Chinese Cooks and Mexican Tastes: The Encounter of Two Culinary Practices in Mexico's Chinese Restaurants

ONE OF THE PREOCCUPATIONS OF HISTORY AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE is bestowing the daily experiences of individuals with a new transcendence. Food preparation and foodways, together with their historical circumstances, thus provide historians with a vast field of research, an almost endless scope of “food for thought,” so to speak. Within the process of self-identification and communication identified by Mintz (2003: 35) as part of food preparation and consumption, the passing of time induces change not only in the foods themselves, but also affects associated artifacts, practices, and standards, subjecting them all to the ebb and tide of tradition and innovation. This is to say that the symbolic connotations of every culinary choice are to be understood as falling within the subtle but pervasive influences of their historical context. This report is part of a more general inquiry into the ways in which the production of food and foodways are reproduced within the space of the foreign cuisine restaurant. Mexican and Chinese cuisines are both steeped in history and characterized by their complexity, two circumstances that make the encounter between these two gastronomic traditions particularly interesting and revealing. Mexico’s Chinese restaurants provide a unique space where we can observe the confrontation, recognition, and negotiation between these two distinct culinary cultures, but where the similarities and contrasts, much to the skepticism of the social scientist, yield results that lure and satisfy the culinary exigencies of both parties involved.