This exciting volume brings to life the food culture of Mexico, detailing the development of the cuisine and providing practical information about ingredients and cooking techniques so that readers can replicate some of Mexico's most important traditional dishes. Mexican food has become one of the most popular cuisines in the United States, with noted dishes ranging from tacos and enchiladas to tamales and guacamole. What are the origins of Mexican food culture as we know it today? Written with an educated—not specialized—audience in mind, the book includes descriptions of traditional and high cuisine, regional and national foods, everyday dishes and those prepared and served on holidays and special occasions. It also discusses ancestral eating habits and the way the food has been transformed under the pressures of globalization. Specific chapters examine food history, important ingredients, typical appetizers, main meals, desserts, street foods and snacks, dining out, and food issues and dietary concerns. Recipes accompany every chapter. Rounding out the work are a chronology of food history, a glossary, sidebars, and a bibliography. This volume is ideal for any students learning about Mexican food and culture, as well as general readers who would like to learn more about international cuisines.

Since ancient times, the most important foods in the Mexican diet have been corn, beans, squash, tomatillos, and chile peppers. The role of these ingredients in Mexican food culture through the centuries is the basis of this volume. In addition, students and general readers will discover the panorama of food traditions in the context of European contact in the sixteenth century—when the Spaniards introduced new foodstuffs, adding variety to the diet—and the profound changes that have occurred in Mexican food culture since the 1950s. Recent improvements in technology, communications, and transportation, changing women's roles, and migration from country to city and to and from the United States have had a much greater impact. Their basic, traditional diet served the Mexican people well, providing them with wholesome nutrition and sufficient energy to live, work, and reproduce, as well as to maintain good health. Chapter 1 traces the origins of the Mexican diet and overviews food history from pre-Hispanic times to recent developments. The principal foods of Mexican cuisine and their origins are explained in the second chapter. Mexican women have always been responsible for everyday cooking, including the intensive preparation of grinding corn, peppers, and spices by hand, and a chapter is devoted to this work and a discussion of how traditional ways are supplemented today with modern conveniences and kitchen aids such as blenders and food processors. Surveys of class and regional differences in typical meals and cuisines present insight into the daily lives of a wide variety of Mexicans. The Mexican way of life is also illuminated in chapters on eating out, whether at the omnipresent street stalls or at fondas, and special occasions, including the main fiestas and rites of passage. A final chapter on diet and health discusses current health concerns, particularly malnutrition, anemia, diabetes, and obesity.

Latino cuisine has always been a part of American foodways, but the recent growth of a diverse Latino population in the form of documented and undocumented immigrants, refugees, and exiles has given rise to a pan-Latino food phenomenon. These various food cultures in the United States are expertly overviewed here together in depth for the first time. Many Mexican American, Cuban American, Puerto Ricans, Dominican American, and Central and South American communities in the United States are considered transnational because they actively participate in the economy, politics, and culture of both the United States and their countries of origin. The pan-Latino food culture that is emerging in the United States is also a transnational phenomenon that constantly nurtures and is nurtured by national and regional cuisines. They all combine in kaleidoscopic ways their shared gastronomic wealth of Spanish and Amerindian cuisines with different African, European and Asian culinary traditions. This book discusses the ongoing development of Latino food culture, giving special attention to how Latinos are adapting and transforming Latin American and international elements to create one of the most vibrant cuisines today. This is essential reading for crucial cultural insight into Latinos from all backgrounds. Readers will learn about the diverse elements of an evolving pan-Latino food culture-the history of the various groups and their foodstuffs, cooking, meals and eating habits, special occasions, and diet and health. Representative recipes and photos are interspersed in the essays. A chronology, glossary, resource guide, and bibliography make this a one-stop resource for every library.

This comprehensive reference work introduces food culture from more than 150 countries and cultures around the world—including some from remote and unexpected peoples and places. From babka to baklava to the groundnut stew of Ghana, food culture can tell us where we've been—and maybe even where we're going. Filled with succinct, yet highly informative entries, the four-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia covers all of the planet's nation-states, as well as various tribes and marginalized peoples. Thus, in addition to coverage on countries as disparate as France, Ethiopia, and Tibet, there are also entries on Roma Gypsies, the Maori of New Zealand, and the Saami of northern Europe. There is even a section on food in outer space, detailing how and what astronauts eat and how they prepare for space travel as far as diet and nutrition are concerned. Each entry offers information about foodstuffs, meals, cooking methods, recipes, eating out, holidays and celebrations, and health and diet. Vignettes help readers better understand other cultures, while the inclusion of selected recipes lets them recreate dishes from other lands.

Since ancient times, the most important foods in the Mexican diet have been corn, beans, squash, tomatillos, and chile peppers. The role of these ingredients in Mexican food culture through the centuries is the basis of this volume. In addition, students and general readers will discover the panorama of food traditions in the context of European contact in the sixteenth century—when the Spaniards introduced new foodstuffs, adding variety to the diet—and the profound changes that have occurred in Mexican food culture since the 1950s. Recent improvements in technology, communications, and transportation, changing women's roles, and migration from country to city and to and from the United States have had a much greater impact. Their basic, traditional diet served the Mexican people well, providing them with wholesome nutrition and sufficient energy to live, work, and reproduce, as well as to maintain good health. Chapter 1 traces the origins of the Mexican diet and overviews food history from pre-Hispanic times to recent developments. The principal foods of Mexican cuisine and their origins are explained in the second chapter. Mexican women have always been responsible for everyday cooking, including the intensive preparation of grinding corn, peppers, and spices by hand, and a chapter is devoted to this work and a discussion of how traditional ways are supplemented today with modern conveniences and kitchen aids such as blenders and food processors. Surveys of class and regional differences in typical meals and cuisines present insight into the daily lives of a wide variety of Mexicans. The Mexican way of life is also illuminated in chapters on eating out, whether at the omnipresent street stalls or at fondas, and special occasions, including the main fiestas and rites of passage. A final chapter on diet and health discusses current health concerns, particularly malnutrition, anemia, diabetes, and obesity.

Regional American food culture still exists and is strongest in more rural, homogenous areas of the country. Regional foods are a major component of regional identities, and Americans make a big to-do about their home-grown favorites. The current food cultures of the major American regions-northeast/New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the West, the Midwest-and subregions are illuminated here like never before. Everyone knows something about the iconic fare of a region, such as Soul Food in the South and New England clam bakes, but with this resource readers are able to delve wider and deeper into how Americans from Alaska to Hawaii to the Amish country of the Midwest to the Eastern Seaboard sustain themselves and what their food lifestyles are today. The unique regional food cultures that have developed according to natural resources and population are increasingly affected by social and economic trends. Increasingly mobile Americans generally have access to the same fast food and supermarket chain offerings, read the same mass market food magazines and watch the cable food shows, and younger generations may have less time to continue family food traditions such as baking the ethnic breads and desserts that their mothers did. Regional American Food Culture discusses the various traditions within the context of a new millennium. Narrative chapters describe the background of the regional food culture, what the primary foods are, how the food is cooked and by whom, what the typical meals are, how food is used in special occasions, and diet and health issues in the regions. A chronology, resource guide, selected bibliography, and illustrations complement the text.

This single volume reference resource offers students, scholars, and general readers alike an in-depth background on Mexico, from the complexity of its pre-Columbian civilizations to its social and political development in the context of Western civilization. How did modern Mexico become a nation of multicultural diversity and rich indigenous traditions? What key roles do Mexico's non-Western, pre-Columbian indigenous heritage and subsequent development as a major center in the Spanish colonial empire play the country's identity today? How is Mexico today both Western and non-Western, part Native American and part European, simultaneously traditional and modern? Modern Mexico is a thematic encyclopedia that broadly covers the nation's history, both ancient and modern; its government, politics, and economics; as well as its culture, religion traditions, philosophy, arts, and social structures. Additional topics include industry, labor, social classes and ethnicity, women, education, language, food, leisure and sport, and popular culture. Sidebars, images, and a Day in the Life feature round out the coverage in this accessible, engaging volume. Readers will come to understand how Mexico and the Mexican people today are the result of the processes of transculturation, globalization, and civilizational contact.

This book uses food as a lens through which to explore important matters of society and culture. In exploring why and how people eat around the globe, the text focuses on issues of health, conflict, struggle, contest, inequality, and power. Whether because of its necessity, pleasure, or ubiquity, the world of food (and its lore) proves endlessly fascinating to most people. The story of food is a narrative filled with both human striving and human suffering. However, many of today's diners are only dimly aware of the human price exacted for that comforting distance from the lived-world realities of food justice struggles. With attention to food issues ranging from local farming practices to global supply chains, this book examines how food’s history and geography remain inextricably linked to sociopolitical experiences of trauma connected with globalization, such as colonization, conquest, enslavement, and oppression. The main text is structured alphabetically around a set of 70 ingredients, from almonds to yeast. Each ingredient's story is accompanied by recipes. Along with the food profiles, the encyclopedia features sidebars. These are short discussions of topics of interest related to food, including automats, diners, victory gardens, and food at world’s fairs. This project also brings a social justice perspective to its content—weighing debates concerning food access, equity, insecurity, and politics.

Human populations that have recently undergone substantial changes in their traditional social, cultural, and dietary habits have shown an increased susceptibility to developing chronic diet-related diseases concerning their genetic background. One factor is that the population's adaptive genetic variants related to its evolutionary history are exposed to different physical and lifestyle environments that underlie and influence the current patterns of disease risk. Under this perspective, the current obesogenic environment has promoted the acculturation of a westernized diet disrupting the ancestral gene-foods/nutrients/bioactive compounds interactions, i.e., ancestral genetic/ethnic profile vs. modern lifestyle. Modern lifestyles, including unhealthy dietary patterns, have further impaired the consumption of staple foods with essential nutrients and functional properties, increasing the incidence of obesity and associated comorbidities. However, most conventional nutrition approaches targeting chronic diseases have limited impact on managing the leading non-communicable diseases affecting modern societies.