Voices in the Kitchen: Views of Food and the World from Working-Class Mexican and Mexican American Women (Volume 9) (Rio Grande/Río Bravo: Borderlands Culture and Traditions)

“Literally, __chilaquiles__ are a breakfast I grew up eating: fried corn tortillas with tomato-chile sauce. Symbolically, they are the culinary metaphor for how working-class women speak with the seasoning of their food.”—from the IntroductionThrough the ages and across cultures, women have carved out a domain in which their cooking allowed them to express themselves, strengthen family relationships, and create a world of shared meanings with other women. In __Voices in the Kitchen,__ Meredith E. Abarca features the voices of her mother and several other family members and friends, seated at their kitchen tables, to share the grassroots world view of these working-class Mexican and Mexican American women. In the kitchen, Abarca demonstrates, women assert their own __sazón__ (seasoning), not only in their cooking but also in their lives. Through a series of oral histories, or __charlas culinarias__ (culinary chats), the women interviewed address issues of space, sensual knowledge, artistic and narrative expression, and cultural and social change. From her mother’s breakfast __chilaquiles__ to the most elaborate traditional dinner, these women share their lives as they share their savory, symbolic, and theoretical meanings of food. The __charlas culinarias__ represent spoken personal narratives, testimonial autobiography, and a form of culinary memoir, one created by the cooks-as-writers who speak from their kitchen space. Abarca then looks at writers-as-cooks to add an additional dimension to the understanding of women’s power to define themselves. __Voices in the Kitchen__ joins the extensive culinary research of the last decade in exploring the importance of the knowledge found in the practical, concrete, and temporal aspects of the ordinary practice of everyday cooking. “Literally, chilaquiles are a breakfast I grew up eating: fried corn tortillas with tomato-chile sauce. Symbolically, they are the culinary metaphor for how working-class women speak with the seasoning of their food.”—from the Introduction Through the ages and across cultures, women have carved out a domain in which their cooking allowed them to express themselves, strengthen family relationships, and create a world of shared meanings with other women. In Voices in the Kitchen, Meredith E. Abarca features the voices of her mother and several other family members and friends, seated at their kitchen tables, to share the grassroots world view of these working-class Mexican and Mexican American women. In the kitchen, Abarca demonstrates, women assert their own sazón (seasoning), not only in their cooking but also in their lives. Through a series of oral histories, or charlas culinarias (culinary chats), the women interviewed address issues of space, sensual knowledge, artistic and narrative expression, and cultural and social change. From her mother’s breakfast chilaquiles to the most elaborate traditional dinner, these women share their lives as they share their savory, symbolic, and theoretical meanings of food. The charlas culinarias represent spoken personal narratives, testimonial autobiography, and a form of culinary memoir, one created by the cooks-as-writers who speak from their kitchen space. Abarca then looks at writers-as-cooks to add an additional dimension to the understanding of women’s power to define themselves. Voices in the Kitchen joins the extensive culinary research of the last decade in exploring the importance of the knowledge found in the practical, concrete, and temporal aspects of the ordinary practice of everyday cooking. Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction What’s for Breakfast? Los chilaquiles de mi ’amá, of course! 14 Chapter 1: A Place of Their Own: Appropriating the Kitchen Space 29 Chapter 2: Sazón: The Flavors of Culinary Epistemology 61 Chapter 3: Homemade Culinary Art (El arte culinario casero): Cooks-as-Artists 97 Chapter 4: Kitchen Talk: Cooks-as-Writers 128 Chapter 5: The Literary Kitchen: Writers-as-Cooks 154 Conclusion Maybe Dessert First? Charlas Culinarias 183 Notes 190 Bibliography 230 Index 250 Introduction: What's For Breakfast? Los Chilaquiles De Miam , Of Course! -- A Place Of Their Own: Appropriating The Kitchen Space -- Sazon: The Flavors Of Culinary Epistemology -- El Arte Culinario Casero (homemade Culinary Art): Cooks-as-artists -- Kitchen Talk: Cooks-as-writers -- The Literary Kitchen: Writers-as-cooks -- Conclusion: Maybe Dessert First? Charlas Culinarias. Meredith E. Abarca. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [211]-230) And Index. Features the voices of the author's mother and several other family members and friends, seated at their kitchen tables, to share the grassroots world view of these working-class Mexican and Mexican American women. This work demonstrates that, in the kitchen, women assert their sazon (seasoning), not only in their cooking but also in their lives.