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Chapter Summary Of Planet Taco By Jeffrey Pilcher

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Planet Taco, a non-fiction book by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, writes about the history of Mexican food. He begins the book in Mexico and ends up talking about how it impacted and spread through the whole world. In the introduction of the book Pilcher begins by writing about this taco cart his guide takes him to. Pilcher then tells you how much time it took for his tacos to be ready about 2 minutes. Little do we realize he ends up comparing the tacos he received in Mexico to the tacos he received in Taco Bell. Starting the first chapter of the book he begins by writing about the civilizations of the Aztec’s and the Mayan’s and the food they enjoyed back then. There most important food source comes from the genetic mutation of teosinte, aka maize. Maize …show more content…

This was very different then the other parts of Mexico, which enjoyed the corn, based meals based on the vegetarian corn variety. Pilcher then brings us to the late nineteenth century in San Antonio, Texas where workingwomen would cook to make their income mainly during festival; eventually the legend of the chili queens was born. These legendary women brought many tourists to San Antonio and began to establish the reputation of Mexican food in the United States, which would eventually travel around the world. Like all great things there are always people looking to make money businessmen that weren’t apart of the Mexican community started selling chili con carne, chili powder, and canned tamales in mass quantity and made fortunes compared to the little street vendors that started it all. The end of the chili queen’s dynasty happened when the city ordered the queens out of the Alamo Plaza for construction. In the beginning the women thought that it was just temporary, but it ended up being permanent bringing a end of the chili queens of San …show more content…

He also has background in Latin American history The viewpoint I felt Pilcher was a mixture of positive and negative. The negative part being not wanting the taco to change from the way the Mexican people did it before the “Mexican American Generation”. The positivity comes from the way he talks about the Mexican people through the book. The most important evidence Pilcher uses are how he does his research all the way back to the Aztecs and compare it to Mexican food today. The way the Aztecs made there food is so different then how Mexican food is made in the United States today due to the mass production of products used by most

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The colonials of New Spain brought animals such as horses, cattle, goats, sheep, chicken and pigs. Here Pilcher describes the importance of corn and wheat. He uses very descriptive to show Mexico’s elites love towards dishes based on wheat. He also discusses Mexico’s oldest documents of cookbooks, however, the Europeans heavily influenced them. Mole poblano turned out strangely similar to European cooking and wouldn’t have been considered from the

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Corn was associated with indians and therefore seen as inferior while wheat associated with europeans was considered superior. This cultural struggle was encompassed by the tortilla discourse. While some mexicans were adapting to some european ways, substituting corn for wheat was the hardest for Mexicans. The main reason Europeans launched this discourse was in order to create a wheat market in the country and put the rural workers into the market economy. Over time the discourse achieved its goal.

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The Aztecs were one of the most famous and successful early civilizations of the Americas that we know of, who ruled an empire in the modern day country of Mexico from 1350 to 1519. From their capital city of Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City, to their daily routines, the Aztecs had many achievements that they deserve recognition for. Two very important components in the history of the Aztecs are agriculture and human sacrifice. Although they both play huge roles in Aztec culture, historians should emphasize on their methods of farming. The reasons why historians should center their focus on the Aztecs' agricultural techniques are they affected the growth of their empire, were used on a huge scale, and were very unique in comparison to other

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Unless it is discussed, we as americans don't even realize this (Optional Ethnicities: For Whites Only?). I had no idea that Taco Bell was not real Mexican food until I went to an actual authentic Mexican restaurant. America puts its twist on these cultural things and remakes them. Obviously tacos are of hispanic origin but Taco Bell tacos are americanized as can be. They even include american cheddar cheese, which is not even used in hispanic Mexican food.

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