Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity

by Jeffrey M. Pilcher

Connections between what people eat and who they are--between cuisine and identity--reach deep into Mexican history, beginning with pre-Columbian inhabitants offering sacrifices of human flesh to maize gods in hope of securing plentiful crops. This cultural history of food in Mexico traces the influence of gender, race, and class on food preferences from Aztec times to the present and relates cuisine to the formation of national identity. The metate and mano , used by women for grinding corn and chiles since pre-Columbian times, remained essential to preparing such Mexican foods as tamales, tortillas, and mole poblano well into the twentieth century. Part of the ongoing effort by intellectuals and political leaders to Europeanize Mexico was an attempt to replace corn with wheat. But native foods and flavors persisted and became an essential part of indigenista ideology and what it meant to be authentically Mexican after 1940, when a growing urban middle class appropriated the popular native foods of the lower class and proclaimed them as national cuisine.

Genres: Food, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, School, Food History, Read For School

253 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

Reviews

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Food is a political weapon. Sometime back I found myself in a facility where half the population was composed of Black males. When the Martin Luther King holiday came around the older Original Guys got plenty hot when the government served us all, once again, a fried chicken meal, while the young newbies just wanted a great treat for chow. Jeffrey Pilcher, an old colleague of mine, brings home the same point in his study of Mexican food from pre-Columbian times to the end of the twentieth century. Tamales, tacos, burritos and sundry are all swords wielded by the indigenous to preserve and pass on Mexico's Indian heritage. Another factor is gender, since these foods are still mostly prepared and often sold by women. Study history and you will see that mother's cooking is the last thing a conqueror can take away from a people. The Spaniards coopted many of these delicacies to win over indigenous allies, while introducing beef product to turn Indians into Mestizos. When the Americans came after the 1910 Revolution, and particularly post-World War II, they flooded Mexico with fast food: MacDonalds, KFC and even Taco Bell! (Fake Mexican food sold back to real Mexicans.) Jeff's book is a delight for both food lovers and historians, and that would be all of us.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historical scholarship of this book spans centuries and yet is a shorter read. The scope of this work is broad which means there are points left unanswered in places as the author attempts to place modern history in relation to pre-Colonial history. Overall, well researched and an interesting read regarding the industrialization of foodways in a diverse and expansive nation. I simply wanted another 50 pages to go in depth where I scribbled “why???” In my margins.

[Yossi Khebzou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué vivan los tamales es la historia de una identidad colectiva en México. Conocer la historia por medio de la comida es conocerla íntima y cotidianamente. Desde los banquetes de Moctezuma hasta la invención de la Maseca, México ha estado íntimamente ligado a su comida desde antes de su concepción. No obstante, este libro también es una historia de clasismo y opresión: ilustra los esfuerzos de una clase socioeconómica dominante que trata de suprimir alimentos que percibe como “indígenas” y cambiarlas por comidas europeas o americanas, según la aspiración de la época. Tal fue el caso fascinante de la tortilla, que hasta alrededor de los años no era aceptada por un sector de la sociedad y se le atribuía el retraso del país, justificado por una clase de darwinismo social nutriológico. Asimismo, el autor plantea la historia del machismo a través de la tortilla, y la liberación de la mujer después de la invención de la máquina del nixtamal. Sumamente interesante.

[Niki Ganong · Rating 3 out of 5]

It lacks flow, but the subject matter is interesting. It presumes that you know alot about Meso America. Still, it's an interesting, if disjointed view on food (esp. corn vs. wheat) in Mexican history.

[Emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siempre será raro leer a un gringo hablar sobre tamales, pero muy bien documentado y súper interesante para entender cómo se ha construido una identidad nacional.

[Jansen Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me over a year to finish, but I don’t think that was because of the content itself. I kinda struggled to get into a groove with this text. I really enjoyed the actual information that this text was discussing and the various international implications that are inferred and discussed. I think due to the formatting of the physical book I was reading (super big pages just loaded with tiny text) alongside the authors decision to have a loose timeline within the book made it difficult for me to fully get into.

I was recommended this book with the caveat that it was easier to read as an assigned text for a class and unfortunately I do agree with that sentiment. It was somewhat difficult to keep my perspective straight with the varying subjects that didn’t like fully connect from chapter to chapter. As well as the previously mentioned lack of solid timeline. It was hard to read about 1910 Mexican figures and their history and then in the next sentence jump to 1980s restaurants and their stories. All together I still really liked this book which is why I gave it 4 starts but I found it difficult to fully follow and get into the book as a whole.

I enjoyed learning about Mexican history and the way that food has played a part in that. I am definitely walking away from this book with a better understanding of how food and more specifically the idea of national cuisine (and identity) can be used to influence people and their perspectives. The sections on corn vs wheat were very informative and were interesting discussions of failures of colonization. I think this whole book showed how often times more rural communities are able to hold on to their identity as they are marginalized both by their own society and by imperialism. I thought it was also interesting however that a lot of the dishes that are seen as part of the Mexican identity at the end of this book were the dishes so harshly criticized at the beginning. Which of course the author points and discusses. But I really liked the focus on these often marginalized communities that truly do determine many of the factors that impact mainstream society.

Overall, I really liked this book, I think having some kind of guiding questions or topics to focus on would help make it easier to read but I enjoyed learning this information.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a meticulous overview of the evolution of Mexican cuisine, putting the question of national identity and distinctions at its core. Part of the efficacy of Pilcher’s argument is that he maps the diversity of Mexican culinary history against the diversity of the bodies of colonial Mexico, in which “every major race of humanity was represented,” well beyond merely a discourse of indigenous versus colonizer. That tastes would initially be safeguarded for the purposes of spirituality is unsurprising, and that they would take on polemic significance (as he notes in the extended chapter conflating corn tortilla consumption with indigenous anti-modernity). But that this would also be an expected part of nation-making, and explicitly articulated as such in the archival materials he accesses, makes it doubly interesting. The power of whose voices and traditions prevailed in Mexican culture is ultimately a very interesting one, one that initially rejects indigenous history but then returns to it under a fresh independence-driven embrace of mestizo heritage. Dominant tastes were something that not just produced subordination, but also produced cultural power and endurance in articulating exactly how Mexico was--or was not--a product of colonial influence. The best work Pilcher is doing here is getting us to think about the necessity of imagining culinary culture as a path to making Mexican identity coherent and legible (and exportable). A good companion piece to McWilliams’ A Revolution in Eating, but with many more potential applications to understanding power and cuisine today.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting view on how cuisine affects culture. Very interesting, and I want to know if this is unique to Mexican culture or if there are other cultures that were so dramatically affected by cuisine (I think the argument is yes). The history was not so cut and dry, and he jumped around a lot in terms of dates and ideas. But overall, a good book!

[Raquelle Banuelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

really entertaining and informative, not just on the history of mexican cuisine but on mexican political history and how that influenced the creation of a national identity (or the attempt to create one). prepare snacks while you read <3

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant work of both history and food writing.

[Alison]

read this for class im so smart💋

[Corrie Beebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit I did not read this book cover to cover, but I did read the majority of it. It is an interesting look at the role of corn in the culture and cuisine of Mexico dating back to the Aztecs. Pilcher examines the role of corn throughout time, the meshing of European cuisine based on wheat with the traditional Mesoamerican cuisine based on corn, and how over time, politics, religion, and the national food of Mexico came to be, and how corn played a role in all of it.

[Todd Stansbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. We have an excellent exploration of how food shapes the identity of a people. In this case, it is about corn and the identity of the Mexican people. Pilcher shows just how important corn is to the people, and by extension how important it was to people who wanted to keep the people of Mexico either subservient to them.

[Daniela Corona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que sin duda los amantes de la cocina mexicana deberían tener al alcance de la mano. Es una pena que los mayores investigadores de nuestras raíces culinarias sean extranjeros. Me encanta que puedan plasmar tan bien los sabores y olores de mi país. Ampliamente recomendado ¡Viva el maíz!

[Melissa Tamayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt he was very repetitive at times, but it's a very cool way of telling the history of Mexico through the tasty comida.

[Jorge Magaña · Rating 5 out of 5]

GOOD

[Kookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for anyone interested in food history.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of college curriculum.

[Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of Mexico through food. Super interesting and a fresh way to examine history.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best monographs around.