Arsenic and Adobo

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of racism, fatphobia, drug addiction, and drug overdose.

The main character of the novel, Lila Macapagal, describes the events that led her to move back to her hometown. Her fiancé, Sam, cheated on her, so she relocated to Shady Palms, Illinois, to help in Tita Rosie’s restaurant. Lila is waiting tables and serves a group of regulars: the “Calendar Crew,” who are “her late mother’s best friends” and her godmothers (3). They tease her about her appearance, and she is hurt by the comments about her weight.

Lila’s ex-boyfriend, Derek, walks into the restaurant. He has been writing negative reviews of the place but is also a regular. She learns that his mother married Lila’s family’s landlord, Mr. Long. He mentions that the rent payment is late, which signals trouble.

In the kitchen, Lila tells her grandmother, Lola Flor, and her aunt, Tita Rosie, about Derek and Mr. Long. Derek snaps rudely at Lila when she comes out of the kitchen to help another table. Lila thinks about Derek’s job as a local food critic in their small town and how Tita Rosie’s feelings are hurt when people “[reject] her food” (9).