Heritage cuisine and identity: free time and its relation to the social reproduction of local food

Abstract

Mexico City is the world’s fourth largest metropolis with more than 20 million inhabitants. Due to its integration with a global world, the dietary habits of its population have undergone significant transformations, which include an increased consumption of industrialized products. At the same time, there is a growing interest in local food consumption, linked to aspects such as health, the environment and cultural identity. One of the most consumed traditional foods in central Mexico is slow-cooked lamb (barbacoa de borrego), a dish prepared with the Mayan ‘pib’ cooking method, which consists of using an earthen oven in which the animal is placed, wrapped in maguey cactus leaves and cooked throughout an entire night. Texcoco is a small city 40 kilometres outside of Mexico City whose fame for preparing barbacoa attracts thousands of visitors every weekend. The purpose of this work is to analyse the role that personal identity and free time play in the reproduction of heritage cuisine in contemporary societies. It concludes that tourism practices enable the continuity of certain local foods, reinterpreted in the light of urban consumption.