It is easy to think of food as just a necessity to survive, but in reality there are so many other factors that tie in with the meals we consume and our identities. In the presentation, “Carne: Identity” Rodrigo Rentería-Valencia introduces the concept on how carne asada is an index for Mexican culture, and the gathering of friends and family in these Mexican communities. In my own words, I define an index as an indicator of something else, for example- different foods can be an index for a specific culture, location, tradition, etc. I will take Tamales as another example of an index to Mexican culture and tradition that links to the celebration of Christmas. In the article, “Grandma's Tamales Family revives Christmas Tradition of Food and …show more content…
One of the things that have not changed however would be the army of female cooks that make these tamales, as well as the quantity of them too. A Christmas without Tamales would not feel like Christmas at all since it is usually the menu for every Mexican household during the holidays. Both my parents migrated to the US from Mexico, but they did not leave their traditions as we still make tamales every Christmas. It is a process that usually takes the whole day as we prepare the masa, meat, and cut the vegetables (potatoes, carrots, and jalapenos) in the mornings, then put together the tamale, and later put them all in that giant pot until it is finally cooked and ready to eat usually until dinner. Although the army of women who make these tamales in my household are only a small number of four, we still put forth the same amount of power and fuel until we have our pot of a hundred
At the heart of ¡Que Vivan Los Tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, Jeffrey Pilcher attempts to find an answer to whether food plays a part in forming national character with a focus on interpreting Mexican national identity. Pilcher begins by stating, “while people have long recognized the connections between cuisine and identity, the aphorism that you are what you eat has seldom been applied to the study of modern nationalism” (2). Mexican cuisine is one of the most popular in the world, and it is made
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
Coming from a mexican culture, I am blessed to have a rich variety of traditional delicious home made recipes. Most people my age always salivate to the idea of their grandmothers making that amazing dinner. Mostly all americans can agree on the superb taste of the mexican food, and one of my favorites and most traditional of them all is the famous “Mole sauce”. It is made on special occasions such as birthdays, christmas, new years, and teenagers first communion at the church. This complex dark red spicy/sweet sauce has a legend behind its creation. It is believed in the mexican culture that it was made for the first time at the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla early in the colonial period. The convent nuns went into panic one day as they found out the archbishop was paying them a visit and they had nothing to prepare for him due to lack of wealth. The nuns prayed and put together the scraps of ingredients that they had left including chilli peppers, day old bread, nuts, some chocolate and spices. After they killed a turkey, cooked it and served it with the sauce on top, the archbishop fell in love with the dish. They asked the nuns about the dish and they responded truthfully with “I made a Mole” which is the anctient word for mix in spanish. There is also a few variations of this sauce within the mexican community, but the one I will be instructing you how to make is the traditional recipe that my grandmother learned from her grandmother; Mole poblano.
In this Essay, I will enlighten you about the “Dia de los Muertos” in the Spanish culture. It will contain the history of the holiday, the events that go on during it, and the food eaten on that day. One thing that you must remember is that Dia de los Muertos traditions vary from town to town because Mexico is not culturally monolithic.
Growing up in a Mexican-American family can be very fun and crazy. Having two different perspectives on two different cultures almost daily really shapes you to become a certain way as you grow up, which is what happened to me. Ever since I was about three months old I have been taking trips to my parents home town for a month time each time we have gone. Practically growing up in both Mexico and the United States for six years has really helped me understand my cultural background and the different parts of my whole culture, such as the food, heritage, language and culture.
This research project is focused on how food exists to not only help us survive, but also for helping to create and shape identities, especially the national identity for Mexico. I will approach this topic primarily through a discussion on the formation of Mexican cuisine, but also about how food tells us stories about history, art, tradition, globalization, authenticity, and on gendered food identities, particularly on the role of women and their sense of empowerment through the evolution of Mexican cuisine. Mexico’s ethnic food was a part of their culture, but it became problematic when the Europeans brought with them a variety of new foods and looked at Mexican food as suspicious
In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture.
Introduction The phrase, “We are what we eat” holds some essential validity and truth to it. Food is a constituent feature of our environmental ties to where we subside. It is a part of our daily lives. It can act as a form of communication with other individuals. Food can be an indicator of the nutrition idiosyncratic cultural groups are practicing.
Tamales are an important North and Central American food and have been around since as late as eight thousand B.C. They have an incredible and expansive history shaped by many areas and many peoples. Tamales are important culturally and ritually in a variety of places both near and far. The process of making tamales is very time consuming and has many steps that all must be attended to with care. There are many different types of tamales, which are all served in different ways. Tamales are vary important and have been since their invention. Despite all the change that has occurred in the world, tamales have remained a staple in Central American cuisine.
The rich warm smells of Mexican spices permeate our house during every season. Family and our Mexican culture is an issue that is important to my family and me. I was born and raised in the United States; however I am still deeply rooted in my Mexican culture.
If there is one place in Naples that I never get tired of going to, and where I can have fun just by basking in the ambiance of its atmosphere, it’s the authentic Mexican restaurant, Cilantro Tamales. At first glance the restaurant seems to be in an inconspicuous spot, lying in a strip mall containing a no-name music store and consignment shop. However, despite the location, Cilantro Tamales stands out from all other restaurants or gathering places.
I definitely identify most with modern American culture. Although I am half Hispanic and half white, I was raised more “white” than Hispanic (e.g. food, language, holidays, music, etc.). On the surface you can see a white American, English speaking, femininely dressed young lady, but I am much more than what is on the outside. Like I stated earlier I was raised more “white”, but I still identify a little with my Hispanic culture. In this paper I will be addressing 10 surface and 10 deep aspects of my cultural identity.
Finding it hard to accept the social identities put forth by society, many Mexicans find ways to disassociate with the Mexican race and assimilate into the white society and creating a new social identity for themselves. Many Mexicans did what they could to be accepted into the white society for example through wealth or marriage. Mexicans who acquires wealth, named the Mexican elite, found it easier to incorporate into the white society by serving for the U.S government. As mentioned in Gomez’s book, “Mexican elite’ allegiance to the Americans was strengthening by their incorporation into the system as jurors… their incorporation by the Americans served to divide Mexican elites from other Mexicans.” (Gomez, 40) As Gomez explains, assimilating
The United States was founded by immigrants; its whole culture consists of immigrant’s contribution to it along with their hard work and sacrifice. If it weren’t for Mexican immigrants the Mexican Americans, who were behind some of the major social movements of the 20th century, would not have been able to accomplish all that they did. Mexican American culture and politics was shaped by the three waves of migration after and during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War which created new identities, social movements, and migration laws.
Food is traditionally considered as a simple means of subsistence but has developed to become filled with cultural, psychological, religious, and emotional significance. Consequently, food is currently used as a means of defining shared identities and symbolizes religious and group customs. In the early 17th and 18th centuries, this mere means of subsistence was considered as a class maker but developed to become a symbol of national identity in the 19th centuries. In the United States, food has been influenced by various cultures such as Native American, Latin America, and Asian cultures. Consequently, Americans have constantly Americanized the foods of different cultures to become American foods. The process on how Americans have Americanized different cultures’ foods and reasons for the Americanization is an important topic of discussion.