Arsenic and Adobo

The contrast between food service work and illegal or unofficial forms of work is a lens through which Arsenic and Adobo explores economic vulnerability and class dynamics. As the narrative unfolds, Lila’s family and Shady Palm’s other working-class restaurant owners grapple with the reality of economic vulnerability in the face of both legal and illegal threats.

The temporary closure of Tita Rosie’s Kitchen illustrates Lila and her family’s economic vulnerability. Lila grew up in the restaurant industry. She reflects, “Tita Rosie had been running that place almost my entire life” (24). Her working-class identity and background in food service are principal elements of Lila’s characterization. When the police tell the Macapagal family, “[Your] kitchen is closed and you cannot serve food out of it until this investigation is over” (41), this is a devastating blow financially. The family’s position as renters also exemplifies their precarity. At the beginning of the book, Rosie and her family are renting their building “on the Main Street strip of downtown” (84). Not owning their property makes them vulnerable to the illegal scams that their landlord runs with the health inspector and Derek.

As Lila’s family struggles with the closure of their restaurant, Lila and Adeena take on the unpaid, unofficial roles of sleuths, underscoring the importance of unofficial labor in sustaining communities amidst economic vulnerability. The friends started sleuthing in high school when their school mascot was stolen. Lila remembers, “Adeena and I had teamed up to investigate our rival school and saved the day” (46). Derek, on the other hand, began to get into dealing drugs in high school, illegal work that Lila was oblivious to until after his death. Lila and Adeena return to sleuthing to clear Rosie’s name. Their commitment to solving the case and protecting both Rosie’s restaurant and other restaurants highlights the role of unofficial, unpaid work in keeping struggling communities afloat.

Lila and Adeena’s unofficial investigation stands in contrast to the police’s official investigation, which is easily undermined by Mr. Long as part of his scheme against Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. Mr. Long calls in an “anonymous tip leading [the police] to believe that the rice was purposely contaminated with arsenic” (76). Mr. Long’s false tip highlights how landlords are in a position to harm the people renting from them. The police have to wait for the medical examiner to run tests on Derek. One of Lila’s godmothers, Mae, wonders, “Why wouldn’t they test for everything?” (121). Her question suggests that the case against the Macapagals is a low priority in the department. By exploiting the official police investigation to further his scheme, Mr. Long reveals how power imbalances and corruption can manipulate the justice system in favor of those with greater economic and social status.

Mr. Long’s false tip skewing the police investigation mirrors how Derek, Mr. Long, and the health inspector’s scam utilizes both illegal and legal labor. Derek “chose a local place, frequented it for a month or so, wrote a bunch of vicious reviews about the place, then [...] moved on to the next one” (111). Just like Mr. Long uses the police system to further his goals, the scammers use the newspaper, the Shady Palms News, to harm small businesses. The scammers’ use of legitimate institutions like law enforcement and the press to accomplish their illegal goals underscores the precariousness of small businesses vulnerable to these manipulative tactics.