggs, room temperature

For the orange glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups grated clementine zest
1/2 cup orange juice

METHOD
Over medium heat, warm the butter, milk and water until the butter melts. Don’t let it burn.

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In the mixing bowl of your most awesome red Kitchen Aid mixer, combine 1/2 cup of the flour, the yeast, the salt, and the sugar.

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Slowly beat in the warm milk, the orange, vanilla and anise extracts, and orange zest until well mixed.

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Add eggs, one at a time, mixing through.

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Slowly add in another 1 cup of flour, and continue adding flour until you have a soft, but not sticky dough, then turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead for at least 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add a bit of warm water if the dough seems dry. Form the dough into a ball.

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Wrap in plastic, cover with a tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm area until it doubles in size, probably around 2 hours.

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Preheat the oven to 350F, unwrap the dough and push it into your skull pan, pressing so that it fills in all the nooks and crannies. Bake for 30 minutes and remove from oven to cool.

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In another saucepan over medium heat, combine the rest of the sugar, the orange zest and the orange juice until it just boils and the sugar dissolves. Whisk to stir but don’t leave because the sugar burns easily. Remove from heat so it thickens.

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Turn the bread out onto a platter that shows off the skull shape, and brush the orange glaze all over it so it’s glossy and shiny. Decorate with marigolds if you so desire.

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Lay on your altar and eat a slice while remembering those you love who have passed on, knowing that they, too, will be enjoying the sweet bread while they are here visiting.

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Published by foodinbooks

I read, I cook, I travel, I love pugs, I drink wine, and I blog about food and books.

40 thoughts on “Food in Films – Coco”

  1. A heartwarming post… (and I love YOUR ofrenda!) I am so sorry for your recent losses, and that is a great reason to embrace the thought behind this film — that we are always among our loved ones…those with two legs and four…We are enriched by our relationships, and never lose the gifts they bring us…but merely share them again and again…

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  2. Pingback: 3 Dishes That Honor the Dead, as Seen in the Animated Film 'Coco' | My Pope Philippines

  5. Haven’t seeing the movie, but somewhat familiar with day of the Death, a day of remembrance for all our loved ones gone to a better life.

    Unfortunately live away from family, and little inclined to celebrate occasions by myself, but of course, once in a while I see pictures to remember.

    I just realize that sounds like a movie!

    My heart went for you when you talk about your Nana Jean, and your loved ones.

    Thank you for your nice post. 🙂

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    1. I appreciate your kind words. It’s a lovely film if you ever get to see it. Ostensibly for kids, it obviously hits adults in the heart, too. I love the idea of having your beloved dead family and friends come back once a year, and I actually believe that. 🙂

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  8. A beautiful review of the film. I’d like to watch this with my grandson someday. Or my husband. 🙂 The guy’s a big crybaby when it comes to movies (like me). We can weep and hug on the couch. Ha ha. I loved hearing about your experiences too. A wonderful heartfelt post. ❤

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    1. I don’t know a single person that hasn’t gotten emotional watching this film. I’m so glad you liked the post. And the bread is really quite delicious, not overly sweet and the orange zest really adds something to it. If you do make it, let me know how it turns out!

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  11. Wonderful movie. My village in Italy-Puglia to be exact-has an ancient festival on the night of Nov 1, called Fucacoste e cocce priatorje. That means bonfires and heads of purgatory (lit pumpkins carved with crosses) to light the way for loved ones on their way to heaven. I was lucky enough to attend 2 years ago and hope to go again next year. It is an amazing festa, full of symbolism and symbolic foods. Ciao, Cristina

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    1. That sounds like a wonderful festival and very similar to the day of the dead in Mexico. It’s always amazing and wonderful to me to find out that there are so many similar festivities and festivals in other cultures that are so similar, particularly when it comes to death. Ciao, bella.

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  14. …less enticing here: pan dei morti, bread of the dead (in the northern part of the peninsula.) Rather neat the long lasting notion between death, ‘far-reaching’ systems (Hecate, then Eurydice-underworld,) and the capacity of music to envelope.

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    1. This is the first time I’ve heard of pan dei morti in Italy. Now I am very curious so I’m going to research it. It’s fascinating to see the connecting threads between cultures about the meaning of death, that’s for certain. I’ve often wondered if my fascination for this holiday also stems from my childhood love of Egyptology and all things Egyptian, because of their focus on the afterlife. There’s something so enticing about a culture whose essential way of living on this earth is a huge preparation for the next one. I suppose that’s part of why I have always been so drawn to the whole Goth culture and that subculture of darkness and death. Not to sound dark or maudlin, but there is a seductiveness to death, in a strange way.

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  16. Yay!! Glad you sorted things out so I could say I’M SO GLAD I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE WHO SOBBED LIKE A CHILD WATCHING THIS MOVIE!!! My man was very embarrassed by my display of gut wrenching grief… But, he has no soul. 😉 Happy belated Dias de Los Muertos!!! 💀💀

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    1. Thank you and the same to you! Yes there I was, a grown woman sobbing hysterically. Well maybe not hysterically, but full on crying. I’ve always been drawn to this celebration, pobably because I have always seen death as just another step in the cycle of life. I even wrote a graduate thesis on the meaning of Day of the Dead. That was when I was much younger, and as you get older and you lose more people that you love, the concept of your dead loved ones coming back to visit you is very poignant. So it definitely kicked me in the heart. But I loved it and I thought it was one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen.

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      1. Mine was definitely full body heaving sobs… I may have been slightly inebriated at the time, which wouldn’t have helped… It’s SUCH a beautiful film! I agree whole-heartedly! Although, I also think I’ve caught my mother’s disease… She used to cry at the most ridiculous things and I would make fun of her… Lo and behold, I am my mother’s daughter… Maybe it’s menopause? 🤔 I watched a Hallmark movie the other day that also had me sobbing… Although, I think I was legit with this one. 😅

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      2. I admit to having having had a glass or 2 of wine while watching Coco for the first time so you are not alone. But I really do think there’s something to what I said about getting older and experiencing more loss and really taking it to heart. I think that’s why we get a little more emotional as we get older, because we know what it’s like to love and to lose and experience pain.

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      3. Very true! Saying that reminds me of why I added the Glen Campbell version of “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” to my music Monday: Who did it Better? No. This is not a plug. I just thought that his rendition was actually very poignant with the message of the song. He’s an older man and does an amazing job, but I also get the message better that you should enjoy the time you have… “I hope you had the time of your life.” I honestly hope we can all let go and “have the time of our life” before its too late. I say that to myself most of all!

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