Should We Reject the Cult of Authenticity?
Essay is 200 points and due as an upload on December 16.
The Assignment:
In a 1,200-word essay that adheres to current MLA format and provides a minimum of 4 sources for your Works Cited page, write an argumentative essay that defends, refutes, or complicates food and culture writer Gustavo Arellano’s claim in his essay “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food” and elsewhere that in the realm of food, especially Mexican food, we must step away from the Cult of Authenticity and embrace the idea that the greatness of Mexican food is related to its constant evolution from stealing, borrowing, synthesizing, and even culturally appropriating from one ethnic culture to another and that cuisines that fail to evolve lack relevance and vitality.
Sample Outline:
Paragraph 1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.” Or summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Paragraph 2: Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
Paragraphs 3-6 would be your supporting paragraphs.
Paragraphs 7 and 8 would be your counterargument-rebuttal.
Paragraph 9 would be a powerful restatement of your thesis, your conclusion.
Another way of looking at the essay debate:
Is the greatness of Mexican food rooted in its tradition or innovation?
A closer look at Gustavo Arellano's argument:
Arellano makes the observation that the food business, including the ever-popular Mexican cuisine, requires constant innovation because it is “rapacious” and “Darwinian.” As he writes:
What these culture warriors who proclaim to defend Mexicans don't realize is that we're talking about the food industry, one of the most rapacious businesses ever created. It's the human condition at its most Darwinian, where everyone rips everyone off. The only limit to an entrepreneur's chicanery isn't resources, race or class status, but how fast can you rip someone off, how smart you can be to spot trends years before anyone else, and how much money you can make before you have to rip off another idea again.
Arellano says the greatness of Mexican food is largely based on stealing. As he writes:
The Mexican restaurant world is a delicious defense of cultural appropriation—that's what the culinary manifestation of mestizaje is, ain't it? The Spaniards didn't know how to make corn tortillas in the North, so they decided to make them from flour. Mexicans didn't care much for Spanish dessert breads, so we ripped off most pan dulces from the French (not to mention waltzes and mariachi). We didn't care much for wine, so we embraced the beers that German, Czech and Polish immigrants brought to Mexico. And what is al pastor if not Mexicans taking shawarma from the Lebanese, adding pork and making it something as quintessentially Mexican as a corrupt PRI?
Don't cry for ripped-off Mexican chefs—they're too busy ripping each other off. Another anecdote I remember from Taco USA: one of the lieutenants of El Torito founder Larry Cano telling me Larry would pay them to work at a restaurant for a month, learn the recipes, then come back to the mothership so they could replicate it. It ain't just chains, though: In the past year, I've seen dozens of restaurants and loncheras across Southern California offer the Zacatecan specialty birria de res, a dish that was almost exclusively limited to quinceañeras and weddings just three years ago. What changed? The popularity of Burritos La Palma, the Santa Ana lonchera-turned-restaurant. Paisa entrepreneurs quickly learned that Burritos La Palma was getting a chingo of publicity and customers, so they decided to make birria de res on their own to try and steal away customers even though nearly none of them are from Zacatecas.
Gustavo Arellano further argues that cultural appropriation is “smart business.” As he writes:
And that's what cultural appropriation in the food world boils down to: It's smart business, and that's why Mexicans do it, too. That's why a lot of high-end Mexican restaurants not owned by Sinaloans serve aguachile now, because Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria made it popular. That's why working-class Mexicans open marisco palaces even if they're not from the coast—because Sinaloans made Mexican seafood a lucrative scene. That's why nearly every lonchera in Santa Ana serves picaditas, a Veracruzan specialty, even though most owners are from Cuernavaca. That's why a taqueria will sell hamburgers and french fries—because they know the pocho kids of its core clients want to eat that instead of tacos. And that's why bacon-wrapped hot dogs are so popular in Southern California—because SoCal Mexican street-cart vendors ripped off Mexicans in Tijuana, who ripped off Mexicans in Tucson, who ripped off Mexicans in Sonora.
***
Gustavo Arellano contends that the success of Mexican food as one of the dominant cuisines in America and throughout the world is its refusal to be some sort of stagnant “authentic relic” but rather a constantly changing cultural phenomenon. Is his claim sacrilegious? Is he encouraging cultural appropriation, that is white privilege moving in and stealing Mexican cuisine for its own ends? Are his points defensible? Explain.
What are the two opposing sides in this argument?
The Great Debate: Innovation Vs. Tradition:
On one side, Gustavo Arellano’s side, is the argument that great food evolves through stealing and that stealing is a sign of the food’s greatness. Another side of food greatness is constant evolution and constant innovation. People are open to experimenting with foods and not tied to traditions and absolutes. Mexican food, moreover, is not a monolith. There is diversity based on regions and innovations, so there is no such thing as One Kind of Mexican Food, no One Burrito, No One Taco, etc.
On the other side, the Cult of Authenticity, is the belief that food should be unchanged. Food is iconic and rooted in tradition and attempts at changing the food is equivalent to “blasphemy.” Also, when the food is taken and changed it accounts to the loathsome act of cultural appropriation. Which side are you on?
The Purpose:
Most of us are influenced and touched by Mexican food on a deep, personal level. Many of us have been eating Mexican food since we were babies. It is part of who we are. Moving forward, Mexican food is a dominant food in American and international cuisine.
One of the controversies about Mexican food is when people of privilege go to economically modest places in Los Angeles, Mexico, or elsewhere and engage in cultural tourism when these privileged people delight in “street food” and some appropriate the food (steal the recipe) so they can make a profit at their own restaurant. Many people find this offensive.
The purpose of this essay is critically examine when a culture is stealing from another culture’s food source, there is an arrogance too often attached to this stealing, but at the same time we want to examine the power of cultural exchange as a way of opening doors for diverse people, the power of constantly evolving food, and the power of food that is constantly being stolen. For example, Gustavo Arellano makes the point that German pub food is not being stolen; Mexican food is. This speaks to the power and relevance of Mexican cuisine. There are only a handful of German restaurants in Los Angeles. In contrast, there are thousands of Mexican restaurants in southern California. We must explore the causes of a cultural force that continues to evolve and gain power.
Your source material for your argument:
Gustavo Arellano article “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food--Mexicans Do It All the Time” (same article from the original source, The Orange County Weekly)
LA Taco interview with Gustavo Arellano in “The Fetish of Authenticity” in which he discusses the notion of authenticity and vitality in Mexican cuisine.
See YouTube video: “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good
The Gustavo Arellano article: “The Problem Isn’t Rick Bayless Cooking Mexican Food--It’s That He’s a Thin-Skinned Diva.”
The Tim Carman article “Should White Chefs Sell Burritos?”
Katie Donovan article “Culinary Appropriation”
Dinner Party Download article “Gustavo Arellano Pushes a Few Buttons”
Hispanic Food & Culture in LA article “From Rick Bayless to Bad Burritos”
Matt Gross article “The Cultural Appropriation of Food”
Recommended, but Not Mandatory, Optional:
All from Ugly Delicious on Netflix:
- Season 1, Episode 2 Tacos (fantastic episode about the cultural synthesis behind the evolution of the taco)
- Season 1, Episode 1 Pizza
- Season 1, Episode 6 Fried Chicken
Use the Toulmin Argument Model with a Counterargument-Rebuttal Section
From a design and structure standpoint, you are learning to write an argumentative essay in the tradition of the Toulmin Model, named after philosopher Stephen Toulmin. In the Toulmin Model, you address your opponents’ views in a counterargument-rebuttal section.
Using Counterargument-Rebuttal Makes Your Arguments More Persuasive:
For an argumentative essay, providing compelling support paragraphs to make your claim or thesis persuasive is not enough. You also need a counterargument-rebuttal section.
To earn credibility in an argument, good writers anticipate how opponents will disagree with their claim, so they actually provide an anticipated disagreement with their own thesis. Often they will write this counterargument-rebuttal section after their supporting paragraphs (and before their conclusion).
To write an effective counterargument-rebuttal, good writers use a variety of sentence structures:
- Some people may object to my point X, but they fail to see Y.
- Some people will take issue with my argument X, and I will concede their point to some degree. However, on balance, my argument X still stands because______________________________.
- It is true as my opponents say that my argument fails to acknowledge the possibility that Y, but I would counter argue by observing that ___________________.
- I would be the first to agree with my opponents that my argument can lead to some dangerous conclusions such as X. But we can neutralize these misgivings when we consider __________________________.
Use MLA Format for Your Essay
Your essay should follow the conventions of the MLA format.
For MLA format, I recommend the following:
Jason Morgan’s video:
Formatting a paper in MLA style
“Setting Up MLA Format Paper in Google Docs”
Setting Up MLA Format Paper in Google Docs
Support Your Essay with Sources Using MLA In-Text Citations:
Also be sure to use signal phrases for your correct MLA in-text citations, as you will find explained in this Purdue Owl article.
Kate Guthrie Caruso has made an excellent video on MLA in-text citations titled “MLA Formatting: In-Text Citations--Basics.”
MLA Formatting: In-Text Citations--Basics
Writing an Introductory Paragraph
I recommend one of two approaches for your introductory paragraph.
Method #1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.”
Method #2 Summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
Sample Thesis Structure
While I take offense at the inflated prices of some of these appropriation restaurants and the lack of credit given to the original sources, I agree with GA’s claim that _______ because ________.____________, _____________, __________________, and ___________________.
Writing an argumentative thesis or claim
When I started teaching 35 years ago, everyone called the central argument a thesis, but in the last 10 years the term claim is gaining more and more popularity.
- Your claim is the central focus of your essay.
- Your claim is what “your essay is about.”
- Your claim answers a central question.
In this case, your claim is answering this question:
Are weight-loss quests futile or not?
Why it’s advantageous to add mapping components to a claim: They outline your essay.
Developing an argumentative claim with mapping statements or your argument’s reasons gives you a roadmap and tells you where you’re going.
Example: Should Community College be Free?
Sample Argumentative Claim
While free college education would help a small percentage of low-income students who already have a baseline of writing and math skills, for the most part the argument for free community college is not persuasive when we consider that free things tend to lead to entropy (decline, chaos and worthlessness, Tragedy of the Commons), free college doesn’t solve the problems of baseline acquisition that would allow students to complete their graduation in a timely manner, free tuition would take away from budgeting for instructors and infrastructure, and free college would only lower the already abysmally low graduation rate.
Notice the above claim has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs:
- Paragraph: Free things tend to lead to entropy (decline, chaos and worthlessness, Tragedy of the Commons)
- Paragraph: Free college doesn’t solve the problems of baseline acquisition that would allow students to complete their graduation in a timely manner
- Paragraph: Free tuition would take away from budgeting for instructors and infrastructure
- Paragraph: Free college would only lower the already abysmally low graduation rate.
In the above examples, you might find that more than one paragraph is needed to support a mapping component, but the organization is still the same.
Second Example: Should I put spyware on my twin daughters’ computers?
Sample Argumentative Claim:
While I would be tempted to put spyware on my daughters' computers as a way of repelling predators, I would not do so, as some people advocate, for several reasons. One, the spyware might lull me into a false comfort and impede me from communicating with my daughters about the dangers of indiscreet internet activities; two, if I violated my daughters' trust, I may compel them to turn away from me, and they would find more insidious ways to do internet communications that jailbreak my spyware; third, a prison-like security environment in my daughters' internet landscape strikes me as the kind of overkill that overprotective fathers use who alienate their children.
Notice the above claim has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs:
- Paragraph: One, the spyware might lull me into a false comfort and impede me from communicating with my daughters about the dangers of indiscreet internet activities
- Paragraph: Two, if I violated my daughters' trust, I may compel them to turn away from me, and they would find more insidious ways to do internet communications that jailbreak my spyware
- Paragraph: Third, a prison-like security environment in my daughters' internet landscape strikes me as the kind of overkill that overprotective fathers use who alienate their children.
After Your Body Paragraphs and Before Your Conclusion, Write Your Counterargument-Rebuttal Section:
For Review:
For an argumentative essay, providing compelling support paragraphs to make your claim or thesis persuasive is not enough. You also need a counterargument-rebuttal section.
To earn credibility in an argument, good writers anticipate how opponents will disagree with their claim, so they actually provide an anticipated disagreement with their own thesis. Often they will write this counterargument-rebuttal section after their supporting paragraphs (and before their conclusion).
To write an effective counterargument-rebuttal, good writers use a variety of sentence structures:
- Some people may object to my point X, but they fail to see Y.
- Some people will take issue with my argument X, and I will concede their point to some degree. However, on balance, my argument X still stands because______________________________.
- It is true as my opponents say that my argument fails to acknowledge the possibility that Y, but I would counter argue by observing that ___________________.
- I would be the first to agree with my opponents that my argument can lead to some dangerous conclusions such as X. But we can neutralize these misgivings when we consider __________________________.
Study the Templates for Counterargument-Rebuttal Section of Essay
- While the author’s arguments for meaning are convincing, she fails to consider . . .
- While the authors make convincing arguments, they must also consider . . .
- These arguments, rather than being convincing, instead prove . . .
- While these authors agree with Writer A on point X, in my opinion . . .
- Although it is often true that . . .
- While I concede that my opponents make a compelling case for point X, their main argument collapses underneath a barrage of . . .
- While I see many good points in my opponent’s essay, I am underwhelmed by his . . .
- While my opponent makes some cogent points regarding A, B, and C, his overall argument fails to convince us when we consider X, Y, and Z.
- My opponent makes many provocative and intriguing points. However, his arguments must be dismissed as fallacious when we take into account W, X, Y, and Z.
- While the author’s points first appear glib and fatuous, a closer look at his polemic reveals a convincing argument that . . .
Writing Your Conclusion
Your conclusion is about creating emotional power and finding a way to reiterate your essay’s purpose in order to maximize the strength of your persuasion.
Since you want emotional power in your conclusion, you want to avoid cliches or overused (hackneyed) conclusion structures.
Some conclusion transitions to avoid:
- In conclusion,
- As you can now clearly see,
- Before we get out of here let me just say,
- To wrap things up,
- Just in case you forgot,
- To sum up what I just said,
- Sorry for this lousy essay, but just in case you didn’t understand what I was saying,
Effective Conclusion Strategies:
- Use the “full circle” technique. If you begin with a story or image in your introduction, return to that story or image in your conclusion.
- End on a rhetorical question.
- End with a gut-punching quotation.
- End with an indelible image.
- End with a dire warning.
- End with a universal truth that applies to your specific argument.
- End with an emotionally-powerful restatement of your thesis.
Works Cited
After your conclusion, you will cite a minimum of 4 sources on a separate page for Works Cited using current MLA format as explained in this these videos:
Purdue OWL video for Word
Purdue OWL video for Google Docs
Title for Your Essay
Make sure your essay has a strong title. Avoid a generic title like “Cultural Appropriation” or “Essay 4.” Try to have a catchy title that is relevant to your focus.
- What’s the Difference Between Respecting and Stealing Mexican Cuisine?
- Is Cultural Appropriation Even a Thing?
- Stop Calling Tex-Mex Real Mexican Food
Due as an upload for 25 points on December 3.
The Assignment: Write 2 Paragraphs:
Write 2 paragraphs, an Introductory Paragraph and an Argumentative Thesis Paragraph.
Instructions for Introductory Paragraph
I recommend one of two approaches for your introductory paragraph.
Method #1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.”
Method #2 Summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Instructions for Argumentative Thesis Paragraph
Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
While I take offense at the inflated prices of some of these appropriation restaurants and the lack of credit given to the original sources, I agree with GA’s claim that _______ because ________, ______________, ________________, and _______________________.
Writing an argumentative thesis or claim (review).
When I started teaching 35 years ago, everyone called the central argument a thesis, but in the last 10 years the term claim is gaining more and more popularity.
In this case, your claim is answering this question: Are weight-loss quests futile or not?
Why it’s advantageous to add mapping components to a claim: They outline your essay.
Developing an argumentative claim with mapping statements or your argument’s reasons gives you a roadmap and tells you where you’re going.
Example: Should Community College be Free?
Sample Claim
While free college education would help a small percentage of low-income students who already have a baseline of writing and math skills, for the most part the argument for free community college is not persuasive when we consider that free things tend to lead to entropy (decline, chaos and worthlessness, Tragedy of the Commons), free college doesn’t solve the problems of baseline acquisition that would allow students to complete their graduation in a timely manner, free tuition would take away from budgeting for instructors and infrastructure, and free college would only lower the already abysmally low graduation rate.
Notice the above claim has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs:
- Paragraph: Free things tend to lead to entropy (decline, chaos and worthlessness, Tragedy of the Commons)
- Paragraph: Free college doesn’t solve the problems of baseline acquisition that would allow students to complete their graduation in a timely manner
- Paragraph: Free tuition would take away from budgeting for instructors and infrastructure
- Paragraph: Free college would only lower the already abysmally low graduation rate.
In the above examples, you might find that more than one paragraph is needed to support a mapping component, but the organization is still the same.
Second Example: Should I put spyware on my twin daughters’ computers?
Sample Claim:
While I would be tempted to put spyware on my daughters' computers as a way of repelling predators, I would not do so, as some people advocate, for several reasons. One, the spyware might lull me into a false comfort and impede me from communicating with my daughters about the dangers of indiscreet internet activities; two, if I violated my daughters' trust, I may compel them to turn away from me, and they would find more insidious ways to do internet communications that jailbreak my spyware; third, a prison-like security environment in my daughters' internet landscape strikes me as the kind of overkill that overprotective fathers use who alienate their children.
Notice the above claim has mapping components that outline the body paragraphs:
- Paragraph: One, the spyware might lull me into a false comfort and impede me from communicating with my daughters about the dangers of indiscreet internet activities
- Paragraph: Two, if I violated my daughters' trust, I may compel them to turn away from me, and they would find more insidious ways to do internet communications that jailbreak my spyware
- Paragraph: Third, a prison-like security environment in my daughters' internet landscape strikes me as the kind of overkill that overprotective fathers use who alienate their children.
List of Requirements for This Assignment
- You present two paragraphs, an introduction and an argumentative thesis.
- Your introduction summarizes the major points of the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food”or the YouTube video titled “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.” This paragraph will be about 150 words.
- Your second paragraph, your thesis paragraph, answers the question: How persuasive is Gustavo Arellano in his claim that the greatness of Mexican food is based largely on rejecting the Cult of Authenticity? This paragraph should be about 150 words or so.
- The reasons that you provide in your thesis provide an outline for the subsequent body paragraphs.
- Your paragraph should be uploaded as an attachment to Canvas.
Due for 25 points as an upload on December 10.
Assignment Description
For your Cultural Authenticity essay, present a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph in which you present an opposing view to your argument and give this opposing view, a counterargument, and a rebuttal.
The counterargument-rebuttal paragraph (which can be more than one) usually comes before your conclusion paragraph.
Why is the counterargument-rebuttal necessary for an argumentative essay? Because for an argumentative essay, providing compelling support paragraphs to make your claim or thesis persuasive is not enough. You also need a counterargument-rebuttal section to show your argument has been “tested” by the “fire of opposing views.”
To earn credibility in an argument, good writers anticipate how opponents will disagree with their claim, so they actually provide an anticipated disagreement with their own thesis. Often they will write this counterargument-rebuttal section after their supporting paragraphs (and before their conclusion).
Writing a Counterargument-Rebuttal Paragraph:
For an argumentative essay, providing compelling support paragraphs to make your claim or thesis persuasive is not enough. You also need a counterargument-rebuttal section.
To earn credibility in an argument, good writers anticipate how opponents will disagree with their claim, so they actually provide an anticipated disagreement with their own thesis. Often they will write this counterargument-rebuttal section after their supporting paragraphs (and before their conclusion).
Instructions for This Assignment
- To write an effective counterargument-rebuttal, good writers use a variety of sentence structures that set up the counterargument and the rebuttal.
- To learn how to write an effective counterargument-rebuttal, good writers use a variety of sentence structures based on templates:
Study the Templates for Counterargument-Rebuttal Section of Essay
- Some people may object to my point X, but they fail to see Y.
- Some people will take issue with my argument X, and I will concede their point to some degree. However, on balance, my argument X still stands because______________________________.
- It is true as my opponents say that my argument fails to acknowledge the possibility that Y, but I would counter argue by observing that ___________________.
- I would be the first to agree with my opponents that my argument can lead to some dangerous conclusions such as X. But we can neutralize these misgivings when we consider _________________________.
- While the author’s arguments for meaning are convincing, she fails to consider . . .
- While the authors make convincing arguments, they must also consider . . .
- These arguments, rather than being convincing, instead prove . . .
- While these authors agree with Writer A on point X, in my opinion . . .
- Although it is often true that . . .
- While I concede that my opponents make a compelling case for point X, their main argument collapses underneath a barrage of . . .
- While I see many good points in my opponent’s essay, I am underwhelmed by his . . .
- While my opponent makes some cogent points regarding A, B, and C, his overall argument fails to convince us when we consider X, Y, and Z.
- My opponent makes many provocative and intriguing points. However, his arguments must be dismissed as fallacious when we take into account W, X, Y, and Z.
- While the author’s points first appear glib and fatuous, a closer look at his polemic reveals a convincing argument that . . .
Using the Above Templates Is Not Plagiarism
I strongly suggest you use these templates. Using them is not a form of plagiarism. You are taking structures that are commonly used by professional writers and filling in the blanks for your own purposes.
Partial Example of a Counterargument-Rebuttal Paragraph:
My opponents will disagree with my argument that social media is intrinsically addicting because they will point out that anyone can find extreme cases of dysfunctional people getting addicted to anything. However, these critics are in egregious error, for they fail to see that _____________________________________.
Three. Be sure to provide compelling and accurate counterarguments.
Do not use weak or misrepresented arguments to make your rebuttal easier. The stronger the counterargument, the stronger your rebuttal, and the strength of your rebuttal determines how persuasive your argumentative essay is.
Four. Be sure to have sufficient detail for your counterargument-rebuttal paragraph. Aim for 150-200 words.
List of Requirements for This Assignment
- Your counterargument rebuttal has a suitable sentence structure that conforms to one of the templates I’ve provided.
- Your counterargument-rebuttal addresses a legitimate concern that your opponents reasonably have.
- Your rebuttal diminishes or outright refutes your opponent’s counterargument.
- Your paragraph has sufficient detail evidenced by a length of about 150-200.
- Your paragraph should be uploaded as an attachment to Canvas.
Introducing Essay 4: A Debate about Mexican Food and the Notion of Authenticity
"Why are we writing an essay about Mexican food?"
I can imagine someone saying, “Hey, McMahon, I love Mexican food. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I don’t get it. Why are we writing an essay about Mexican food?”
That is a great question. For your final essay assignment, an argumentative essay, the topic does indeed focus on Mexican food.
So why have I chosen this topic? Here are some reasons:
- Mexican food is huge. Its popularity is not only growing throughout the United States but the entire world.
- Mexican food is not a stagnant cuisine. It is constantly changing, adapting, synthesizing. In other words, it is a great art form.
- Mexican food creates flavors, flavor combinations, and tangy spices that are so salient, irresistible, tantalizing, and reliably producing the “Wow Factor” that it is justifiably an obsession for many.
- According to the Puerto Vallarta Daily News, Mexican food, with its use of chili, honey, salt, garlic, herbs, cactus, banana leaves, Aztec seasoning, and chocolate, and its incorporation of foods from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa is the most “international food” the world has ever known. If you want to get a better grasp of how international Mexican food is, please watch the wonderful Netflix Ugly Delicious program, Season 1, Episode 2, titled "Tacos."
- The power and influence of Mexican food in the United States and elsewhere is a much-welcome platform for cultural exchange that is vital in a world where close-minded tribalism too often raises its ugly head. There’s no getting around it. How we approach food is political.
- The notion of Mexican food as a traditional and stagnant art form pitted against the idea of Mexican food as a constant innovation that breaks traditional rules forces us to question the notion of authenticity and is a profoundly human and complex subject worthy of a critical thinking class.
Should We Reject the Cult of Authenticity?
The Assignment:
In a 1,200-word essay that adheres to current MLA format and provides a minimum of 4 sources for your Works Cited page, write an argumentative essay that defends, refutes, or complicates food and culture writer Gustavo Arellano’s claim in his essay “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food” and elsewhere that in the realm of food, especially Mexican food, we must step away from the Cult of Authenticity and embrace the idea that the greatness of Mexican food is related to its constant evolution from stealing, borrowing, synthesizing, and even culturally appropriating from one ethnic culture to another and that cuisines that fail to evolve lack relevance and vitality.
What are the two opposing sides in this argument?
The Great Debate: Innovation Vs. Tradition:
On one side, Gustavo Arellano’s side, is the argument that great food evolves through stealing and that stealing is a sign of the food’s greatness. Another side of food greatness is constant evolution and constant innovation. People are open to experimenting with foods and not tied to traditions and absolutes. Mexican food, moreover, is not a monolith. There is diversity based on regions and innovations, so there is no such thing as One Kind of Mexican Food, no One Burrito, No One Taco, etc.
On the other side, the Cult of Authenticity, is the belief that food should be unchanged. Food is iconic and rooted in tradition and attempts at changing the food is equivalent to “blasphemy.” Also, when the food is taken and changed it accounts to the loathsome act of cultural appropriation. Which side are you on?
The Purpose:
Most of us are influenced and touched by Mexican food on a deep, personal level. Many of us have been eating Mexican food since we were babies. It is part of who we are. Moving forward, Mexican food is a dominant food in American and international cuisine.
One of the controversies about Mexican food is when people of privilege go to economically modest places in Los Angeles, Mexico, or elsewhere and engage in cultural tourism when these privileged people delight in “street food” and some appropriate the food (steal the recipe) so they can make a profit at their own restaurant. Many people find this offensive.
The purpose of this essay is critically examine when a culture is stealing from another culture’s food source, there is an arrogance too often attached to this stealing, but at the same time we want to examine the power of cultural exchange as a way of opening doors for diverse people, the power of constantly evolving food, and the power of food that is constantly being stolen. For example, Gustavo Arellano makes the point that German pub food is not being stolen; Mexican food is. This speaks to the power and relevance of Mexican cuisine. There are only a handful of German restaurants in Los Angeles. In contrast, there are thousands of Mexican restaurants in southern California. We must explore the causes of a cultural force that continues to evolve and gain power.
Your source material for your argument:
- Gustavo Arellano article “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food--Mexicans Do It All the Time” (same article from the original source, The Orange County Weekly)
- LA Taco interview with Gustavo Arellano in “The Fetish of Authenticity” in which he discusses the notion of authenticity and vitality in Mexican cuisine.
- See YouTube video: “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Introduction
In this post, I'm stringing together the following pieces from your Essay 4 before we get to the content section of this unit:
- Introduction suggestions for Essay 4
- Suggested outline for Essay 4
- Method and time required for Essay 4
- Resources for MLA format, Works Cited page, and in-text citations
- Writing an effective conclusion
- Writing an effective title
- How points are earned on this essay
Writing an Introductory Paragraph
I recommend one of two approaches for your introductory paragraph.
Method #1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.”
Method #2 Summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
Sample thesis structure might look like this:
While I take offense at the inflated prices of some of these appropriation restaurants and the lack of credit given to the original sources, I agree with GA’s claim that _______ because ________, _______________, ___________________, and _________________________.
Sample Outline:
Paragraph 1: Summarize the main ideas in the article by Gustavo Arellano titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food.” Or summarize the main ideas in the YouTube video “Cultural Appropriation Tastes Damn Good.”
Paragraph 2: Then transition to an argumentative claim in which you show support or repudiation of Arellano’s main ideas.
Paragraphs 3-6 would be your supporting paragraphs.
Paragraphs 7 and 8 would be your counterargument-rebuttal.
Paragraph 9 would be a powerful restatement of your thesis, your conclusion.
The Method and Time Required
Of course, everyone is different, but estimating the time based on the assigned videos, supplementary material, note taking, first draft of a 1,200 word essay of about 9 paragraphs, making a Works Cited page, and then rewriting your draft for correct grammar, spelling, and format, I would say that over the course of 4 weeks you could very well spend 16 hours, or 4 hours a week, to get this essay to a polished state that is ready to upload.
If you include doing the above readings, this essay will take approximately 16 hours to write.
Use MLA Format for Your Essay
Your essay should follow the conventions of the MLA format.
Works Cited
After your conclusion, you will cite a minimum of 4 sources on a separate page for Works Cited using current MLA format as explained in this these videos:
Purdue OWL video for Word
Purdue OWL video for Google Docs
For MLA format, I recommend the following:
Jason Morgan’s video:
Formatting a paper in MLA style
Setting Up MLA Format Paper in Google Docs
Setting Up MLA Format Paper in Google Docs
Support Your Essay with Sources Using MLA In-Text Citations:
Also be sure to use signal phrases for your correct MLA in-text citations, as you will find explained in this Purdue Owl article.
Kate Guthrie Caruso has made an excellent video on MLA in-text citations titled “MLA Formatting: In-Text Citations--Basics.”
MLA Formatting: In-Text Citations--Basics
Writing Your Conclusion
Your conclusion is about creating emotional power and finding a way to reiterate your essay’s purpose in order to maximize the strength of your persuasion.
Since you want emotional power in your conclusion, you want to avoid cliches or overused (hackneyed) conclusion structures.
Some conclusion transitions to avoid:
- In conclusion,
- As you can now clearly see,
- Before we get out of here let me just say,
- To wrap things up,
- Just in case you forgot,
- To sum up what I just said,
- Sorry for this lousy essay, but just in case you didn’t understand what I was saying,
Effective Conclusion Strategies:
- Use the “full circle” technique. If you begin with a story or image in your introduction, return to that story or image in your conclusion.
- End on a rhetorical question.
- End with a gut-punching quotation.
- End with an indelible image.
- End with a dire warning.
- End with a universal truth that applies to your specific argument.
- End with an emotionally-powerful restatement of your thesis.
Title for Your Essay
Make sure your essay has a strong title. Avoid a generic title like “Cultural Appropriation” or “Essay 4.” Try to have a catchy title that is relevant to your focus.
- What’s the Difference Between Respecting and Stealing Mexican Cuisine?
- Is Cultural Appropriation Even a Thing?
- Stop Calling Tex-Mex Real Mexican Food
“Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food--Mexicans Do It to Ourselves All the Time” by Gustavo Arellano
My thoughts on cultural appropriation of food changed forever in the research for my 2012 book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. One of my personal highlights was discovering the restaurant that Glenn Bell of Taco Bell infamy had cited in his autobiography as being the source of "inspiration" for him deciding to get into the taco business. How did he get inspired? He'd eat tacos at the restaurant every night, then go across the street to his hot dog stand to try and re-create them.
Bell freely admitted to the story, but never revealed the name of the restaurant. I did: Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, which is the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the Inland Empire. I was excited to interview the owner, Irene Montaño, who confirmed Bell's story. I was upset for the Montaños, and when I asked Montaño how she felt that Bell had ripped off her family's recipes to create a multibillion-dollar empire, I expected bitterness, anger, maybe even plans for a lawsuit in an attempt to get at least some of the billions of dollars that Taco Bell has earned over the past 50-plus years.
Instead, Montaño responded with grace: "Good for him!" She pointed out that Mitla had never suffered a drop in business because of Taco Bell, that her restaurant had been in business longer than his and "our tacos were better."
It's an anecdote I always keep in mind whenever stories of cultural appropriation of food by white people get the Left riled up and rock the food world. The latest skirmish is going on in Portland, where two women decided to open up what Willamette Week called "a concept that fits twee Portland": a breakfast burrito pop-up located within a hipster taco cart. The grand sin the gabachas committed, according to the haters, was the admission that they quizzed women in Baja California about how to make the perfect flour tortilla.
For their enthusiasm, the women have received all sorts of shade and have closed down their pop-up. To which I say: laughable. The gabachas knew exactly what they were doing, so didn't they stand by it? Real gumption there, pendejas.
But also laughable is the idea that white people aren't supposed to—pick your word—rip off or appropriate or get "inspired" by Mexican food, that comida mexicana is a sacrosanct tradition only Mexicans and the white girls we marry can participate in. That cultural appropriation is a one-way street where the evil gabacha steals from the poor, pathetic Mexicans yet again.
As we say in Mexico: No se hagan.
What these culture warriors who proclaim to defend Mexicans don't realize is that we're talking about the food industry, one of the most rapacious businesses ever created. It's the human condition at its most Darwinian, where everyone rips everyone off. The only limit to an entrepreneur's chicanery isn't resources, race or class status, but how fast can you rip someone off, how smart you can be to spot trends years before anyone else, and how much money you can make before you have to rip off another idea again.
And no one rips off food like Mexicans.
The Mexican restaurant world is a delicious defense of cultural appropriation—that's what the culinary manifestation of mestizaje is, ain't it? The Spaniards didn't know how to make corn tortillas in the North, so they decided to make them from flour. Mexicans didn't care much for Spanish dessert breads, so we ripped off most pan dulces from the French (not to mention waltzes and mariachi). We didn't care much for wine, so we embraced the beers that German, Czech and Polish immigrants brought to Mexico. And what is al pastor if not Mexicans taking shawarma from the Lebanese, adding pork and making it something as quintessentially Mexican as a corrupt PRI?
Don't cry for ripped-off Mexican chefs—they're too busy ripping each other off. Another anecdote I remember from Taco USA: one of the lieutenants of El Torito founder Larry Cano telling me Larry would pay them to work at a restaurant for a month, learn the recipes, then come back to the mothership so they could replicate it. It ain't just chains, though: In the past year, I've seen dozens of restaurants and loncheras across Southern California offer the Zacatecan specialty birria de res, a dish that was almost exclusively limited to quinceañeras and weddings just three years ago. What changed? The popularity of Burritos La Palma, the Santa Ana lonchera-turned-restaurant. Paisa entrepreneurs quickly learned that Burritos La Palma was getting a chingo of publicity and customers, so they decided to make birria de res on their own to try and steal away customers even though nearly none of them are from Zacatecas.
Shameless? Absolutely.
And that's what cultural appropriation in the food world boils down to: It's smart business, and that's why Mexicans do it, too. That's why a lot of high-end Mexican restaurants not owned by Sinaloans serve aguachile now, because Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria made it popular. That's why working-class Mexicans open marisco palaces even if they're not from the coast—because Sinaloans made Mexican seafood a lucrative scene. That's why nearly every lonchera in Santa Ana serves picaditas, a Veracruzan specialty, even though most owners are from Cuernavaca. That's why a taqueria will sell hamburgers and french fries—because they know the pocho kids of its core clients want to eat that instead of tacos. And that's why bacon-wrapped hot dogs are so popular in Southern California—because SoCal Mexican street-cart vendors ripped off Mexicans in Tijuana, who ripped off Mexicans in Tucson, who ripped off Mexicans in Sonora.
To suggest—as SJWs always do—that Mexicans and other minority entrepreneurs can't possibly engage in cultural appropriation because they're people of color, and that we're always the victims, is ignorant and patronizing and robs us of agency. We're no one's victims, and who says we can't beat the wasichu at their game? And who says Mexicans are somehow left in the poorhouse by white people getting rich off Mexican food? Go ask the Montaños of Mitla how they're doing. Last year, they reopened a long-shuttered banquet hall, and the next generation is introducing new meals and craft beers.
They cried about Bell's appropriation of their tacos all the way to the history books.
This story originally appeared in OC Weekly.
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