Author Archives: cyolanda

11/16/23

My Colonized Mind: Reflections on El Maíz en Tiempos de Guerra

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a restful reading break!

I wanted to share my reflections after watching El Maíz en Tiempos de Guerra (Maize in Times of War). At the beginning of this term, I had a conversation with Tamara about my fear that Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, would one day decide that the world no longer gets access to their seeds. This worry has loomed over me ever since I learned, in a previous Environmental Politics class, about how Monsanto owns the “patents” for so many of the seeds and grains we rely on. Tamara replied something along the lines of “Well, that would be good for Indigenous people who don’t want those seeds because the Monsanto ones threaten their ancestral seeds.” I had never thought about this before: my colonized mind and Western, Americanized education never taught me about ancestral seeds and the plight of Indigenous people to protect them. 11 weeks into this term, with a better understanding of foodways and food sovereignty, and having watched Maíz in Times of War, I can say that while I still fear that Bayer-Monsanto–who own & control 60% of the world’s seeds (Futures Centre, 2023)–will one day decide that they no longer want to provide us their patented seeds, I now find hope and comfort in the leadership of Indigenous communities like those we learned from in the documentary.

In our neoliberal societies, we have become so reliant and used to industrialized farming and diets that rely on processed, triple-packaged, highly marketed food items. I have never thought of my food or the seeds my diet relies on as “mother, daughter, guardian.” (Maíz en Tiempos de Guerra) Going forward, I will be more mindful of the spiritual connection between my foods, the seeds and grains I eat. This documentary was once again an impactful reminder of the need for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, and for Indigenous pedagogies to be introduced into our Western, Eurocentric education systems.

Side note: Reading the EZLN Declaration was so fascinating, especially the connections between the Zapatista and Indigenous struggle in Mexico leading up to 1993, and the current plight of the Palestinian people. This sounded way too familiar: “They don’t care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are we able to freely and democratically elect our political representatives, nor is there independence from foreigners, nor is there peace nor justice for ourselves and our children.” (1) Once again, a reminder of how intersectional and interconnected the struggles of the oppressed are.

 

Thanks for reading!

-Y

 

Posted: Nov 16, 9:34 AM.

11/9/23

Food As Love, Food as Struggle

Hola a todes,

This week’s poems have been thrilling reads. Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s Making Tortillas was a vivid introduction to the relationship between queer (lesbian) love and tortillas. Today, though, I would like to discuss Caridad Moro-Gronlier’s Tortillera Poems, specifically Entry and Compulsion: A Chronology. 

While there is a lot I would like to discuss about these poems, the main theme I would like to center around today is the role of food as comfort and food as resistance within these poems. In Compulsion: A Chronology, Moro-Gronlier says “She is mean, but I taste her love in the steam that rises from rose-studded porcelain bowls she collected one dish a time…Así comen las niñas buenas, she says, approval thick as stew in my spoon.” This passage (stanza 2, lines 4-5, 9-10) was, to me, reminiscent of Tuesday’s reading, The Mystery of Survival, when the narrator was offered elote by her mother, but decided to eat coconut instead. I know that in my own life growing up in El Salvador, families don’t always comfortably speak love to one another, especially the men in our families. But they will give us food: we share food, we go out and bring food home, we bring food when we visit friends, we never show up con las manos vacías (empty handed). As shown by this poem, it is the same for our Cuban writer, as was the same from Gaspar de Alba’s Chicano perspective.

I also really enjoyed how, in Compulsion: Chronology, we can see how a specific food/edible items are used by Moro-Gronlier to represent specific points in her life and in her struggle with her sexuality, body-image, self-control and family dynamics. This reminded me of a poem that I wrote as a part of our midterm project. For my midterm project, I created a poemario, a collection of poems. The poem that reminded me the most of Compulsion is my poem, Tortilla Con Huevo. Overall, reading Tortillera reminded me of why I have been loving food studies so much, and why I am now so in love with poetry about food: specific food items carry so much history, cultural context, family history, self-image, self-control, and as we see so poignanty, food items represent love, and as maíz tells us, it represents resistance… All in a simple food item! Que vivan las gastronomic interjections! Here  are my poems. Poem 1: Tortilla Con Huevo is written chronologically and also ties in specific food items to specific chapters of my life.

Nos vemos pronto mis querides!!!

 

(Posted 9:33 AM Nov 9th)

10/15/23

Late Thoughts on Menus

This week’s readings on Cookbooks and Menus were honestly thrilling reads. As I have shared in class, I am very passionate about food and the food industry, having worked both back of the house in the kitchen and front of house as a server for over 5 years. One particular point I really enjoyed from Gora’s reading is the mention that menus are contracts of sorts, that lay out what customers can expect from a given restaurant. I had never thought of menus this way, as contacts, but it’s true. I am realizing that menus are also grounds upon which the customer-staff power dynamics are played out: they protect me as the server by providing me a guideline that I cannot deviate from, and they protect the customer by informing them about allergens, ingredients, and often, restaurant policy (ie, often menus will have fine print saying “gratuity automatically applied to groups over X”, etc.).

It was also fun to do the activity with the Alimentaria Mexicana menu. Our in-class discussion and Tamara sharing about the fancy restaruant she went to in Mexico City (I’m sorry, I forgot the name!) made me think about this restaurant I have been hearing about in El Salvador. It’s a new restaurant called El Xolo / El Xolo Maíz / El Xolo – Maíz Criollo (all the same place folks!). Here is their website.  It is located at MUNA, the National Museum of Anthropology, in one of San Salvador’s nicest, safest, richest neighbourhoods. The restaurant is currently #91 in the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The title of the website is “El Xolo – An Homage to Criollo Maíze and to Local Produce”, and their ‘About’ section speaks of using ingredients originating from indigenous Salvadoran communities, “removing intermediaries to create a direct impact in our producers, dignifying their work and supporting them in the development of better agricultural practices.”

I have never been to El Xolo, but I would like to. I have heard that they have a set menu for each night, and that a dinner meal costs about $50 usd, plus any extras and drinks. Although I commend that they even mention respecting and supporting indigenous producers on their website, as this is not usual in Salvadoran society, their prices do not create a welcoming feeling to the average Salvadoran. Indigenous communities in El Salvador are largely overlooked, and live mostly in rural, poverty-stricken regions. It makes me wonder, who is the tartget customer base for this restaurant? Is it upper-class Salvadorans who often descend from the same oligarch families that have contributed to the displacement of indigenous communities and dispossession of indigenous lands to grow coffee plantations? Or is it the foreign visitors who stay at the Sheraton Presidente hotel, located just minutes up the street from MUNA? I do not think it’s Salvadorans, and much less indigenous or rural communities, who often receive just around $50 usd as their monthly government pension.

Check out El Xolo and tell me what you think. How does their website compare to the Alimentaria Mexicana’s website, especially given the context of each restaurant? Would be interesting to hear your thoughts.  See you all in class soon!

10/3/23

Reencuentro and the Importance of Food – Reflection of Lix Lopez Visit

Elder Lopez’ visit this past Thursday was truly a gift. Prior to this term, I was not aware of the Mayan in Exile Garden at UBC. Learning about this space from Elder Lopez left me feeling hopeful, as it was a lesson of the positive impacts that result from Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous food sovereignty.

When reflecting on the visit, I think back to the concept of “desencuentro” that we learned about in class. As explained by Tamara, there is a desencuentro, a misunderstanding or non-meeting, between different cultures and different ways of knowing. Namely, there is a desencuentro between the oral and the lettered: lettered cultures clash with cultures that rely on orality. In class I brought up how lettered cultures, by not recognizing ‘other’ ways of knowing, like those of oral cultures, deny themselves an expansion of knowledge. It was an honour to learn about how Elder Lopez, when faced with the desencuentro between his Mayan worldview/traditions and Canadian/Western society and worldviews, resisted and made his way back to his ancestral roots to eventually become a Ceremonial Knowledge Keeper. It is exciting that, thanks to the Mayan Garden, future generations of Mayan children will be able to experience a reencuentro and learn about their ancestral culture at the garden.

Elder Lopez’ visit also responds to the central and recurring themes we’ve touched on in class: The importance of food, and the importance of studying food. Near the beginning of his presentation, I was excited to hear Elder Lopez talk about how when people have safe food supplies, they can build empires. This idea is what has sparked my passion for food security and especially Indigenous-led initiatives toward food security. Moreover, food and the cultivation of food crops have been central to the preservation of Elder Lopez’s, as well as his community’s, traditional knowledge. One of my favourite moments of the presentation was near the beginning, when Elder Lopez spoke about how all the generations before him, all of his ancestors, had gardens, and so gardening is in his blood. In this way, food and the cultivation of food is also spiritual, and has the ability to both connect us to something bigger than ourselves while also leading us back to our roots and ancestors.

I am enjoying learning new ways of studying food, such as approaching food and food crops with the knowledge that they have spirits, that they hold knowledge.

Something to reflect on: Has the way you approach food and food crops changed as we learn about the role of maize in Mayan society? Are you more likely to wonder about the soul of the vegetables/plants that you are eating?

09/12/23

I am From Sugar Cane (Yolanda)

I am from caña de azúcar 

from my grandfather’s cañal in Zapotitán

and the little river that runs next to it.

I am from comales–

Sizzling, popping,

Dos revueltas y una de queso.

 

From andá traeme hierba buena

From Mamá Yolan

and Papá César.

From chichipince

and carambolas.

 

I am from the metate 

           moliendo, grinding, para las tortillitas 

Maíz that becomes pupusas, riguas, atol y más… 

Flor de Izote,

and smelling panes con chumpe every 25th of December.

 

Hello everyone! I’m Yolanda. (she/her) I’m a fourth-year Arts student majoring in Political Science. I’m Salvadoran and I moved to Vancouver in 2009, but I have been lucky to spend time back home in El Salvador often.

Over the past two years, my academic interests have shifted towards food security. My dream is to contribute to food security in El Salvador and Central America–El Salvador, for instance, does not have any laws to enforce food security. I want to change that! As I briefly mentioned in class, I worked at a summer camp kitchen for six summers, making my way up from dishpit volunteer to food services manager. This experience taught me the importance of food: We need secure access to nutritious foods to fuel our bodies and thus society. You can imagine how excited I was when I found this class–food and Latin America, my two greatest loves. I’m excited to learn more about Indigenous-led initiatives, knowledge and practices to achieve food security.

Outside of school, I enjoy watching reality TV (shoutout to the Jersey Shore and Love Island UK), spending time with my two bunnies, and caring after my patio garden. I also have recently become obsessed with spin class and spend too much time browsing for the next Latin-themed class.

I’m very excited for what this class will bring and to create community with my peers. I can’t wait to become a maize expert alongside you all!

 

~ Yolanda