Planet Taco : A Global History Of Mexican Food

“Taco USA: How Mexican Food Became More American Than Apple Pie” was written in 2012 by Gustavo Arellano, a prolific food author for the Orange County newspaper OC Weekly. This article originally appeared as an online publication in Reason Magazine. Arellano has written books about Mexican food and its role in the American experience. His writings explain how this genre of cuisine has evolved and transformed as it has spread geographically throughout the United States. Growing up in Orange County California with two Hispanic parents, Arellano experienced firsthand the transformation of traditional Mexican dishes into the tex-mex that most American families are familiar with today. The online news site, Reason Magazine, originally published this article to accommodate to an audience of readers who want to be informed but also entertained by the news. These readers care about what is happening in society but are not considered scholars on the topics presented. Although the readers of Reason Magazine might not have any formal knowledge about food and its role in culture, all of them have experienced the importance of a meal in their everyday lives. The author uses the experience and background of his audience to show them the importance and prevalence of Mexican food in the American culture. In “Taco USA” Arellano uses personal stories, ethnic language, and historical information to show his

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is a food writer, professor of History at the University of Minnesota, and author of several award-winning works. In his book !Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity (1998), Pilcher explains that every society creates for themselves a cuisine, a set of foods that the people

In our family when it’s someone's birthday we have whatever we ask for. When it’s my birthday my comfort of food is a combination of Mexican and American food. Mexican food is stupendous and is unique from other food. What I pick from the Mexican side is tamales. Tamales is my favorite food possibly because I grew up with Tamales since I was three years old. Not only do I picked Tamales for my birthday but I also pick Pocolle. Both of these marvellous Mexican dishes are my favorite and I would eat this dishes for the rest of my life if I could. From the American side I like to eat Cheeseburgers. What enjoy best out of all these food is the taste obviously, the smell, and the way the food looks.

This indicates that people feel the pressure that fast food does in fact affect culture and that measures must be taken in order to prevent losing their identity before it is too late. One example of this is in France, a country with a long history of taking pride in its cuisine. In 2011, for the first time in the country’s history, fast food earned more than the traditional French restaurants and bistros (Samuel). The traditional diet is vital to France as it is a way of life and a source of revenue from tourists. For those reasons in 2010, the government was able to put the ethnic diet on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List as a way to protect the cuisine (“France’s Fast Food”). The same article noted that the government has also tried to push through legislation that would limit the amount of places that can be called a “restaurant” to establishments who make over half of their food on the premises. This potential regulation would create transparency which would help to distinguish ethnic food from fast food. Through these measures, the French government is attempting to control the damage and lessen the impact of fast food on their historic cuisine. However, it is an uphill battle to try and reverse the effects of the fast-food industry even in

Tradition has been said to mirror a way of life. Observation has concluded that participants in tradition “actively construct as well as reflect culture and community” (Sacks 275). For most people in the 21st century, tradition only reveals itself during special times or certain seasons. For others it is simply a way of life. The foodways of Mexicans and Native Americans are of particular interest in this study because of the food that grew from necessity and is maintained as sacred or reserved for only special occasions. The tamale is one such food. Significantly changed and altered throughout history it has remained a

As chapter one was the most interesting to me so far, I have chosen to summarize and review it. The main theme in this chapter is to explain and describe the making of the fast food industry. Schlosser goes through the stories, inspiration and influences of, what he has entitled the chapter, “the founding fathers” the men who started the fast food industry.

In Marie Sarita Gaytan’s “From Sombreros to Sincronizadas,” she argues that the authenticity of Mexican restaurants has become a social construct. Different types of Mexican restaurants are considered more authentic because of a stereotype we created in the early 1970’s. After its creation, people refused to accept anything but the “ideal” Mexican restaurant and would raise their noses to anything different from their ideas of authentic Mexican food. She states that to have any type of real Mexican food, you must have true Mexican spirit, which cannot be copied. All in all, Gaytan’s argument is that the idea of authentic Mexican food is our own and not everyone else’s. Real Mexican food comes from years and years of cultural development and

Have you ever tried to experiment with different types of food? Of course you have, everyone has at least once in their life. Even if it was changing something small like adding a different spice or to something big like adding your own twist to it. Sometimes people will like what you did, and there are other times where it doesn’t work and then you know what not to do. This is the trial and error part in cooking and this is the most tedious part of the process. Now of course people are going to have different opinions and criticism it a key part of learning how to cook or to improve upon your cooking. Even though food varies in more ways than just taste and since it is enjoyed by everyone

Acclaimed food writer and cultural historian John T. Edge conjures nostalgia by revealing portions of our history through our most cherished foods. Donuts is the cap on a scrumptious series toting comfort food, belying calorie-counting, and embracing those cornerstone, iconic dishes that have come to define American cuisine and customs over the years. In Donuts, Edge walks us though the donut's inception as Dutch fare, the Salvation Army's wartime donuts, the invention of the donut machine, the 1950s donut-shop craze, the Krispy Kreme revolution, the appropriation by other ethnicities, and the fanatical chefs that take donuts to a new art form. Nothing encourages our sweet-tooth cravings like the donut. It is honest. It is satisfying. It is

The world was not open to the idea of Hispanic cuisine, due to racism being the cause for international foods not being introduced in America. Immigrants as well as other ethnic groups were introduced to American culture. In1935 an immigrant from Spain named Prudencio Unanue became the founder of a small company called Goya. He wanted to bring the taste of Spanish traditional style to America, simply to give those Latin culture familiarities from back home. His idea was to expand his brand on a global scale. In the news Article Carribean Business, "Unanue states that the food industry is much more than a business it is a responsibility" (Caribbean Business Vol 39). Goya has expanded their company and moved their branch to Secaucus New Jersey,

Lots of countries have bizarre foods most of which we turn our noses in disgust or can’t even stomach the thought of. Why? Because most of the time these foods are bugs, rotten shark, baby mice wine, embryos or many other foods that one would not even want to imagine. Each one can be very interest, yet turn your stomachs very easily. The United States of America even has its own bizarre food, which is called “Stink Heads”. This is the fermented heads of salmon which can be found in the state of Alaska. Mexico on the other hand has something a bit more over the top.

This book takes a look at the way in which counterculture has taken on the fast food industry, revolutionizing menus and creating an ongoing conversation about the quality of food. Because the two restaurants that are being examined have a connection to the fast food industry, this book will give context to the way in which the fast food industry is changing and how that will affect the menus across the restaurant business. The development of the belief that quality of food needs to also be associated with health benefits has an impact on the way in which the two restaurants in the study. Develop both their business model and make decisions for the future. This book gives context to that decision-making process and provides insight into the

Food is very much a part of pop culture, and the beliefs, practices, and trends in a culture affect its eating practices. Pop culture includes the ideas and objects generated by a society, including foods, and other systems, as well as the impact of these ideas and objects on society. For example, Mcdonald's is another of the thousands of fast food chains that populate our cities though they often use the term “popular culture” only to refer to media forms. Their popularity has also increased internationally. Although all humans need food to survive, people's food habits and how they obtain, prepare, and consume food, are the result of learned behaviors. Mcdonald’s, like other food chains, has made an effort to ‘localize’ its products so that they will be more successful in each different cultural context. These collective behaviors, as well as the values and attitudes they reflect, come to represent a group’s pop culture.

The Tacos were a great civilization located on a strip of land next to the Taco Sea and next to the Taco Mountains. The first signs of the Tacos were around the time of 1200 BCE. The Tacos of the Iron Age were descended from the Cheeses. Tacoland reached its peak of development in 900 BCE. They had four major city states named: Taco Cabana, Taco Bell, Taco Loco, and Del Taco. They reached the end of their peak and were conquered in 300 BCE by Alexander the Great. The Tacos were most known for being great navigators and for their purple dye, but even more known for creating the concept of the alphabet that the world still uses to this day. Within their great culture, they had a lot of different technologies. These include: discovering the star Polaris and other ways of navigation, crafting glass, building ships, and harvesting purple dye from a type of Murex shellfish.

The Mintz, Fantasia, and Brant readings assigned for class provided several interesting discussions of the relationship between political economy and culinary practices and food culture. While each of the authors offered a very distinctive point of analysis, all three of the readings provided a critical overview of the impact and effect of political economy on culinary culture and the individuals laborers and consumers involved in an emerging food culture. The authors all arguing that the emerging food trend, sugar for Mintz and Fast food for Fantasia and Brant, can be directly linked to cheap labor costs and flexibility.