Marmol, Alma

About Me:

I am a fourth year student majoring in Social Psychology. I am Hispanic more specifically Salvadoran; I was born in Los Angeles but both of my parents were born in El Salvador. I was born and raised in LA and moved to SD in 2019 for school and have been living here ever since! Although I miss my family frequently, I love San Diego and don't want to move back!

Fun Fact: my name is Alma which is a Spanish name and translates to "soul" in English :).

Interests:

My interests have changed over the years. I used to be a student athlete through middle and high school. I used to play soccer and volleyball and I cheered for a year in HS. however, when I came to college I stopped playing sports and so my interests have changed. Therefore my interest now (other than binge watching Netflix shows) consist of being a dog mom and reading.

TWIX

MEXICAN FOODS IN AMERICA

by Alma Marmol

Introduction

Mexican foods are expanding more and more throughout the United States. Many foods are authentic, but others are being remodified for personal gain by people that do not identify as Mexican. This essay will cover Mexican foods here in America, therefore being referred to as “Mexicans” and “Americans.” Mexican foods here, in America, is an important topic to study because there has been much controversy lately, and it is essential to research this problem. The problem is that even though inspiration does not mean appropriation, some people take that inspiration and try to take it as their own. Given that Mexicans have inspired many Americans, some argue it is appreciation and others appropriation since it is not a traditional recipe; therefore, it can not be authentic.

BACKGROUND

Mexican foods were brought and seen in the United States because of the Mexican Revolution in the 1900s. Due to the Mexican revolution, many refugees escaped Mexico and came to the United States with their culture and cuisine. However, this was not the only encounter because Americans also came in contact with Mexican foods in the 1900s during military endeavors in Texas (which is where the term Tex-Mex originated). This caused Mexico to have a significant influence on American cuisine starting in the late 1900s, according to Jeffrey Pilcher in his article "The Globalization of Mexican Cuisine." He also discusses how the incorporation of Mexican agriculture came into the international commodity chains in America. Mexican foods have most of their dishes contain ingredients such as rice and beans, making them vegan or vegetarian. This has had a significant influence in America because veganism and vegetarianism have become prominent in America. With this, many Americans started avoiding consuming meat in their meals and taking plant-based meals seriously. In 2018, Mexico became the most significant source of agricultural imports into the United States; this included vegetables, fruits, alcohol, and foods.

Salvadoran but still Hispanic

I want to preface that although I am not Mexican, I am a Latina /Hispanic and can vouch for this as my own culture also goes through this. Mexican foods are more well-known than Salvadoran foods, so my topic is Mexican foods rather than Salvadoran foods. Since El Salvador is a small country, it is overseen, and people only know their famous dish, pupusas. Even with this, many Americans call it different names or act like they are creating something when it is a pupusa. However, on the topic of Mexican foods specifically, I have seen Mexican food being recreated here in the United States and promoted as “traditional or authentic” when in reality, it is being remodified by people that are not Mexican so how can it possibly be traditional or authentic? As we know, Mexico has provided a lot of foods, ideas, and ingredients, and it is not always traditional but rather appropriate. However, I am aware that inspiration does not always mean appropriation. However, for this essay, I will show how people have appropriated Mexican foods here in the United States.

AUTHENTICITY AND TRADITIONALITY

Ever since Mexican cuisine became popular in the United States, it began to be more accessible in many restaurants in the United States even though it was not Mexican owned. "With Mexican cuisine being so popular, many restaurants in America tend to fall short in how they represent the culture's cuisine and, as a result, partake in the form of appropriation" (Pearson 2021). The definition here for appreciation is the recognition of good qualities in something. On the other hand, appropriation is taking something without the owner's permission to use it for one's own gain and use. Here is where I want to tie these definitions in the context of food and relate it to authenticity and traditionality. Authenticity, to me, goes hand in hand with traditionality because if it is not traditional, it can not be authentic. When talking about cultural foods, authentic Mexican food has to be traditional. It must be made using real recipes that originate from Mexican people. Authentic Mexican dishes contain fresh ingredients, corn flour, etc., rather than the inauthentic recipes that contain hard shell tortillas and other modifications made to the original recipes. If modifications are made, then how can it be authentic and traditional?

"Mexican" restaurants here in the United States do not give you traditional and authentic foods because when people make the foods here in the United States, they tend to remodify many recipes to their liking or do not process the ingredients how they are supposed to. This leads to the consumers thinking that they are actually consuming "authentic or traditional'' Mexican foods when in reality, they are getting the modified version. Many people that consume Mexican-inspired dishes here in the United States have yet to get the true experience of authentic Mexican food, given that the Mexican foods here are typically Mexican-American (Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, New Mex). Yes, of course, you can always go get a taco or enchiladas anywhere, given that we are really close to the Mexican border, and a lot of people create Mexican restaurants to give off the idea that they are consuming real Mexican foods. However, because of these big restaurants, the actual traditional and authentic small-owned businesses are being overlooked, and people that are not Mexican tend not to trust them because they are small businesses.

This can cause problems and lead to appropriation because now the ignorant people who, in reality, have no idea what a traditional and authentic Mexican dish is, are going to call the non-authentic restaurant authentic. "Educating people further about Mexican cuisine will not only show appreciation but showcase an effort in representation and mindfulness regarding what is portrayed of another culture" (Pearson, 2021). This quote taken by Pearson is to show how many people that consume foods from other cultures lack knowledge and therefore do not appreciate the cultural aspects behind the foods. This leads to an increase in how much something costs compared to here and in Mexico. As our society wants to try Mexican foods more traditionally, many restaurants change recipes, leading to their foods becoming an inauthentic representation and experience of what that cultural foods identity is supposed to be and leads to false traditionality. Due to this high demand of people wanting Mexican foods, many businesses like restaurants are also upping their prices. As stated before, people want to try Mexican food, so they are willing to pay the price, and the owners know this, which is why the prices sometimes double or triple. In Mexico, a taco costs 50 to 75 cents each, compared to San Diego; they are being sold for 4 to 5 dollars each. "While a plate of vaca frita …might cost ten dollars from a cafeteria in Hialeah. It costs three times as much presented as "Vaca Frita with a Tropical Tuber Hash Cake" at one of the Mango Gang's high-end New World cuisine restaurants" (Williams 2020). Although this article is not explicitly talking about Mexican foods, the main detail in bringing this in is to show how foods are being appropriated and changing the name of it in order to gain more money off of it. This also creates a problem with the wealthy vs. the lower-income population. Because of the prices increasing, it is becoming less accessible to impoverished communities, which are usually Hispanic people. Mexicans are now unable to enjoy their own cultural foods because of this problem.

INTERVIEW

pt. 1

For this next topic, I had the privilege of interviewing my friend, who was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and was able to get more insight on a personal level from someone who was born in Mexico. She now lives here in San Diego but first lived in Los Angeles as a kid when she migrated from Mexico. Even though she lives here now, she constantly goes to her hometown. Therefore, she can see the different cultures and compare how the Mexican culture differs in Mexico and here in the United States.

I interviewed her and asked her about her opinion and thoughts about authentic Mexican dishes here in the United States compared to her hometown in Mexico. Her response to this was that back in Mexico, authenticity to her means homemade food, “comida casera.” She explained how she noticed that the food culture here in the United States seems to rely on fast food. Compared to back in her hometown, everything was homemade, fresh, and not frozen (cooked, packaged, frozen, then cooked). The idea of fast food to her in Mexico is that “you sit down to eat at a family-owned place that is freshly made and not frozen to reheat.” With this, she compared that to the United States selling Mexican food, saying that “tacos are not meant to be sold as a fast food item; tacos in Mexico are actually sold at a taco stand on the street like a street food item.” Street foods are meant to be more accessible and cheaper compared to a restaurant. In the reading by Ray, we see how they show the street market communities and the diversity of it. They briefly state how the street foods are open and this is a main way how middle class people are able to feed themselves (Ray 2020). Which is relatable to a lot of lower income people; in which a lot of Mexicans that migrate from Mexico into the United States identify as.

I then asked her a question about if she considers it appreciation or appropriation when restaurants here in the United States create Mexican foods that are not exactly traditional. She responded that she “finds it out of pocket when non-Mexican people try to alternate Mexican foods minimally and try to change up the name of the dish for their own gain.”

pt.2

This reminds me of how there is a lot of controversy on social media about people that are not Mexican changing the name of things such as "spa water" when it is an "agua fresca" or "Mexican street corn salad" when it is an "esquite" or even when a person says she invented a "flat taco" when in reality it is a "tostada" the list can definitely go on here but bringing up these few things to show the ignorance of people of how they remodify or rename cultural foods to gain something. Now that is appropriation. "This is the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation. If you want to appreciate this culture, you share it, share where it came from, call it by its name. Don't give it its own white name that you decided. Give credit where credit is due" (Dejesus 2022). Camila DeJesus does a fantastic job at simplifying what my point is here. We are not saying that eating something out of your own culture is appropriation. It becomes appropriation when you do not give credit, where credit is due when you take credit, and when you modify it for your own personal gain. This is caused by the lack of knowledge people have about cultures like Mexican culture. Nevertheless, they celebrate Cinco de mayo but have not learned of their cultural backgrounds. People need to take the time to educate themselves so they do not become appropriators.

Going back to the definition of what my friend gives to authenticity when it comes to Mexican foods here in the United States compared to Mexico, Dylan Gottlieb's article shows how people that are White leave reviews on yelp and how they describe what authentic Mexican foods are to them. "dirty, scary, strange etc... it's a bit of a hole in-the-wall, but that's actually a good sign that it's authentic, as the common wisdom goes" (Gottlieb 2015). Comparing these two definitions, we can clearly see the difference because of these cultural and knowledge differences. People that are actually from Mexico and value cultural foods know what traditional and cultural foods are. Then we have people not from Mexico define what authenticity means to them regarding Mexican foods, and they define something that has nothing to do with the food but with how the place looks. They have this stigma that Mexican people are dirty, so they correlate that with authentic Mexican foods.

TEX-MEX

As I have stated before, since Mexican foods are now being found almost everywhere and anywhere, and people have started changing them to their liking, I will now be talking about Tex-Mex foods. Tex-Mex refers to Texan and Mexican foods being combined. Given its name, it obviously originated in Texas. It is given that name to show how Texan food is combined with Mexican foods and how they can modify Mexican or American foods. This is a big thing given that Mexico borders Texas, and it is likely that there are a lot of Mexican restaurants there for that reason. This was created because Texans enjoy Mexican foods but want to recreate or modify them to their liking and preference. The Mexican restaurants in Texas started adding more ingredients preferred by Texans to accommodate their tastes, resulting in what we call today "Tex-Mex."

So what does this modification look like? This can be seen with something simple as cheese. Mexicans use white cheese for their dishes, such as queso fresco, cotija cheese, asadero, and other white cheeses. However, it may be seen used less when we are talking about Tex-Mex foods given that Texans like yellow cheese instead such as American cheese. Alternatively, fajitas, chili con carne, nachos, and many more dishes are inspired either by Mexican and American foods. This reminds me of the reading by Demi Simi or how a big franchise like Subway was able to adapt its own foods in order to include Indian culture. “Blending the local and the global, it provides a passage to empowerment where modifications to a particular commodity can make it prosper in various traditions” (Simi 2015). This shows how places can adapt positively rather than taking ideas as their own. Like the Tex-Mex foods, they were inspired to combine both foods into one. They did not take credit or make it seem like authentic Mexican food. They use the term Tex-Mex to show that and to make it clear that that specific dish is a combination of what Texans and Mexican people like. Subway, they took into account that their foods were not accommodating to Indian culture, and so they took that in mind and changed their menu options. They did not take credit nor act as if they owned that dish; they were capable of respecting the culture, seeing the differences compared to their other franchises, and making changes for the better. My point with bringing these two things up and correlating them is to show that places and even restaurants can adapt without appropriating and gentrifying foods and cultures. This often happens, especially in areas where cultural foods are popular, but it should not be normalized.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we know that Mexican foods have inspired American culture in the United States over the years and will continue to do so. However, it should be in a different way than where they are appropriating it. I was to re-emphasize that inspiration does not always mean appropriation, but when people try to take their idea as their own when they were inspired by a Mexican dish, then that is where it is wrong.

works cited

Dejesus, Camila. “‘Spa Water’ and the Cultural Appropriation of Agua Fresca.” Latinitas Magazine, 11 Aug. 2022, https://latinitasmagazine.org/spa-water-and-the-cultural-appropriation-of-agua-fresca/

Gottlieb, Dylan. “‘Dirty, Authentic…Delicious’: Yelp, Mexican Restaurants, and the Appetites of Philadelphia’s New Middle Class.” Gastronomica, vol. 15, no. 2, 2015, pp. 39–48. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2015.15.2.39. Accessed 23 Mar. 2023

Pearson, Chloe. Beyond Taco Bell: Dismantling Appropriation and Increasing Appreciation of Mexican Cuisine and Culture Using Design. 2021. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1623165180038347

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, New Mex, or Whose Mex? Notes on the Historical Geography of Southwestern Cuisine.” Journal of the Southwest, vol. 43, no. 4, 2001, pp. 659–79. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40170174. Accessed 23 Mar. 2023.

Ray, Krishnendu. “SOAS Address: Rethinking Street Vending.” Gastronomica, vol. 20, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1–15., https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2020.20.1.1.

Simi, Demi, and Jonathan Matusitz. “Glocalization of Subway in India: How a US Giant Has Adapted in the Asian Subcontinent.” Journal of Asian and African Studies, vol. 52, no. 5, 2015, pp. 573–585., https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909615596764

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