AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Emily E. Esteban for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology presented on May 13, 2019. Title: Making a New Mexican Cuisine: An Exploratory Study of Food Security and the Cultivation of Culinary Subjectivities in a First-generation Mexican Immigrant Community Abstract approved: ______________________________________________________ Lisa Price In 2010, Mexican cuisine was declared as intangible cultural heritage, integral to Mexican identity and necessary to preserve for the good of humanity. Despite this recognition, first-generation Mexican communities in the United States face an exacerbated likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. In most United States studies, understanding the relationship between access to food preferences and food security has been secondary to other research objectives. This thesis aims to examine the relationship between food security and access to preference foods in a convenience sample of Mexican immigrants in Benton County, Oregon. Through semi-structured interviews, a Coping Strategies Index food security survey, a focus group, and a free listing activity, findings suggest the formation of a new US-based Mexican cuisine is taking root in the community. It is argued that this new Mexican cuisine is a form of culinary subjectivity, created by the need to feed one’s family biologically and to eat culturally and personally desirable foods. Understanding this new Mexican cuisine is integral to reducing food insecurity. ©Copyright by Emily E. Esteban May 13, 2019 All Rights Reserved Making a New Mexican Cuisine: An Exploratory Study of Food Security and the Cultivation of Culinary Subjectivities in a First-generation Mexican Immigrant Community by Emily E. Esteban A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Presented May 13, 2019 Commencement June 2019 Master of Arts thesis of Emily E. Esteban presented on May 13, 2019 APPROVED: Major Professor, representing Applied Anthropology Director of the School of Language, Culture and Society Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Emily E. Esteban, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses sincere appreciation to her advisor, Dr. Lisa Price, for her guidance and support through this process. The author would also like to thank the members of her committee, Dr. Kenneth Maes, Dr. Daniel López-Cevallos, and Dr. Mary Cluskey, for their advice. She would like to thank Rosa Michaels and Risako Sakai for their support and encouragement, and Argenis Hurtado-Moreno for his language assistance and moral support throughout the research process. To Dr. Ricardo Contreras, and the staff and board members of Casa Latinos Unidos, for their guidance and support. To her parents, brother, and partner for believing in her whole- heartedly. Finally, she would like to express appreciation to her wonderful research participants for allowing her into their lives and homes to better understand their relationship with food in the community. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction...………………………………………………………………………… 1 Making a new Mexican cuisine: An exploratory study of food security and the cultivation of culinary subjectivities in a first-generation Mexican immigrant community …………………………………………………………………………… 9 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………… 31 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………. 34 Appendices …………………………………………………………………………… 38 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Example Coping Strategies Index Score Calculation………………..………. 16 2 Overview of Selected Sociodemographic Characteristics…………………… 17 3 Spearman Correlations Between Satisfaction and Relative Food Security.…. 24 4 Spearman Correlations Between Demographics and Relative Food Security... 24 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page I. Free Listed Foods ….…………………………………………..…….................. 38 II. Modified Coping Strategies Index Questionnaire…………………................... 40 III. Food Routines Framework Interview Protocol……………………….............. 43 DEDICATION For my research participants. For welcoming me into your homes, your lives, and your families. I am forever indebted to you. 1 1 INTRODUCTION In the contemporary political environment of the United States, Mexican immigrants occupy a contested space as targets of political aggravation (Kvam 2017). The United States’ love-hate relationship with immigrants, and Mexican immigrants in particular, is a story that has been told for decades with different ethnic groups falling in the crosshairs of nationalistic fear. When it comes to food, the United States has a history of embracing immigrant traditions without embracing the immigrants themselves, as has been identified by notable Mexican food historians Pilcher and Ganz (Ruiz 2008). The acceptance and elevation of Mexican food can be seen on a global scale with the recognition of Mexican cuisine as intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2010, influx of culinary tourism to Mexico, and globalization of versions of the cuisine through fast food chains like Taco Bell (Pilcher 2008; 2012; United Nations 2010). While Mexican cuisine occupies an exalted space in the United States, the immigrants who have brought and shared their traditions and cuisine have been less welcome – leading to potential physical and emotional strain in immigrant communities (Ayón and Becerra 2013). Latino, and specifically Mexican, immigrants are more likely to experience food insecurity in the United States – showing that despite having a protected cultural cuisine, accessing food, and particularly preferred foods, is not a given for Mexican immigrants. Studies done within predominantly Mexican immigrant communities estimate between 23.3% and 82% of the population experience some degree of food insecurity, depending on geographic location, type of work, and immigration status (Borre, Ertle, and Graff 2010; Quandt et al. 2004; Minkoff- Zern 2014; Weigel et al. 2007). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates the level of food insecurity within broadly Latino populations to be at 18.5%, compared to the 2 national average of 12.3% (US Department of Agriculture, 2016). Both academic and government research have identified food insecurity as an exacerbated issue within Latino communities (US Department of Agriculture, 2016). It has also been suggested that food security may be directly impacted by discriminatory immigration policies within Mexican immigrant communities (Potochnick, Chen, and Perreira 2017). It is important to note that data collected within Latino communities and Hispanic communities are largely aggregated and thus it is difficult to surmise the actual degree of food insecurity within specifically Mexican immigrant populations. Within this thesis, the terms ‘Hispanic’, ‘Latino’, and ‘Mexican’ will be used as they are utilized in the papers and previous studies that are being referenced. The study itself provided in Chapter Two focuses specifically on a Mexican immigrant community. Food security studies within migrant populations in the United States have typically used the USDA’s definition and measurement tool for food insecurity. Historically, this tool underemphasized the importance of cultural preference foods in understanding food security by focusing almost entirely on aspects of access, availability, and utility of food in general (Noack and Pouw 2015). Noack and Pouw (2015) argue in their critique of recent food security studies that food preferences and patterns of consumption have largely been secondary to other objectives (172). This manuscript-based thesis aims to address this gap in knowledge by focusing on food preferences as a central contributor to food security. Utilizing the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) definition of food security: When all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, 2003), 3 this thesis combines qualitative and quantitative methods to tease out the relationship between access to food, food preferences, and food security among a convenience sample of first- generation Mexican immigrants in Benton County, Oregon. Chapter 2 offers a discussion on the relationship between access to preference foods and food security within the sampled community. The objectives of the study described in Chapter two are to (1) identify food preferences, (2) measure food security, and (3) examine the relationship between having access to food preferences and relative food security. By examining what foods first-generation Mexican individuals in this community eat, their relationship to food over time, and their relative food security, this study adds to the growing literature on immigrant food security and argues for the promotion of culturally competent food insecurity reduction initiatives through the inclusion and elevation of food preferences. The Oregon Context Oregon has a long history of exclusionary politics against people of color and, specifically, Mexican immigrants (Gonzales-Berry 2010). The discrepancy between food security in the white population of Oregon and the Latino population of Oregon largely mimics