Blog Post #3

Encarnacions 1 and 2 gave me an interesting perspective on how much meaning can be behind the food someone makes. These readings were from Encarnacion Pinedo’s cookbook, which was among the first Spanish cookbooks to be published in the States. This cookbook is unique because it tells the story of Pinedo and her family. It is also unique for the time because it was written by a woman during a time where there were not many female authors. The cookbook does not follow the typical layout of a cookbook because there are no measurements or pictures of what the food is supposed to look like. This leaves room for people to interpret the recipes in their own way and be able to put their own culture into it. Pinedo wrote this cookbook to give to her nieces in order to have a way to pass on their Mexican heritage. It offers a look into the period of time, as the book was published in 1989 in San Francisco. While creating a way to pass on her culture, she was also using it as a way to contrast the typical “American” meals, which were part of the way people were pressured to assimilate. This cookbook also served as a way for her to stand up to the struggles her and her family had faced while trying to survive in America.