"..."The search for authentic Mexican food"or rather, the struggle to define what that meant—has been going on for two hundred years,†writes Jeffrey Pilcher at Guernica.
"Arguments over national cuisine first divided into factions along historical lines of conquest. Indigenous, corn-based cuisines were pitted against wheat-based European foods, while Tex-Mex cooking has been "industrialized and carried around the world," its processed commodification posing an offense to both indigenous peoples and Spanish elites...
""[C]onquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo referred to corn dishes as the "misery of maize cakes.’ On the other side, the Nahuas were not impressed by the Spaniards’ wheat bread, describing it as ‘famine food.’†Whatever we point to — corn, wheat, etc. — and call "Mexican food," we are sure to be corrected by someone in the know....
"An initial donation of 550 cookbooks has grown to include "over 2,000 titles in English and Spanish," notes UTSA, "documenting the history of Mexican cuisine from 1789 to the present, with most books dating from 1940-2000....' "
Article about this project -- http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/a...ow-online.html
Go direct to the cookbooks -- https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/cus...xicancookbooks
"Arguments over national cuisine first divided into factions along historical lines of conquest. Indigenous, corn-based cuisines were pitted against wheat-based European foods, while Tex-Mex cooking has been "industrialized and carried around the world," its processed commodification posing an offense to both indigenous peoples and Spanish elites...
""[C]onquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo referred to corn dishes as the "misery of maize cakes.’ On the other side, the Nahuas were not impressed by the Spaniards’ wheat bread, describing it as ‘famine food.’†Whatever we point to — corn, wheat, etc. — and call "Mexican food," we are sure to be corrected by someone in the know....
"An initial donation of 550 cookbooks has grown to include "over 2,000 titles in English and Spanish," notes UTSA, "documenting the history of Mexican cuisine from 1789 to the present, with most books dating from 1940-2000....' "
Article about this project -- http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/a...ow-online.html
Go direct to the cookbooks -- https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/cus...xicancookbooks
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