A Tortilla Is Like Life: Food and Culture in the San Luis Valley of Colorado

Contents

C O N T E N T S Preface | xiii Acknowledgments | xv C H A P T E R 1 | 3 “I Did Do Something”: Food-Centered Life Histories in Antonito, Colorado Why Antonito | Methodology: Food-Centered Life Histories and Testimonios | History of Antonito | Antonito Today | Study Participants | The Ethnographic Process | Helen Ruybal and Carole Counihan on Ethnography | Conclusion C H A P T E R 2 | 22 “The Stereotypes Have to Be Broken”: Identity and Ethnicity in Antonito Antonito: An Insider/Outsider Perspective | Janice DeHerrera on Antonito | Language and Education, Spanish and English | Teddy Madrid on Freedom of Speech | Ramona Valdez on English and Spanish | Helen Ruybal on Learning English and Being Smart | Teddy Madrid on Learning English from the Presbyterians | Ethnic, Gender, and Religious Identity | Ramona Valdez on Ethnic Terminology | Teddy Madrid on the Connection with Spain | Discrimination and Prejudice | Helen Ruybal on Discrimination | Teddy Madrid on Multiple Identities and Axes of Prejudice | Ramona Valdez on Religious and Anti-Hispanic Prejudice | Bernadette Vigil on Chicano Consciousness | Teddy Madrid on Identity, Terminology, and Prejudice | Conclusion C H A P T E R 3 | 44 “Part of This World”: Meanings of Land and Water History of Land: Acquisition and Loss | Helen Ruybal’s Land Acquisition and Sale | Land and Its Meanings | Monica Taylor’s Dream of Land, Family, and Place | Monica Taylor’s Perceptions of the Land | Ramona Valdez on the Meanings of Land | Teddy Madrid on Land, Home, and Family | Water in the Southwest | The Multiple Meanings and Uses of Water | Teddy A T O R T I L L A I S L I K E L I F E X Madrid on the Traditional Uses of Water | Teddy Madrid on Water as a Commodity | Janice DeHerrera on Water as a Commodity | Monica Taylor on Water as Life | Conclusion: Land, Water, Place, and Chicano Cultural Ecology C H A P T E R 4 | 71 “Anything You Want Is Going to Come from the Earth”: The Traditional Diet The Locally Produced Subsistence Diet | Ramona Valdez’s Food Narrative | Meat: Domesticated and Wild Animal Foods | Helen Ruybal on Raising Cattle and Beef | Teddy Madrid on Fishing, Hunting, and Making Jerky | Cultivated Foods: Grains, Beans, Vegetables, and Fruits | Asuncionita Mondragon on Her Grandparents’ Garden in La Isla | Teddy Madrid on Food Production in Las Mesitas | Bernadette Vigil on Red and Green Chili | Gathered Plant Foods and Medicines | Helen Ruybal on the Importance of Piñon in Her Family | Teddy Madrid on Gathering Wild Foods in Las Mesitas | Ramona Valdez on Healing Herbs | Conclusion: Food, Place, and Culture C H A P T E R 5 | 91 “We’ve Got to Provide for the Family”: Women, Food, and Work Production, Reproduction, and Gender | Helen Ruybal’s Story of Courtship and Marriage | Gender Expectations and Practices | Teddy Madrid on Her Family’s Flexible Gender Division of Labor | Monica Taylor on the Strong Women in Her Family | Helen Ruybal on Gender Relations and Ideals | Women and Food Work | Teddy Madrid on Food Preservation | Monica Taylor on Gardening and Preserving Food | Janice DeHerrera on Food Preparation | Earning Money with Food | Helen Ruybal on Making and Selling Cheese | Ramona Valdez on Working in the Fields | Celina Romero on Working as a Cook and Field Hand | Asuncionita Mondragon on Raising Poultry and Selling Eggs | Balancing Work and Home | Teddy Madrid’s First Paycheck | Teddy Madrid on Being a Working Woman | Janice DeHerrera on Balancing Job and Home | Conclusion C H A P T E R 6 | 114 “It’s a Feeling Thing”: Cooking and Women’s Agency Cooking and Agency | Teddy Madrid’s Cooking Adventures | To Cook or Not to Cook | Helen Ruybal’s and Her Sister’s Different Approaches to Cooking | Janice DeHerrera’s Cooking Expectations | Cooking, Self-Expression, and Emotional Connection | Janice DeHerrera on Creativity and Cooking | Janice DeHerrera on Cooking as Emotional Communication | Cordi Ornelas’s Paella | Learning and Teaching Cooking | Janice DeHerrera on Learning How to Cook | Monica Taylor on Learning to Cook and the Family Biscochito Recipe | Cooking and Gender | Teddy Madrid on Cooking after Marriage | Helen Ruybal on Her Husband's Cooking | Monica Taylor on the Chili Wars | Conclusion XI Contents C H A P T E R 7 | 137 “Meals Are Important, Maybe It’s Love”: Mexicano Meals and Family Family in Antonito | Janice DeHerrera on Family Ties versus Individual Ambition | Teddy Madrid on Her Father’s Family Charge | Mexicano Family Meals | Martha Mondragon on Family Meals...