Food has many different uses in literature. This semester food has been analyzed in different ways, showing how it can transform and influence the character more than just him. In Jessica Soffer's novel Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, she presented readers with an overwhelming ordeal that uprooted a family and affected more people than previously thought. Although the use of food, Soffer develops each character differently. As food changes Lorca and Nancy, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots can be compared to another story we read earlier in the year. “Tender at the Bone: The Queen of Mold” by Ruth Reichl also uses food to show how different people can be. This essay will discuss what each of these authors did by developing each character differently with food and how food shapes each character. Reading each piece it is evident that each story has comparative properties that show that food can be used to develop a character more than without food. This will be a comparative analysis of the two stories mentioned above. Lorca's mother, Nancy, did everything best for herself and for Lorca, her daughter. Nancy still faces tribulations that test her as a single parent; he is unable to show love and affection to his daughter in a normal way. Being a well-liked chef, Nancy spends most of her time at her restaurant instead of helping her daughter become a real woman. This has a negative effect on the development of Nancy and Lorca's relationship as they left her husband to continue his joy of cooking professionally. Cooking food is Nancy's way of distracting herself from the pain Lorca is causing her. Nancy agrees to fight to show her love towards... middle of paper... people who have drifted apart, create a distraction from a looming situation, and as a way to bring people together. While each character is different in both stories, they all have the same ideals that food develops a character into something more than just themselves. Food helps them love, without it Lorca and Nancy would have nothing in common. Food also brings people together. As Reichl and his mother cook for the party, happiness and affection are put into what his mother is preparing. Even though everyone gets sick from food, Reichl learned how people develop through food and how food can create love, hope, and a new beginning. Works Cited Soffer, Jessica. Tomorrow there will be apricots: a novel. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1013. Print.Reichl, Ruth. “Tender to the bone: the queen of mold.” : Food + Cooking: Gourmet.com. Gourmet.com, 2009. Web. 29 April. 2014.