Perceptions of Mexican Cuisine
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Culinary Art and Anthropology This page intentionally left blank Culinary Art and Anthropology Joy Adapon Oxford • New York First published in 2008 by Berg Editorial offi ces: 1st Floor, Angel Court, 81 St Clements Street, Oxford, OX4 1AW, UK 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA © Joy Adapon 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Berg. Berg is the imprint of Oxford International Publishers Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Adapon, Joy. Culinary art and anthropology / Joy Adapon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84788-213-4 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-84788-212-7 (paper) 1. Cookery, Mexican. 2. Cookery—Mexico—Milpa Alta. 3. Cookery—Social aspects—Mexico—Milpa Alta. 4. Food habits—Mexico—Milpa Alta. I. Title. TX716.M4A35 2008 394.1'20972—dc22 2008017019 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-84788-213-4 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-84788-212-7 (paper) Typeset by Apex CoVantage, Madison, WI, USA Printed in the United Kingdom by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn www.bergpublishers.com Contents Illustrations vii Preface ix Introduction 1 Milpa Alta, DF 4 Organization of the book 5 1 Perceptions of Mexican Cuisine 7 The Cultural Signifi cance of Chiles 7 The Range of Mexican Foods 8 Home Cooking by Profession 11 Cooking Tradition 12 On Learning Techniques 15 Food and Love 18 Recipes 22 Chiles Stuffed with Simple picadillo with Potato, How to Peel chiles poblanos, How to Achieve a Perfect capeado 2 Cooking as an Artistic Practice 29 Food and Culinary Art in Anthropology 29 Gell’s Theory of Art 32 A Meal as an Object of Art 36 On Edibility, Hospitality and Exchange 39 Flavour and Value 43 Conclusion: The Meaningfulness of Food 47 3 Barbacoa in Milpa Alta 49 Eating barbacoa 49 Barbacoa Makers in Milpa Alta 50 The Process of Preparing barbacoa in Barrio San Mateo, Milpa Alta 54 Conclusion 66 Recipes 68 – v – vi • Contents Commercial Green Salsa for barbacoa, Salsa pasilla—‘la buena’— for Eating barbacoa on Special Occasions at Home, Commercial Red Salsa for barbacoa, Barbacoa 4 Women as Culinary Agents 71 The Value of Cooking and Other Work 71 Marriage and Cooking 75 Work, Motherhood and Virtue 76 Suffering, Love Affairs and the Morality of the Meal 78 Culinary Agency 82 Recipes 85 Huevos a la mexicana, Taco placero, Batter for Coating Fish, Carnitas 5 Mole and Fiestas 89 Compadrazgo and the mayodomía 90 Hospitality and Food 93 Mole and mole poblano 97 Mole and Celebration 98 The Development of a Tradition 102 Fiesta Food 106 The Presence or Absence of Mole in Fiestas 108 Recipes 109 Tamales de nopales for the Barrio Fiesta, Buñuelos de lujo, Ensalada de betabel ‘sangre de Cristo,’ Pescado a la vizcaína al estilo de la abuela, Torrejas 6 The Centrality of Gastronomy in Social Life 113 The Function of Flavour 113 The Importance of Cooking in Social Life 115 Fiesta Food in the Culinary Art Corpus 118 Food and Love, Chiles and albur 120 Daily Meals, Home Cooking and Street Food 122 Appetite, Morality and Taste 124 Recipes: Variations on a Theme 127 Notes 137 Works Cited 149 Index 159 Illustrations Tables 2.1 Terminology Employed by Gell, and Corresponding Food Terms 34 2.2 The Art Nexus as Food Nexus 35 5.1 Feast Food in Milpa Alta, Arranged According to Type of Celebration 100 Figures 5.1 Linear Progression from Green Chile to Complex Guacamole 103 5.2 An Example of Some Interrelations among Recipes, Shown as Families 104 – vii – This page intentionally left blank Preface I love to eat. So I had to learn to cook. During a period of culinary experimentation when I was into peppers of all colours and types, I visited Alfred Gell in his offi ce and told him, ‘I’m thinking of maybe doing a PhD, if I can focus it on peppers.’ ‘Of course you can,’ he said. ‘Go to Mexico.’ Despite my hesitation, he repeated that if I was interested in chile peppers, then Mexico was the place to go to. So I went off to read up on Mexico and Mexican food before deciding for myself. This book is dedicated to the memory of Alfred Gell. I was fortunate to be one of his last students before his untimely death in 1997. I wish I could thank him personally for all his understanding and encouragement, especially for taking me seriously whenever I came up with odd ideas. His advice to enjoy fi eldwork and take note of any ‘interesting trivia’ kept me going and looking forward. Without him I would never have begun this investigation, nor would I have even thought of going to Mexico. He was my inspiration, guide, supervisor and, most of all, friend. In Alfred’s absence, I am grateful for the continued friendship and support of Simeran Gell. Even just thinking of her is always encouraging and reminds me time and again to live in the present. She shares her and Alfred’s love for life with all those who are fortunate to know her. Back in London, several more people helped me to bring this project to comple- tion with incomparable patience, kindness and academic rigour. Maurice Bloch was always inspiring and warm, particularly important to me before my fi eldwork. I am grateful to Peter Loizos, who taught me that there are ‘tram-line’ people and ‘zigzag’ people, that they all eventually arrive at their destination and that the different routes are equally valid. Fenella Cannell was especially helpful in grounding me during the period immediately following Alfred Gell’s death. Charles Stafford was consistently most reliable, thoughtful, thorough and frank. Peter Gow always provided timely encouragement and helped me to learn how to see. Their sensitive comments and insight were invaluable as I waded through the process of writing my dissertation on which this book is based. Looking back, Sally Engle Merry fi rst introduced me to anthropology and in- stilled in me an immediate devotion to the subject during my undergraduate years. Through her patience and understanding I discovered a new fi eld of study as well as a different direction for my academic life. She gave me my fi rst opportunity for fi eldwork and supported my initial shaky steps into anthropology. – ix – x • Preface In Mexico I owe a great debt to many whose generosity and presence made my stay both pleasant and stimulating. I was in Mexico City for 24 months from 1995 to 1998 and within a few weeks of my arrival, I met Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita. I was eager to learn all I could about Mexican cooking and to taste everything; he was eager to share with someone his favourite eateries and his love for the cuisines of Mexico. Even before my tiny fl at in Coyoacán became fl ooded and unliveable, we had become inseparable friends. ‘Now I guess you have to move in with me,’ he said. Ricardo was my ‘Muchona the Hornet’ of Mexican food. Other friends of his who were also chefs repeatedly told me that with my interest in traditional Mexican food, I didn’t know how lucky I was to have met him. He is now internationally acknowledged as an authority on Mexican cookery and has published fi ve books of renown. He welcomed me into both his professional and personal lives and was a constant friend even during the most awkward of times and strove to accommodate my every possible need. The people with whom I lived in Milpa Alta, especially Yadira Arenas and Luis Enrique Nápoles, Ma. Primitiva Bermejo, Doña Margarita Salazar, Alejandro Enriquez and Guille Arenas, took a strange foreigner into their homes and shared much more than their lives, homes and food with me. I wish for the time when they can come stay with me, in Manila, Berlin or wherever I may be. Conmigo siempre tienen su casa. Iván Gomezcésar shared with me thoughtful insight about Milpa Alta as well as several texts, which I would have not found on my own. Andrés Medina welcomed me to the Institute of Anthropological Research (IIA) in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) with a sense of humour. He was the fi rst person to really understand what I was getting at when I arrived in Mexico for the fi rst time. With his warmth, constant moral support and gener- ous interest in me and my work, he helped me to eventually fi nd my way during fi eldwork. It was he who introduced me to Luz del Valle, who offered me valuable friendship and a link into Milpa Alta. Leticia Méndez was the second person I met in the UNAM who understood me both academically and emotionally. Her premature death in 1996 was one of the great shocks that I encountered in Mexico, and I have missed her ever since. Janet Long-Solís generously shared her books and her contacts with me. She in- troduced me to José Luis Curiel in the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana. He in turn allowed me to sit in some classes of the gastronomy program and get to know the students and faculty. It was through him that I met other scholars of Mexican cuisine who infl uenced my understanding of Mexican gastronomy, including José Luis Juárez and Ricardo Muñoz. Other friends in Mexico—Patricia Salero and her family, Ileana Bonilla, Ricardo Bonilla, Gabriel Gutierrez, Fabiola Alcántara, Antonio Rivera, Abdiel Cervántes, Juan Carlos López, Juan Manuel Horta and the rest of the staff of the Executive Din- ing Room in the UNAM—opened their hearts and homes to me.