Taco Bell, Maseca, and Slow Food: A Postmodern Apocalypse for Mexico's Peasant Cuisine?
Abstract
This discussion of the slow food-fast food revolution in Mexico focuses on the tortilla, a staple of the country's peasant cuisine, an occasional part of the diet of most Mexicans, & today a global food, fried as the shell for tacos, sold worldwide by Taco Bell & other fast food franchises. For centuries, rural women rose before dawn to grind the corn into flour, combine it with water, knead the dough, shape it into round flat patties, & bake the tortillas -- all before the men left for the fields. Making good tortillas was a talent required of women. The first change came with a mechanical grinder, which was denigrated at first by the peasant women, but then accepted because it gave them time to engage in other work. Then small factories developed that made tortillas but also sold ground corn to those who wanted to make their own. With industrialization came the rise of Grupo Maseca, a multinational producer of masa harina, or corn flour. Still there were those who insisted that there was no substitute for fresh hand-ground corn flour. Eventually the fast food tortillas & tacos made their way back to Mexico. At present, slow food, moderate-speed food, & fast food coexist. References. J. Stanton
Themen
Culture, Diet, Factories, Food, Food Industry, Industrialization, Mexico, Peasants, Womens Roles
Sprachen
Englisch
Verlag
Altamira Press
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