Taste, Politics, and Identities in Mexican Food

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.
Drawing 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.