Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (Diálogos Series) - Softcover

Pilcher, Jeffrey M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826318738 ISBN 13: 9780826318732

Publisher: UNM Press, 1998

Synopsis

This cultural history of food in Mexico traces the influence of gender, race, and class on food preferences from Aztec times to the present.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Minnesota. He is also author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, Cantinflas and the Chaos of Mexican Modernity, The Human Tradition in Mexico, and Food in World History. He edited the Oxford Handbook of Food History.

Reviews

This delightful approach to the history of Mexico examines how food has affected and mirrored the development of nationalism in the country. Pilcher (history, The Citadel) describes the early colonial conflict between the Mexican natives' consumption of corn and the European use of wheat. Tracing this conflict through the colonial period into the 20th century, he shows periodic attempts by Mexican elites and governmental officials to define Mexican culture and identity through a Europeanization of foods. That process essentially ended in the 1940s when the popular foods of the country were proclaimed to be the Mexican cuisine, resulting in a fusion of the two traditions. This well-written book highlights the interaction of the regional and national and the role of women in developing a national identity. Of interest to most academic libraries, it belongs in many public libraries as well.?Mark L. Grover, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: UNM Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826318738
• ISBN 13: 9780826318732
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 253