Fascinating study of the ways in which the formation of the Mexican national identity shaped the formation of the Mexican national cuisine. Presentation of facts about and some analysis of pre-Columbian through early 19th-century colonial cuisine, but analysis is scant compared to the book's strength in the Independence-to-Revolution period. Historical analysis ends rather abruptly around 1968. The stronger sections of the book have plenty of info and analysis, though, discussing material markers of hierarchy in early modern European and colonial society, the role of cuisine in maintaining class distinctions in various phases of Mexico's national development and in developing an industrial working class, distinctly Mexican ways of viewing 19th-century theories of cultural development, the symbolism of corn, wheat, and the metate, the discoveries of the nutritional properties of nixtamalized corn and its pairing with beans, the invention of technologies to simplify tortilla making, and the malnutrition brought on by the industrialization of food. Author displays an unfortunate chauvinism against regional Mexican cuisines that have developed outside the current political boundaries of Mexico--which is itself a reflection of a current in Mexican nationalism. However, his history (which is sometimes a bit lacking in dates) is detailed enough that readers can begin to imagine how it applies to those cuisines, as well. ( )

This is a great book for anyone interested in Latin America, or food and how it relates to culture. ( )