Tamales or Timbales: Cuisine and the Formation of Mexican National Identity, 1821–1911

Abstract

Mexican writers of the twentieth century have often imagined cuisine to be a symbol of their national identity, a mestizo blend of Native American and Spanish influences. Salvador Novo, for example, a member of theAcademia Mexicana de la Lenguaand official chronicler of Mexico City, traced the beginnings ofmestizajeto the “happy encounter” between corn tortillas and pork sausage that produced the first taco. The most common culinary metaphor for the Mexican nation wasmole poblano(turkey in deep-brown sauce). Authors in the 1920s began attributing the origins of this dish to the convents of colonial Puebla, and in particular to Sor Andrea de la Asunción of the Dominican Santa Rosa cloister. About 1680 she supposedly combined seasonings from the Old World with chile peppers from the New in honor of Viceroy Tomás Antonio de la Cerda y Aragón.Molethus represented Mexico’s “cosmic race,” created by divine inspiration and served up for the approval of the Spanish crown.