Caribbean Food History Book: From Buccaneers to Ecotourists - Anthropology of Home Cooking & Material Culture | Perfect for Food Historians, Cultural Researchers & Travel Enthusiasts

In Home Cooking in the Global Village: Caribbean Food from Buccaneers to Ecotourists, anthropologist Richard Wilk argues against the simplistic notion that in today's hyper-connected world, "...culinary diversity is disappearing under a monotonous food landscape of burgers and fries." That's only one way to look at it, Wilk says; the other way is to see "the inevitability of globalization but ... compromise and reduce its impact by adapting and preserving local and ethnic traditions of food, music, dance, and language."Rather than colonial and Western civilizations swallowing local culture, says Wilk, it's more global give-and-take. In other words, the same forces and factors which created the small creolized country of Belize in the first place eventually created "Belizean food," a concept that didn't even exist until the arrival of the tourist industry.By studying Belize's food history, Wilk addresses the country's evolution from colonial backwater to international destination by looking at what people ate and what items were imported and exported from its shores. He also takes on the eternal Belizean paradox: why has such a rich, fertile chunk of Central America always had to rely on tinned food from Europe and the United States? The answer surprised me.The book is full of many tasty, interesting morsels -- including recipes at the end of each chapter.