SCSU prof says Mexican food is about much more than just a meal
NEW HAVEN — Every bite into a taco, quesadilla, burrito or other Mexican dish will take on a deeper meaning after reading a Southern Connecticut State University professor’s new book, “Food Cultures of Mexico: Recipes, Customs, and Issues.”
Spanish professor Rafael Hernandez-Rodriguez, chairman of the World Languages and Literature Department, said the book is an introduction to the spectrum of Mexican food and interrelated issues such as the history of Mexico, including the revolution, the epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and food around identity, gender and culture.
“Food means so much more than satisfying your taste buds,” he said. “Food is communication around gender, status and symbolizes different meaningful moments in a person’s life,” such as weddings, funerals and birthdays.
The volume, part of Greenwood Publishing Group’s “Global Kitchen” series, examines the history, meaning and influences of everything from appetizers to dessert.
Hernandez-Rodriguez, 59, grew up in Mexico, where his family still lives, and came to the United States in his early 20s to attend graduate school after graduating from the University of Mexico.
The author of a few books, including “Splendors of Latin Cinema,” Hernandez-Rodriguez writes under R. Hernandez-Rodriguez because his full name is so common.
He’s so passionate about Mexico and food that he’s putting together a college course at SCSU on Mexican food and culture that he hopes to launch as an ad hoc in the fall until it can get through the red tape approvals. The course will be called “Tacos and Revolution: Modern Mexican Culture Through Food.”
Hernandez-Rodriguez has his favorite Mexican haunts in Greater New Haven, including Camacho Garage – where he likes the margaritas — Te Amo Tequila Bar, both in New Haven, and Puerto Vallarta in Orange.
Those are preferred to some other spots: He was disappointed in a trip to a Mexican food trucks on Long Wharf, touted as “traditional” — Hernandez-Rodriguez said he ordered a carne asada taco, which is usually is steak, but said he got burger meat instead.
Hernandez-Rodriguez writes in the book about America’s love of Mexican food and how it’s even entered the culture in phrases such as “whole enchilada,” “holy guacamole” and “Montezuma’s revenge.”
He writes in the introduction to the book, “Mexican food seems as American as, well, pie de manzana. Part of the success of this cuisine is its proximity part of its charm is its exoticism, at least to the average American — it is all those colorful margaritas, the spicy tacos that awake our taste buds, those restaurants covered with sombreros and multicolored piñatas hanging from the ceiling, the walls exhibiting riveting paintings of tiny villages and fields of agave and cactus plants, the smells of grilled meat and corn tortillas floating our way every time a waitress passes by our table with somebody else’s order or when a basket of chips and salsa is presented to us as a welcoming offer, it is the loud and festive mariachi music, as well as the fluorescent palm trees.”
He goes on to say, however, Mexican food is really much more than that.
“It is a cuisine that can trace its roots thousands of years back a cuisine that emerged from the encounter of Native American and European cultures and evolved for over five centuries of mixing gastronomies and traditions a cuisine that helped Mexicans to reaffirm their identity when the nation became independent from Spain.” The book is full of deep dives into history.
He writes in the book about the differences in Mexican food here and in Mexico.
For instance, melted cheese over rice and beans isn’t traditional in Mexico, even though that’s what diners will get here in a restaurant.
A taco in Mexico is a small corn tortilla topped with fried, grilled meat — not a lot of spices — and not a bunch of shredded lettuce and tomato heaped on top.
He writes in the book about a long tradition of eating on the street in Mexico. Its “improvised food,” he said, noting a lady might open her door and start cooking on the street.
“Cooking street food in Mexico is a huge part of the culture,” he said. It also goes along gender lines, as it is the men who sell tacos on the streetcorner because it involves grilling and fire, while it’s mostly women who sell quesadillas on the street, according to Hernandez-Rodriguez.
And fear not: The book, released in December, also contains recipes.