"Que Vivan Los Tamales!"

Paper Summary:

The paper reviews Jeffrey Pilcher's book, "Que Vivan los Tamales!", which takes a light-hearted, but still informative, look at the history of Mexican cuisine and European colonial influence on the cultural and economic development of the Central American nation. The paper discusses how, according to Pilcher, the culinary difference between Europeans and Mexicans was first highlighted by the Mexican Indian's reliance upon corn as a staple carbohydrate product versus the European's use of wheat. The paper explores how traditional Mexican cuisine became the subject of a contentious debate between Mexicans themselves of different classes and ethnic and regional backgrounds. The paper concludes that today that evolution continues, as Mexican cuisine becomes both more corporate and Americanized in the form of Taco Bell, yet also more beloved and celebrated by local inhabitants of the Mexican nation.

From the Paper:

"However, Pilcher suggests that such a view of Mexican cuisine is not only rooted in the aristocratic Mexican self-hatred and their faulty critical thinking about race, anthropological and historical development, but is also erroneous in terms of an understanding of the relationship between agriculture, climate, and national geography. Corn simply grows better in Mexico than other grains because of the hot, dry, climate. Pilcher paints an absurdist picture of elite Mexicans attempting to mimic the Europeans by eschewing adobe houses because of the brick's associations with Mexican Indians and peasants, and instead building overheated European-style mansions, all the while demanding to consume wheat-based products rather than cheaper, more plentiful and better-tasting products made with locally grown corn."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Pilcher, Jeffrey. Que Vivan los Tamales. University of New Mexico Press, 1998.

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