Food Culture in Central America

Food Culture in Central America PDF Author: Michael R. McDonald
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313347689
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This entry in the Food Culture around the World series helps those in the United States understand the new immigrants from Central America who have brought their food cultures with them. Food Culture in Central America illustrates the unique foodways of the region in depth—and in English—for the first time. Important foods and ingredients, techniques, and lore associated with food preparation are surveyed. Typical meals eaten at home are presented, with attention to the cultural context in which those meals take place, including regional or national differences. The book also examines various meal settings—street vendors, modest comedors, and fancy restaurants. The role of food in common festivals and life cycle rituals is explored as well, including Christmas, Semana Santa, and Quincineras. Author Michael R. McDonald emphasizes the living process of "metatezation," referring to the use of the traditional metate, a stone platform used to grind ingredients, resulting in the unique flavors and textures of the cuisines. The process echoes the concept of "mestizaje," the intense hybrid mixture of identities throughout Latin America, which is also explained.

Food Culture in Central America

Food Culture in Central America PDF Author: Michael R. McDonald
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313347689
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
This entry in the Food Culture around the World series helps those in the United States understand the new immigrants from Central America who have brought their food cultures with them. Food Culture in Central America illustrates the unique foodways of the region in depth—and in English—for the first time. Important foods and ingredients, techniques, and lore associated with food preparation are surveyed. Typical meals eaten at home are presented, with attention to the cultural context in which those meals take place, including regional or national differences. The book also examines various meal settings—street vendors, modest comedors, and fancy restaurants. The role of food in common festivals and life cycle rituals is explored as well, including Christmas, Semana Santa, and Quincineras. Author Michael R. McDonald emphasizes the living process of "metatezation," referring to the use of the traditional metate, a stone platform used to grind ingredients, resulting in the unique flavors and textures of the cuisines. The process echoes the concept of "mestizaje," the intense hybrid mixture of identities throughout Latin America, which is also explained.

Latino Food Culture

Latino Food Culture PDF Author: Zilkia Janer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313087903
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
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.

Food, Texts, and Cultures in Latin America and Spain

Food, Texts, and Cultures in Latin America and Spain PDF Author: Rafael Climent-Espino
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN: 0826504205
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
A foundational text in the emerging field of Latin American and Iberian food studies

Food Culture in South America

Food Culture in South America PDF Author: José Rafael Lovera
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
This volume tells the story of the South Americans and their history through a survey of their food culture. Food in the various countries differs in some ways because of cultural heritage, cooking techniques, and geography, here divided into four zones. The traditions of the primary groups—Indians, Europeans, and Africans—and their five centuries of mixing have still resulted in a stable food culture. The foods of the Indians before European contact still play an important role, along with other foods brought by successive immigrant groups. Europeans tried to establish their staples, wheat and wine, with little success. Many dishes, cooking methods, and food habits have survived with little modification since time immemorial. Students and other readers will learn much about the South American foodways in daily life today, with special attention paid to historical perspective and any rural and urban differences. For example, in all the major cultural groups, food preparation and cooking have always been women's work, with the exception of the meat roast (asado) by llaneros and gauchos. The rise of the cooking profession is discussed as well. A fascinating look at the daily meal schedule includes insight in to how the European conquerors imposed their eating habits and encouraged overeating, with the abundance found in the New World. Modern life is shown to affect where people eat, as buying meals, often from street vendors, during the workday has become more of a necessity. The survey includes a discussion of special occasions, including agricultural celebrations and Catholic feasts with indigenous elements. The overview is completed by a chapter on diet and health, covering such topics as botanical knowledge and science and an assessment of the nutritional value of the South American staples. Classic recipes from many of the countries and illustrations complement the narrative.

Cooking Technology

Cooking Technology PDF Author: Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474234690
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
New scientific discoveries, technologies and techniques often find their way into the space and equipment of domestic and professional kitchens. Using approaches based on anthropology, archaeology and history, Cooking Technology reveals the impact these and the associated broader socio-cultural, political and economic changes have on everyday culinary practices, explaining why people transform – or, indeed, refuse to change – their kitchens and food habits. Focusing on Mexico and Latin America, the authors look at poor, rural households as well as the kitchens of the well-to-do and professional chefs. Topics range from state subsidies for traditional ingredients, to the promotion of fusion foods, and the meaning of kitchens and cooking in different localities, as a result of people taking their cooking technologies and ingredients with them to recreate their kitchens abroad. What emerges is an image of Latin American kitchens as places where 'traditional' and 'modern' culinary values are constantly being renegotiated. The thirteen chapters feature case studies of areas in Mexico, the American-Mexican border, Cuba, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. With contributions from an international range of leading experts, Cooking Technology fills an important gap in the literature and provides an excellent introduction to the topic for students and researchers working in food studies, anthropology, history, and Latin American studies.

Food Culture in the Caribbean

Food Culture in the Caribbean PDF Author: Lynn M. Houston
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313062277
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Food in the Caribbean reflects both the best and worst of the Caribbean's history. On the positive side, Caribbean culture has been compared with a popular stew there called callaloo. The stew analogy comes from the many different ethic groups peacefully maintaining their traditions and customs while blending together, creating a distinct new flavor. On the negative side, many foods and cooking techniques derive from a history of violent European conquest, the importation of slaves from Africa, and the indentured servitude of immigrants in the plantation system. Within this context, students and other readers will understand the diverse island societies and ethnicities through their food cultures. Some highlights include the discussion of the Caribbean concept of making do—using whatever is on hand or can be found—the unique fruits and starches, the one-pot meal, the technique of jerking meat, and the preference for cooking outdoors. The Caribbean is known as the cradle of the Americas. The Columbian food exchange, which brought products from the Caribbean and the Americas to the rest of the world, transformed global food culture. Caribbean food culture has wider resonance to North, Central, and South America as well. The parallels in the food-related evolution in the Americas include the early indigenous foods and agriculture; the import and export of foods; the imported food culture of colonizers, settlers, and immigrants; the intricacies of defining an independent national food culture; the loss of the traditional agricultural system; the trade issues sparked by globalization; and the health crises prompted by the growing fast-food industry. This thorough overview of island food culture is an essential component in understanding the Caribbean past and present.

Pre-Columbian Foodways

Pre-Columbian Foodways PDF Author: John Staller
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441904719
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 691

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Book Description
The significance of food and feasting to Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures has been extensively studied by archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians. Foodways studies have been critical to our understanding of early agriculture, political economies, and the domestication and management of plants and animals. Scholars from diverse fields have explored the symbolic complexity of food and its preparation, as well as the social importance of feasting in contemporary and historical societies. This book unites these disciplinary perspectives — from the social and biological sciences to art history and epigraphy — creating a work comprehensive in scope, which reveals our increasing understanding of the various roles of foods and cuisines in Mesoamerican cultures. The volume is organized thematically into three sections. Part 1 gives an overview of food and feasting practices as well as ancient economies in Mesoamerica. Part 2 details ethnographic, epigraphic and isotopic evidence of these practices. Finally, Part 3 presents the metaphoric value of food in Mesoamerican symbolism, ritual, and mythology. The resulting volume provides a thorough, interdisciplinary resource for understanding, food, feasting, and cultural practices in Mesoamerica.

Home Cooking in the Global Village

Home Cooking in the Global Village PDF Author: Richard Wilk
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1847885454
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Winner of the Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Book Prize 2008. Belize, a tiny corner of the Caribbean wedged into Central America, has been a fast food nation since buccaneers and pirates first stole ashore. As early as the 1600s it was already caught in the great paradox of globalization: how can you stay local and relish your own home cooking, while tasting the delights of the global marketplace? Menus, recipes and bad colonial poetry combine with Wilk's sharp anthropological insight to give an important new perspective on the perils and problems of globalization.

Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia [4 volumes]

Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia [4 volumes] PDF Author: Ken Albala
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313376271
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1566

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Book Description
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.

Cooking the Central American Way

Cooking the Central American Way PDF Author: Alison Behnke
Publisher: Lerner Publications
ISBN: 9780822512363
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Serves up tantalising recipes for yucca fritters, bean soup, tres leches cake and more. Seasoned liberally with vibrant colour photographs and easy step-by-step directions, many of the recipes are low in fat and call for ingredients one may already have at home. Also included are vegetarian recipes, complete menu suggestions and a cultural section highlighting the Central American people and their countries, holidays, festivals and, of course, their food.