Food and society: a brief analysis of nineteenth-century Mexican recipe books

Abstract

The present paper aims to develop a brief sociological analysis of the Mexican society during the post-
Independence period. It focuses on the documentary material contained in some XIX century cookbooks. In
fact, from the XIX century on, there was an increase in the printing of cookbooks, whose spread was induced
by the need to assert Mexican national independence from Spain. How these cookbooks contributed to the
Mexican process of identity building? How these European costumes influenced the creole ones? In this
regard, it is worth mentioning the publishing of El cocinero mexicano (Galván Rivera, 1831) and its
republishing in the form of a dictionary: Nuevo cocinero mexicano en forma de diccionario (1845). It is also
important to remember the printing of La cocinera poblana y El libro de las familias (Bassols, 1890). Thanks to
these volumes, it is possible to detect the relation between the society and the popular traditions, and to
observe the esthetics canons of that time.