LITERATURES OF THE AMERICAS About the Series This series seeks to bring forth contemporary critical interventions within a hemispheric perspective, with an emphasis on perspectives from Latin America. Books in the series will highlight work that explores concerns in literature in different cultural contexts across historical and geographical boundaries and will also include work on the specific Latina/o realities in the United States. Designed to explore key questions confronting contemporary issues of literary and cultural import, Literatures of the Americas will be rooted in traditional approaches to literary criticism but will seek to include cutting edge scholarship using theories from postcolonial, critical race, and ecofeminist approaches. Series Editor Norma E. Cantú is professor of English and US Latino Studies at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and professor emerita from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her edited and coedited works include Inside the Latin@ Experience (2010, Palgrave Macmillan), Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios (2001, Duke University Press), Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change (2000, The University of Illinois Press), and Dancing across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos (2003, The University of Illinois Press). Books in the Series: Radical Chicana Poetics Ricardo F. Vivancos Pérez Rethinking Chicana/o Literature through Food: Postnational Appetites Edited by Nieves Pascual Soler and Meredith E. Abarca Literary and Cultural Relations between Brazil and Mexico: Deep Undercurrents Paulo Moreira
Previous publications Nieves Pascual Soler Ed. Witness to Pain: Essays on the Translation of Pain into Art (2005) Co-ed. Masculinities, Femininities and the Power of the Hybrid in U.S. Narratives: Essays on Gender Borders (2007) Co-ed. Feeling in Others: Essays on Empathy and Suffering in Modern American Culture (2008) A Critical Study of Female Culinary Detective Stories: Murder by Cookbook (2009) Co-ed. Stories through Theories, Theories through Stories: Native American Storytelling and Critique (2009) Hungering as Symbolic Language: What Are We Saying When We Starve Ourselves (2012) Co-ed. Comidas bastardas: Gastronomía, tradición e identidad en América Latina (2013) Meredith E. Abarca Voices in the Kitchen: Views of Food and the World from Working- Class Mexican and Mexican American Women (2006)
Rethinking Chicana/o Literature through Food Postnational Appetites Edited by Nieves Pascual Soler and Meredith E. Abarca
RETHINKING CHICANA/O LITERATURE THROUGH FOOD Copyright Nieves Pascual Soler and Meredith E. Abarca, 2013. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-37859-0 All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-47835-4 ISBN 978-1-137-37144-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137371447 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rethinking Chicana/o literature through food : postnational appetites / edited by Nieves Pascual Soler and Meredith E. Abarca. pages cm. (Literatures of the Americas) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. American literature Mexican American authors History and criticism. 2. American literature 21st century History and criticism. 3. Food in literature. I. Pascual Soler, Nieves, editor of compilation. II. Abarca, Meredith E. editor of compilation. PS153.M4R48 2013 810.9 86872 dc23 2013023835 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: December 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Meredith E. Abarca and Nieves Pascual Soler Part I Translatable Foods Chapter 1 Diabetes, Culture, and Food: Posthumanist Nutrition in the Gloria Anzaldúa Archive 27 Suzanne Bost Chapter 2 Bologna Tacos and Kitchen Slaves: Food and Identity in Sandra Cisneros s Caramelo 45 Heather Salter Chapter 3 Food Journeys in Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation and Woman Hollering Creek 61 Norma L. Cárdenas Part II The Taste of Authenticity Chapter 4 Because Feeding Is the Beginning and End : Food Politics in Ana Castillo s So Far from God 79 Elizabeth Lee Steere Chapter 5 Food, Consciousness, and Feminism in Denise Chávez s Loving Pedro Infante 97 Laura P. Alonso Gallo
vi CONTENTS Part III The Voice of Hunger Chapter 6 Families Who Eat Together, Stay Together: But Should They? 119 Meredith E. Abarca Chapter 7 La Comida y La Conciencia : Foods in the Counter-Poetics of Lorna Dee Cervantes 141 Edith M. Vásquez and Irene Vásquez Chapter 8 Hungers and Desires: Borderlands Appetites and Fulfillment 155 Norma E. Cantú Part IV Machos or Cooks Chapter 9 Chicano Culinarius: From Cowboys to Gastronomes 173 Nieves Pascual Soler Chapter 10 Mexican Meat Matzah Balls: Burciaga as a Culinary Ambassador 193 Mimi Reisel Gladstein Chapter 11 Reading the Taco Shop Poets in the Crossroads of Chicano Postnationalism 207 Paul Allatson Notes on Contributors 229 Index 233
Acknowledgments The inception of this project leading to its completion would not have been possible but for the generous support of the following: Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Plan Nacional I+D+I 2008 2011, FFI2009 09242), the Regional Government of Andalucía (Junta de Andalucía; P08-HUM-3956; P09-HUM-4609), and European funds. To these institutions we express our gratitude. Of course, we thank the contributors to this volume for their work, cooperation, and patience in the long journey it has taken to bring this project to completion. Thanks for your commitment and willingness to stay on board with us. We also want to acknowledge, individually and collectively, those who have been our voice of reason, our springboards for ideas, and our anchors of support: Lucy Fischer-West, Carole M. Counihan, Margie Whalen, and Steve Callan. We also thank our families who have and continue to champion our intellectual endeavors. Finally this book is dedicated: a quienes nos alimentan y a quienes alimentamos