Overview

New case studies documenting ten thousand years of cuisines across the cultures of Oaxaca, Mexico, from the earliest gathered plants, such as guajes, to the contemporary production of tejate and its health implications. Among the richest culinary traditions in Mexico are those of the ""eight regions"" of the state of Oaxaca. Mesquite Pods to Mezcal brings together some of the most prominent scholars in Oaxacan archaeology and related fields to explore the evolution of the area's world-renowned cuisines. This volume, the first to address food practices across Oaxaca through a long-term historical lens, covers the full spectrum of human occupation in Oaxaca, from the early Holocene to contemporary times. Contributors consider the deep history of agroecological management and large-scale landscape transformation, framing food production as a human-environment relation. They explore how, after the arrival of the Spanish, Oaxacan cuisine adapted, diets changed, and food became a stronger marker of identity. Examining the present, further studies document how traditional foodways persist and what they mean for contemporary Oaxacans, whether they are traveling ancient roads, working outside the region, or rebuilding after an earthquake. Together, the original case studies in this volume demonstrate how new methods and diverse theoretical approaches can come together to trace the development of a rich food tradition, one that is thriving today.

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9781477327968

Table of Contents

Reviews

A fascinating insight into the evolution of Oaxacan cuisine since pre-Columbian times...it provides worthwhile sustenance on the way to addressing contemporary challenges such as food security, sovereignty, sustainability, and cultural rights. * Latin American Review of Books *

A fascinating insight into the evolution of Oaxacan cuisine since pre-Columbian times...it provides worthwhile sustenance on the way to addressing contemporary challenges such as food security, sovereignty, sustainability, and cultural rights. (Latin American Review of Books) The authors do not simply conduct tangible analyses of bones, ceramics, residences, fields, caves, but they also strive to show how their findings relate to broader patterns of identity, inclusion (or exclusion), movement, and connectivity...[The book] artfully gives the reader a window into centuries of foodways and stuffs in Oaxaca. (H-Environment) Oaxaca’s culinary roots indeed reach deep into the past, as is shown by the essays in this splendid collection...With novel scholarly insights on beloved traditions, this book holds much of interest, not only for archaeologists and food studies scholars, but also for aficionados of Oaxacan cuisine. (ReVista)

A fascinating insight into the evolution of Oaxacan cuisine since pre-Columbian times...it provides worthwhile sustenance on the way to addressing contemporary challenges such as food security, sovereignty, sustainability, and cultural rights. * Latin American Review of Books * The authors do not simply conduct tangible analyses of bones, ceramics, residences, fields, caves, but they also strive to show how their findings relate to broader patterns of identity, inclusion (or exclusion), movement, and connectivity...[The book] artfully gives the reader a window into centuries of foodways and stuffs in Oaxaca. * H-Environment *

Author Information

VerÓnica PÉrez RodrÍguez is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Albany, SUNY. Shanti Morell-Hart is an associate professor of anthropology at Brown University. Stacie M. King is a professor of anthropology at Indiana University.

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