Judith Cofer's "Corazon's Cafe"

Family. Tradition. Food. So far in all of the latino works I have read either one, or all, of these things have played a major role in the layout of the story. Corazon's Cafe contains all three. Family and tradition are closely connected; for example it was not out of the ordinary for Corazon to marry Manuel at 18 in Puerto Rico-- it was traditional for girls to marry young and begin the process of running a household. Food is also tied into the mix of tradition and family because latino culture values it so highly. Immigrants living in El Building come to Corazon's Cafe because they can buy their traditional foods in an atmosphere that reminds them of home. This is the second Judith Cofer piece I have read, the first being The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica, that contains a central idea: a maternal figure, running a latino shop selling traditional foods to Mexican Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc., immigrants to create a sense of "home." Since Judith Cofer is Puerto Rican I think its easy to see from this that family, tradition, and food are all highly valued in latino culture.