Looking into the past to build the future: food, memory, and identity in the indigenous societies of Puebla, Mexico

Abstract

Food memory has been determinant in the survival of social groups, the causes of its activation are varied (e.g. feelings, identity, need or challenge) and it is transmitted from generation to generation. These interactions have given rise to an ethnic food heritage that responds to cultural processes and territorial specificities. It is in this logic that this study is proposed, which aims to explore the dynamics between food, memory, and identity of two ethnic groups in the state of Puebla in Mexico in a context of health disruption. The experience of these two groups shows how food identity and memory is particularly strategic in the face of adversity, as is currently the case with the COVID-19 pandemic.