Mexico’s ethnic culinary heritage and cocineras tradicionales (traditional female cooks)

Abstract

Cocineras tradicionales—traditional female cooks—are women of Mexican indigenous descent who embody the status of food tradition bearers and the “ethnic” components of Mexican foodways. In the climate of enthusiasm generated by the 2010 nomination of “traditional Mexican cuisine” as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, cocineras tradicionales are esteemed social figures and both a driving force and a symbol of Mexico’s current food and tourism policies. This article is an examination of the power relations surrounding the making of this heritage identity. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Mexico City and the state of Oaxaca among cocineras, heritage agents, and cultural activists, it demonstrates how the economics and politics of culture turn food into a tool and a product, describes the strategies employed by various actors in this realm, and examines the ways in which recognition and material rewards are allocated in the field of food heritage.

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