Civilized cola and peasant pozol: young people’s social representations of a traditional maize beverage and soft drinks within food systems of Chiapas, Mexico
Résumé
In Mexico, industrially grown and transformed foods have seen their consumption explode over the past half-century and soft drinks embody an emblematic example of the impact these shifts can have on health, traditional foodways, and family agriculture. This study compared the role of sodas with a traditional maize beverage, pozol, in the state of Chiapas, specifically among rural and urban secondary school youth. We found that students find sodas to be desirably “refreshing” and “tasty,” and associated them with wealthier social classes and an alluring vision of modernity. Pozol, on the other hand, was seen as “peasant food” or a poor-person’s drink. Nonetheless, most students have not abandoned its consumption and indeed, for many it represented their most significant daily liquid intake. Importantly, it was seen as more than refreshing libation, serving as a vital food source. We also found that within Chiapanecan society, pozol in fact represents a host of varying versions, whose consumption parallels ethnic, socio- economic, and rural/urban factors. Ultimately, some traditional foods have maintained a certain resilience in the face of more globalized foods, in part because of their perceived nutritional and cultural value, thus helping to reinforce the resilience of the peasant agroecology they depend on.