The American Roommate Experiment

Lucas and Rosie frequently bond over meals, as befits Lucas’s love of cooking. This allows Elena Armas to showcase their budding relationship and deepen the themes of Imposter Syndrome and Authenticity and Tensions Between Romantic Narratives and Real Life. After their awkward first meeting, Rosie finds Lucas sleeping in a diner. When she discovers he could not get a hotel room due to his missing credit card, she is consumed with guilt. As a peace offering, she gives him sausage rolls she just purchased from a bakery. Lucas is impressed by his roll and says that “it deserves to be seduced and worshipped” (36). This moment gives Rosie a glimpse of the real Lucas, beyond what she knows through Lina and social media. Later, Lucas brings Rosie Cronuts, recalling her craving for them during her existential crisis over her apartment and unfinished novel; they settle on “cronut you” as shorthand for their appreciation for each other (119). Shared meals thus become a symbol of Lucas’s passion, Rosie’s vulnerability, and the couple’s growing trust.

Both Lucas’s experimental dates and his authentic gestures involve food. He makes pizza for Rosie for their second date, and his skills intensify her attraction.