CONSUMING STORIES: FOOD, MIGRATION, AND IDENTITY IN LATINX LITERATURE

Abstract

The food we consume says a great deal about who we are. Our culture, beliefs, values, and family history join us every night around the dinner table, guiding our culinary choices. However, food also carries stories that are often overlooked, stories of oppression and marginalization that dictate access to certain foods as well as their means of production. Mexican food in the United States rises as a prime example of these contradictory stories with dishes like tacos and burritos enjoyed ubiquitously around the country while Mexican migrants perform dangerous, low-paid, and under-valued work across the food production system. Reading food in Latinx literature reveals the complex intersection of food, migration, and identity, helping us to understand the totality of the stories contained in our food.