Jeffrey M. Pilcher

The only thing that people like more than eating food is talking about food, and this history of the development of Mexican food offers plenty to talk about. It covers the story of what I consider to be one of the best cuisines in the world, from its various origins in pre-Colombian Mexico, through its struggles to gain respect in the 19th century, and up to the present day as it has been globalized and reinterpreted both by Mexicans and by other cultures. It also offers up plenty of interesting analysis of the politics of food that will have you thinking about different cuisines in new ways.

One of the main things this book should do is remind you of how fragile the concept of "authenticity" is when it comes to food. Mexico is not a monolith; different regions have entirely different traditions of cooking and relationships to what someone might think of as "real" Mexican food. Furthermore, many dishes were created at different periods in time by completely different people. Corn vs flour tortillas, beans vs no beans in chili, burritos vs tacos, hard vs soft shells, cheese vs no cheese, seafood vs red meat, etc., are all regional preferences, some of which result from the division of Mexico after the war in 1848. Are Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex styles not real Mexican just because they happen to have been created across an arbitrary line? What does it mean that iconic staples like tortas (created in the 19th century), fajitas (mid-20th century), or tacos al pastor (late-20th century), were innovated in large part by the French, Laredoans, and Lebanese immigrants respectively? What should Mexicans think about the fact that in Europe their cuisine is often seen as an American food, due to the fact that many restaurants were created by GIs after WW2?

Questions like these have no right answer, but the answers we choose depend a great deal on our understanding of concepts like class and identity. Mexican food has never been a prestige food on the level of, say, French food, because Mexico has never been a prestige country, and some of the most interesting parts in the book concern the internal dialogues in Mexico about how to present "their food" to the world. Was their food an embarrassing relic of the impoverished Indians? A noble relic of the glorious Aztec past that represented the universalistic nature of La Raza Cósmica? A motley assortment of ingredients waiting to be Frenchified and thus made fit to be eaten by foreigners? The Maximiliano-era elite were the ones who set the tone by denigrating anything indigenous, while across the American border Mexican food was given the same contempt that poor Hispanic citizens were. While fetishizing poverty is silly, it's undeniable that people feel stronger emotional connections to what's seen as "food of the people" - thus some people's preference for things like corn tortillas, which you could just as easily could claim symbolize the (literally) grinding poverty of the rural women who had to spend countless hours pulverizing maize into masa by hand. The discrimination and harassment that Hispanic women faced in the US (see the section on the repression of female chili con carne vendors in Depression-era San Antonio) adds another dimension to the story.

Modern capitalism and globalization has had ambiguous effects on Mexican food, which ties back into the question of authenticity. On the one hand, Mexican out-migration coupled with the rise of multinational corporations means that Mexican food has been able to reach a much wider audience than before. On the other hand, a lot of it bears a tenuous relationship to people's idea of Mexican food. Terrible food like Taco Bell, which sprang from the same Southern California soil as McDonalds, is an example of Mexican food blandified and homogenized, because the same agribusinesses that push out local businesses worldwide operate in Mexican food as well. However, who really wants to condemn Korean BBQ food trucks that offer tacos with kimchi or bulgogi quesadillas; aren't those an example of innovation and growth of both cuisines? The book also discusses the effects of trade agreements like NAFTA on farmers in poorer Mexican states like Oaxaca, who have often not done well; perhaps those farmers could follow the model of small-scale Italian or French food producers and try to get legal protections or economic assistance.

Ultimately Mexican food does not and never really has "belonged" to Mexico or Mexicans, which in my mind is a net benefit to the world. The uncontrolled spread of New World crops like corn, chocolate, and chili peppers has benefited countless other cuisines, to the point where most people don't know how interesting it is that jalapeños end up in banh mi, or chocolate is seen as a Swiss specialty. That silent success may not give Mexican food the kind of cachet it really deserves, but I personally will be happy as long as I can continue to eat it.… (mer)

In Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food author Jeffrey M. Pilcher shows beyond a doubt that: "The history of tacos, like eating tacos, is a messy business." (Location 373) He researches the question: what is authentic Mexican food? What is mainly viewed as Mexican fare globally is actually an Americanized version of the cuisine - and beyond that authentic food is difficult to precisely locate because there are a variety of dishes that all vary by region.

Pilcher researches the globalization of Mexican food, as most of us know it today. Along the way he also shares many interesting stories and historical notes in this very interesting, accessible account. Much of what is viewed as Mexican food is really Tex-Mex. For example, Pilcher shows that:
"Following the movement of three basic ingredients from the Mesoamerican kitchen, corn, chilies, and chocolate, can help to reveal the emergence of material and cultural patterns that later contributed to the global reputation of Mexican food. Already in the early modern era, these foods acquired vastly different images among elite and popular sectors. The importance of social distinctions can readily be seen in the case of yet another New World plant, the tomato." (Location 635-638)

For those interested in the history of a cuisine and how trade influenced the spread of it, Pilcher is thorough. He exams the history of Mexican food and follows it to today. Along the way he discusses how the cuisine was changed and how it spread world wide.

For all the nonfiction fans out there who appreciate documentation and sources as much as I do, Pilcher includes 46 photos as well as a glossary, select bibliography, notes, and an index. (Yes!)

Warning: you will be craving Mexican/ Tex-Mex food while reading. (Thankfully the weather changed here and with a Fall chill in the air, I made a big pot of chili. I had been eyeing Taco Bell after work.)


Very Highly Recommended, especially for foodies who love history.


Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Oxford University Press and Netgalley for review purposes.
… (mer)