Planet Taco: a global history of Mexican food

311 Pages·2017·5.744 MB·English

by  Pilcher, Jeffrey M

PLANET TACO
1
A GLOBAL HISTORY OF MEXICAN FOOD
Jeff rey M. Pilcher
Planet Taco
1
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Pilcher, Jeff rey M., 1965–
Planet taco: a global history of Mexican food / Jeff rey M. Pilcher.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-974006-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Cooking, Mexican—History.
2. Cooking, Mexican—Social aspects—History. 3. Food habits—Mexico—History.
4. Ethnicity—Mexico. 5. Tacos—History. 6. Mexican Americans—Food—History.
7. Sovereignty—Social aspects—Mexico—History. 8. Globalization—Social aspects—History.
I. Title.
TX716.M4P543 2012
641.5972—dc23
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Donna
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xiii
Introduction. A Tale of Two Tacos 1
Part I. Proto-Tacos
Chapter 1. Maize and the Making of Mexico 21
Chapter 2. Burritos in the Borderlands 4 6
Part II. National Tacos
Chapter 3. From the Pastry War to Parisian Mole 79
Chapter 4. Th e Rise and Fall of the Chili Queens 105
Chapter 5. Inventing the Mexican American Taco 130
Part III. Global Tacos
Chapter 6. Th e First Wave of Global Mexican 163
Chapter 7. Th e Blue Corn Bonanza 189
Conclusion. Th e Battle of the Taco Trucks 221
Notes 233
Glossary 263
S elect Bibliography 2 68
Index 283
vii
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acknowledgments
During a decade of traveling the world eating tacos, I met countless home cooks,
professional chefs, restaurant owners, waitstaff , and fellow diners. Th eir stories
have animated this book, and I am sorry there are not enough pages to include all
of them here or even to acknowledge the storytellers by name. To everyone who
has shared their tales and tacos, I off er a heartfelt thank you.
In addition to oral histories and ethnography, this book is based on research
in libraries and archives. I appreciate the helpful assistance I received at the
institutions listed in the bibliography, as well as a few that do not appear
there: the Immigration History Research Center; the Lilly Library at Indiana
University; the New York Public Library; the Schlesinger Library at Harvard
University; and the Special Collections and Chicano Studies Library at UCLA.
As always, I am grateful to interlibrary loan librarians everywhere. For permis-
sion to reproduce illustrations, I thank El Museo de Am é rica, Madrid; Elsevier;
the Fototeca of the Instituto Nacional de Antropolog í a e Historia; the Library
of Congress; the Los Angeles Public Library; the New York Public Library; the
Palace of the Governors Photo Archives; the New Mexico History Museum,
Santa Fe; the United States Patent and Trademark Offi ce; the University of
Santa Clara; and the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texas
Cultures. Daniel Arreola, a pioneer in the study of Mexican food, was partic-
ularly generous in sharing and discussing materials from his border postcard
collection. Th anks also to Dan Strehl, another early scholar of Mexican food,
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