Taste, politics, and identities in Mexican food / edited by Steffan Igor Ayora-Díaz.

ISBN:

9781350066700

Title:

Author:

Ayora Díaz, Steffan Igor, editor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

General Note:

Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily.

Contents:

Introduction : the politics of taste and identity -- Matters of taste : the politics of food and identity in Mexican cuisines / Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz -- A touch of pre-Colombian Maya flavor / Lilia Fernández-Souza -- Gastronomy and the origins of republicanism in Mexico / Sarah Bak-Geller Corona -- Alcohol consumption patterns among different social groups during Yucatan's gilded age / Héctor Hernández Álvarez and Guadalupe Cámara Gutiérrez -- The flavors of corn : a unique combination of tradition and nature / Mario Fernández-Zarza and Ignacio López Moreno -- A taste for agave : the emerging practices and politics of mezcal connoisseurship / Ronda Brulotte -- Making and changing Yucatecan taste in Yucatán : innovation and persistence in Yucatecan gastronomy / Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz -- The life delicious : taste and politics in Merida, Yucatan / Gabriela Vargas-Cetina -- To eat chapulines in Oaxaca, Mexico : one food, many flavors / Jeffrey H. Cohen and Paulette Schuster -- The taste of Oaxaca : it's to die for! / Ramona L. Pérez -- Dos Equis and Five Rabitt : beer and taste in greater Mexico / Jeffrey M. Pilcher -- Diffused palates : the evolution of culinary tastes of Jewish Mexicans living in Israel / Paulette Schuster -- Defining sanitized taste and culinary tourism in Cozumel, Mexico / Christine Vassallo-Oby -- Is there Mexican food? : taste and the politics of cultural identity / Richard Wilk.

Subject Term:

Food habits -- Mexico.

Cooking, Mexican -- Social aspects.

National characteristics, Mexican.

Added Author:

Ayora Díaz, Steffan Igor,

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2019

Publication Information:

London ;

New York :

Bloomsbury Academic,

2019.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
394.120972 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

This book examines the history, archaeology, and anthropology of Mexican taste. Contributors analyze how the contemporary identity of Mexican food has been created and formed through concepts of taste, and how this national identity is adapted and moulded through change and migration.wing on case studies with a focus on Mexico, but also including Israel and the United States, the contributors examine how local and national identities, the global market of gastronomic tourism, and historic transformations in trade, production, the kitchen space and appliances shape the taste of Mexican food and drink.Chapters include an exploration of the popularity of Mexican beer in the United States by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, an examination of the experience of eating chapulines in Oaxaca by Paulette Schuster and Jeffrey H. Cohen, an investigation into transformations of contemporary Yucatecan gastronomy by Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz, and an afterword from Richard Wilk. Together, the contributors demonstrate how taste itself is shaped through a history of social and cultural practices.

Author Notes

Steffen Igor Ayora-Diaz is Professor of Anthropology at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Mexico. He was formerly President of the Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. He is author of Foodscapes, Foodfields and Idenitities in Yucatan (2012), and editor of Cooking Technology (2016).

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Twelve essays, plus an introduction and afterword, make up this edited volume on Mexican food. Most of the essays deal with Oaxaca and the Yucatan Peninsula. Yucatan studies range from pre-Columbian Maya food to alcohol consumption on the haciendas, taste changes, festivals, and even the food served to cruise-ship tourists on Cozumel Island. Oaxaca studies include the rise of mezcal as a high-status drink and the unfortunate continuance of the use of poisonous lead glazes on ceramics. Others examine the rise of gastronomy in 19th-century Mexico and the flavors of maize. A notable essay by Jeffrey Pilcher, covers Mexican pulque and beer; another examines Mexican food in Israel. The excellent introduction locates the studies within the anthropology of food, concisely applying current theories of food in society. Richard Wilk's "Postface" adds valuable general context. This information-packed volume gives readers a strong sense of the rapid changes in Mexican food over the last two centuries. It also stresses enormous variety; Mexico is home to countless cuisines, most of them closely related but some very distinct. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in Mexican culture--but beware of reading on an empty stomach! Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above; general readers. --Eugene N. Anderson, emeritus, University of California, Riverside