Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Chapter 7 introduces Pat Prager. Despite her generally altruistic disposition, Pat harbors a unique ambition and pride—winning the county fair for her peanut butter bars. These bars represent a pride in Midwestern cooking and culture, highlighting Food as a Source of Identity and Community. Stradal explores the conflict between traditional, provincial baking and more highbrow gastronomy when Pat decides to enter a more sophisticated cooking competition. Her traditional values clash with food purists who reject dairy, preservatives, and anything that brings taste and pleasure. Eva’s praise for the bars, however, reflects the novel’s celebration of Midwestern food culture.

Stradal uses the motif of women in competition to develop Pat’s character when she is faced with the threat of Celeste Mantilla. Despite Celeste’s unwavering support and kindness, Pat becomes uncharacteristically cruel and dishonest, labeling her as “a demonic force” (249), “pure evil” (250), and a “harlot” (268), using language reflective of her religious beliefs. Her instant hatred of Celeste suggests the sense that Pat views her opportunities as limited, reflecting the novel’s wider exploration of socio-economic problems in the Midwest. Ironically, Celeste views Pat as “the most real person I’ve met here” (257), unaware of the insincerity and hostility behind her back. Losing the competition prompts Pat to reflect on her treatment of Celeste, realizing the extent of her selfish and egotistical behavior driven by ambition. Feeling ashamed, she uses the metaphor of being flung from the top of a tower to illustrate her realization of her own shortcomings.

Through Pat, Stradal also explores the power of community when it comes to overcoming adversity. For example, Pat’s charitable side shines through when she generously gives her winnings, a Target gift card, to her friend Susan, who struggles to provide for her children. Pat believes in the importance of helping others in life, describing herself as “an unwatered tree that still provides whatever shade it can” (279), a metaphor for the generosity of marginalized people who fight for other marginalized people. Furthermore, in a selfless act toward the end, Pat, when pulled over by the police, takes responsibility for her son’s marijuana, preventing his arrest. This gesture underscores her willingness to do anything for her family, even if it means enduring personal sacrifice.

In the final chapter, Cynthia, Eva’s long-lost mother, stages an elaborate plan to reconnect with the daughter she left behind years ago. Though she had nearly forgotten Eva’s face, a Google search reveals Eva’s rise to fame as a renowned chef. Like most of the chapters, the focus on a secondary character provides characterization for Eva. Since Cynthia can only compare the beginning of Eva’s life and her current position and has not seen her journey, her rediscovery of her daughter is a plot device that highlights Eva’s Resilience and Overcoming Adversity in a dramatic fashion.

Cynthia, still grappling with the belief that leaving was the right decision, undergoes a transformation upon seeing Eva as an adult: “but looking at Eva, the adult, she felt something grappling with her insides” (301). As the years pass while waiting for an invitation to the exclusive dinner, Cynthia begins to reassess her previous selfish life, sensing that her reluctance to be a part of her daughter’s life is waning. However while Cynthia does reunite with Eva during the dinner, she refrains from revealing her true identity. Instead, she chooses to revel in the incredible success of her daughter, not wanting to disrupt the perfect life Eva has built. Cynthia admires Eva’s ability to create magic through food, meticulously scrutinizing every detail to craft the perfect dish. She says, “Eva Thorvald is the most beautiful person in the world, and I fully expect to never see her again” (351). This ending, while ambiguous, resolves the novel’s exploration of mothers, since Cynthia realizes that Eva does not need her to thrive, in contrast to Jordy and the fawn.

The dinner in Chapter 8 is themed around Eva’s life, featuring a menu with ingredients typical in Midwestern cooking, including venison, walleye, golden bantam, and more. Since these ingredients have featured in the previous chapters and Stradal has related each of them to a pivotal moment in a characters’ life, they cease to be abstract objects and are instead imbued with intimately personal significance. This also reflects the novel’s celebration of Midwestern food and culture, since Stradal suggests that these are not simply ingredients but integral parts of Midwesterners’ complex lives.