Postopolis 10 Mexico City
A cookie store in Mexico City
I am really delighted to be taking part in Postopolis 10 here in Mexico City next week, the third in the series, the first two having been in New York and Los Angeles. 10 well-known bloggers from the US, Spain and elsewhere fly in. Each has invited speakers of their choice to talk for 15 minutes of a theme of their choice, almost all of them centering about cities, architecture, urban life.
Nicky Twilley, of the great blog Edible Geography, invited me to talk about the food of the city. Here’s Nicola Twilley’s post on the speakers she has invited to Postopolis 10. I’m in awe of the company I’m keeping.
If you are in Mexico City, come along. If you are elsewhere, Storefront, the organizing group, is going to be recording and streaming on line. I will post when I have more details.
And, dear friends, what would you want to know about the city and its food in fifteen minutes? A historical slant of course because that’s what I do. I’m running through lots of different ideas. Any thoughts would be helpful.
Well, I’ve never been to Mexico. So how do the people of that great city organize their food?
Is that (or are there) still based on precolombian customs?
Is htere a different market system?
Wow, wide open questions. Good ones too.
More modern questions here, I guess, but I’d like to know how the traditional markets are faring, if there’s a central location like Rungis in Paris where food first comes in, how the little mom-and-pop stores are doing, what supermarkets are there and where they are located, something about street food and its vendors, something about what fast food places are available, how Sanborn’s is doing in regard to market share, etc.
Historically, I’d like to know something about the convents and monasteries and their impact on Mexican food, cookbook publishing, how the households of the viceroys affected Mexican food if at all, comments about the impact of the brief French influence on Mexican food (wheat bread), the impact of the Porfiriato and the Revolution. Chinese immigrants and their impact? Lebanese?
What are you thinking of?
A tall order for 15 minutes. Have to choose one or the other. But lots of material here for blogs. I’m kicking around three or four things. Migrants, food processing particularly maize, the whole tortilla and wheat question, wish I knew more than the snippets I do about the food distribution system. And you don’t mention Walmart, the 10,000 lb gorilla.
Great questions – I really can’t wait for your presentation!
Another suggestion: something about what you call the “global gastronomic geography” that ties Mexican mole to Indian curries via Islamic culinary traditions. Not urban per se, but spatial, and very interesting!