Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Identity

Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz is Professor at the Faculty of Anthropological Sciences of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico.

• Introduction: The Cultural Politics of Taste in Global Perspective, Steffan Igor Ayora Diaz (Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico) Part One: Taste and the Politics of Identity1. Food, Taste and Identity in the Global Arena, Steffan Igor Ayora Diaz (Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico) 2. Centralization and Standardization of Taste: Dashi in Japan, Yoshimi Osawa (Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan)3. Heritagization of Fermented Taste in Southern Fukui, Japan, Shingo Hamada (Osaka Shoin Women’s University, Japan)4. Tides High and Low: The Changing Landscapes of Gongfu Cha Tea Culture in Contemporary China, Lanlan Kuang (University of Central Florida, USA)5. Italian Cheese in the Global Heritage Arena, Cristina Grasseni (University of Leiden, the Netherlands)6. The Gastronomic Capital of the World: Food, Politics, and Identity in Lyon, Rachel E. Black (Connecticut College, USA)Part Two: Translocal and Transnational Politics of Taste and Identity7. Fetid Flesh and Fragrant Fare: Food, Scandal, and Identity in Contemporary Bengal, Ishita Banerjee-Dube (The College of Mexico, Mexico)8. Tasting “Innovation”: The Politics of Taste in Contemporary Restaurant Food in Seville, Spain, Steffan Igor Ayora Diaz and Gabriela Vargas Cetina (Autonomous University of Yucatan, Mexico)9. The Corn-Coconut Divide: Taste and the Cultural Politics of Gastronationalism in Belize, Lyra H. Spang (Taste Belize Tours, Belize) 10. Street Food to Restaurant: Politics of Eating and Cultural Heritage in Antigua Guatemala, Walter E. Little (University at Albany, SUNY, USA)11. Popular Urban Taste and Mass Culture: Chancho and Terremoto in Chile, Isabel Aguilera (University of Tarapacá, Chile) and Alejandra Alvear (University of Chile, Chile)Part Three: The Global-Local Politics of Taste12. Foreign Influences in Polish Culinary Taste during the Twentieth Century, Katarzyna J. Cwiertka (Leiden University, the Netherlands)13. Kimchi’s Transnational Journey: Tastes of Authenticity and Ambiguity, Sonia Ryang (Rice University, USA)14. Tasting Quinoa: From Indigenous Food to “Healthy” U.S. Dining, Christina Morris and Clare A. Sammells, (Bucknell University, USA)15. The Taste of the Mediterranean Diet. Food, Taste and Identity in the Region of Campania, South Italy, Rossella Galletti, (University of Naples Suor Orsola Benincasa) 16. Soylent: The Cultural Politics of Functional and Tasteless Food, Andrew Ofstehage (Cornell University, USA)Afterword, Heritage-Making after the U.S. Century, Krishnendu RAY (NYU Steinhardt, USA)BibliographyIndex

A showcase for the best contemporary writing on food and politics, taste and heritage. Each chapter tells us something new about how foods are in constant motion between global markets and local identities.