Food and Culture

Food and culture seem to go hand and hand to me. I can't precisely state why food seems so fundamentally important to the fabric of a culture, but it is. In America, most people consider themselves American after a few generations, but family recipes are past down from family member to family member, keeping a small part of the "home country" alive. I have seen this with my family, and with my friends' families. That is just one example in a multitude of examples that, even if they don't explicitly say why the food is so essential to a culture, highlight the importance of it to the people who identify with it. 


Tex-Mex is a popular type of food. Hundreds of restaurants are dedicated to the taste and atmosphere of Tex-Mex, and because of that, many people have had the privilege to taste these cultural foods. Many cookbooks have been published to try and document authentic Tex-Mex recipes. Therefore recipes are easy to find, and one can even surf the web and locate Tex-Mex recipes. 


To learn more about the connection between food and culture, I would suggest picking up an old fashion device, something called a book. Some fantastic suggestions include:


We are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americas by Donna Gabaccia. The parts I looked through were amazing and it addresses the connection directly. Click Here for more info! 


¡Qué vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity by Jeffrey Pilcher. Click here for more info!