Judith Ortiz Cofer on Making Peace with the Kitchen

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to reveal the connection between Judith Ortiz Cofer’s little-known poem, “Beans: An Apologia for Not Loving to Cook” and the events of Ortiz Cofer’s own life, with emphasis on tradition and the impact of mother-daughter relationships. Currently, there is minimal research on “Beans,” but when placed in context of Ortiz Cofer’s personal history and studies of her more popular works, it is clear she is recounting her own story here. The poem traces a woman’s relationship with the kitchen from childhood to motherhood. This paper shows the connection between the poem and Ortiz-Cofer’s own complicated relationship with the kitchen. She pulls from her memories to explain her initial rejection of the kitchen and broader rejection of tradition’s demands, revealing the role the kitchen played in her life and the lives of women who raised her. As a child in her traditional Catholic and Puerto Rican home, she learned and rejected the “the lessons of the kitchen.” She saw the role her mother filled there as a prison. When she raised her own daughter, her relationship with the kitchen changed. Ortiz Cofer wrote “Beans” for her daughter, Tanya, and titled it “An Apologia,” labeling this poem as an explanation addressed to Tanya. The resolution of Ortiz Cofer’s conflict with the kitchen hinges on Tanya’s embrace of the space. “Beans” ties most strongly into Ortis Cofer’s own life where it ends: in the present with a daughter who loves the kitchen. This paper reveals “Beans: A Apologia for Not Loving to Cook” as a testament to the peace Ortiz Cofer found by embracing the kitchen not as a fulfilled demand of tradition, but as an act of love for her daughter.