December 4, 2025 • 23 mins
Tierra y Libertad: Food and the Mexican Revolution
In Mexico, revolution was as much about reclaiming the land as it was about reclaiming the kitchen. Over a century after the French Revolution, the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century drew inspiration from ideas of liberty and equality, showing how food could be political. Indigenous ingredients — dismissed as lower class during the entire Colonial period — became emblems of resistance and unity. Corn, beans, and chile spoke for the people in ways politics could not. Artists and intellectuals celebrated these humble ingredients as the foundation of Mexican identity.
In this episode, Eva and Maite trace how the Mexican Revolution elevated native foods into a symbols of pride, power, and belonging, connecting the fight for justice on the battlefield with cultural identity at the table.
This is part 3 of a 3 part series called, How Eating Shapes History! Haven't heard the first two episodes? Go back and listen from the beginning starting with The French Revolution.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
My name is Eva Longoria and I am Mate Remezracon
and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores
our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So make yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I wen Broche Part three, Part three of our three part.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Series The Mexican Revolution. And you know, I love food
because it tells you so much about history, and our
last two episodes did just that. Mike and I are
history geeks and foodies, so we combined the two together.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
We are the perfect match for this. And so yeah,
I'm so excited to talk about the Mexican Revolution today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Because Miva MEXI call Meva Meal almost Mechi.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Mexicans, and I love that we'll explore it through the
lens of social history with a focus on, of course food.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I know a lot about the Mexican Revolution historically, I
don't know about the food impact, so this is exciting
for me.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The food impact is really kind of extraordinary. But just
to backtrack a little bit, so the Mexican Revolution happened
over a century after the French and American ones, right
the Mexican independence was in eighteen ten. The revolution started
in nineteen ten, but they were both a part of
this larger global legacy of the French Revolution.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If you can state again about Mexican independent the difference
between Mexican independence and the revolution, because I actually always
get it confused because it's eighteen ten, nineteen ten.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So Mexican independence was a war of independence, and this
was when Mexico, Mexican became independent from Spain. This happened
right around the time of the French and American revolutions.
So the Mexican Revolution was an internal revolt that was
caused or that was shaped because of centuries of colonial oppression. Basically,
(02:10):
so this happened in nineteen ten, so one hundred years
after the others.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I have a question why if Mexican independence from Spain
happened in eighteen ten, which was the same time as
all the revolution, American Revolution, the French Revolution, why didn't
they call it the Mexican revolution back then? Because it
was against colonialism, and it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Was against colonialism, but usually you know, revolutions are more internal.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Eighteen ten was against the colonialism, nineteen ten was against
a dictator, right.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yes, yes, so yeah, eighteen ten was a separation from
Spain to become independent from Spain, right, and then those
one hundred years between the War of Independence from Spain
and the Revolution, the Mexican Revolution, it was one hundred
years of instability and oppression and just really a lack
(03:05):
of consistent leadership. It was just all really kind of
a mess, and that led to the revolution. And ultimately
it was because of Porfdio Das. He was a misthiso
from Waga. He was a Francophile. He served as president
of Mexico for over three decades. Basically he was a
(03:27):
dictator and his long rule was known as the Portfitiato.
And so that was sort of like the straw that
broke the camel's back on these just hundred years of
colonial oppression.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So is a Francophile somebody obsessed with France. Yes, he
was upsessed with France. But the revolution was against him.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The revolution was against everything that he stood for and
everything that his regime his regime exactly because I used.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
To get them confused. I used to think, you know,
because all the revolutions happened at a similar time, even
eighteen ten, that Mexican independence was a bit of a
revolution because it was against colonialism. It was against you know,
Spain having control over them from so far away, much
like the American Revolution of like, dude, you're not even here,
(04:19):
why are you telling me what to do? People think
that single DeMaio is our Mexican Fourth of July, and
I am constantly correcting people. It is not.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It is absolutely not. It was a battle of Bueerblain
and he Parfdias was a hero of this battle, and
that's what kind of put him on the map essentially.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Once he was like this hero of this Battle of Puebla,
which was by the way, against France. Mexico beat the
French in Puebla. He remained in power for decades, but
he used like re elections and he changed the constitution
to stay in power. So he's celebrated by a lot
of people because he brought a lot of economic growth
(05:04):
to Mexico. But he was definitely a dictator. I mean,
he had a lot of inequality, which then led to
the revolution, which was a nineteen ten correct.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yes, absolutely started in nineteen ten. But like you said,
he is celebrated by a lot of people because he
brought a lot of modernization, like railroads and industries, and
this European style architecture, like especially in the big cities.
If you go to Mexico City, these buildings like the
Mayasata is a fine arts palace. It's this gorgeous, you
(05:39):
know building, and you know, Juanajuato has the theater. Like
there's just so much European style architecture that he brought,
so you know, this is why he's celebrated by a
lot of people. But of course with all of this
European style architecture, brought European style food. So let's talk
(05:59):
about food and dining during the Buffadeto.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Like the other revolutions, food and dining really reflected the
deep economic divide, right, like the way French cuisine became
a symbol of sophistication and was like embraced by upper class,
I think the elites in Mexico also, you know, copied
(06:23):
this kind of symbol of sophistication right with the upper class.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, totally. And there were all of these specialty shops
in Mexico City that sold gourmet petats and imported wine
and brandies. And his whole thing was this europeanization of
food culture in Mexico was part of the s's vision
of Mexico as a quote unquote civilized nation, and so
(06:51):
this of course only reinforced these class and racial hierarchies.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He also really it was this is what I find
interesting is he was Wahaka and he rejected like he
was indigenous himself. Right, he was a mesthy so he
was dark, but yeah, he rejected indigenous traditions and he
you know, he viewed Maisa as a symbol of oppression,
and he promoted all of this European culture almost like
(07:20):
it feels self hating to me.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I know, it's so weird. And he saw corn as
a symbol of oppression. But everybody's eating coffilla's in their house.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There's well, there's a whole thing about the haciendas, right,
and this was a big part of the revolution, was
the way hausciendas were run and how you know, people
were indebted as servants who worked on the husciendas, Like
it was a whole cast system in Mexico. And then
the haciendas began producing cash crops like sugar and coffee
and cotton to export to the US into Europe. And
(07:51):
these these cash crops ended up replacing food crops like
beans and corn, and so that made less available for
the locals, So the food prices went up, but also
malnutrition and food insecurity worsened because of this.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, absolutely, And of course foreign companies and local elites
were getting really rich while most Mexicans were poor and hungry.
And we learned, of course from the French Revolution, that
when people are hungry, they will revolt. He ran his
rule by the phrase ban so reflecting this idea of
(08:30):
obey and you will be rewarded. Disobey and you will
be punished.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Right, obey and you'll get bread, or disobey and you'll
get the stick. Is really how it literally translates not
a good strategy that he was operating or not a
good strategy, and how he asserted his dominance and enslaved people,
because then that's really how they became rebellious.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, and he famously said after you know Mattelos and Galliente,
so kill them, like do it fast or do it
with passion, like about rebels and Veracruz, who he wanted
who wanted to overthrow him in eighteen seventy nine. So
I know, it's crazy to seeing these like these parallels
of bano palo today in different ways.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well, I feel like we're going through a bano polo
strategy today. You know, in in certain parts of the world,
it's you know, it's bano pallo right now, and it's
so disheartening and also surprising that we're back to kind
of this not only rhetoric, but like this style of leadership.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, I know, it's like, if you cooperate, you're enriched,
If you resist, you're silenced or imprisoned.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Or killed exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Just it's awful. I always think, you know, when you
look back at history, if I were that person, like,
I would be out there fighting, and I want to
think that my family was out there. My maternal great
grandfather was actually Porfidio the S's dentist, and he was
(10:10):
the founder of the Dental Society in Mexico. And in
nineteen hundred the s sent my great grandfather to the
Paris Exposition and there's this newspaper clipping about it. He
was part of all of these banquets. And his wife,
my great grandmother, she was French Basque and she had
her closed ship from France. So you think, oh, yes,
(10:34):
my my descendants are revolutionaries. Maybe maybe not mine, maybe
not on that side of that of the family.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
There's so many similarities with what was happening in France
before the French Revolution, but that most Mexicans continue to
eat traditional and misdiso based diets because it's it's what
their indigenous servants prepare. They prepared tomales, atoles, guisabos. So
(11:02):
this is why our food was never lost, because everybody
continued to eat the diet that they always knew. But
let's talk about sold as. Who or were they and
why were they so important? I've read many books about them.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Oh, my gods, were so badass. I mean, they were
the og chingo nats, right, they were just so bad ass.
So these were these women that traveled with revolutionary armies
and they really played an essential role on and off
the battlefield. Some of them were soldiers. Some of them
fought alongside soldiers and those were called adelitas. And some
(11:43):
of them, you know, were wives, mothers, widows, rebels like.
Some of them were serving as cooks and nurses and caretakers,
ensuring that soldiers were fed and informed. And they sometimes
they carried messages, they gathered intelligence. They used the fact
that there were women, and they wouldn't attract suspicion, and
(12:07):
so they kind of moved around and were serving, you know,
serving the soldiers with intelligence. But their food, their cooking
was central to their work and to their legacy. I
mean they fed entire armies. They cooked over open flames,
they foraged, they treated ingredients so by doing, and they
(12:28):
were traveling around the country, so they preserved and shared
regional recipes and they really laid the groundwork for a
more unified Mexican national quill.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
They because they were like making wahaka and mullis and
Yucatan skocinita and Veracruz's seafood, which is pretty amazing in
this era. To unify a nation by the diversity of food.
How crazy is that?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
It is? Totally and foods like the malees and bortolain
that was they became symbols of national pride and tortillas emerged.
It's these emblems of patriotism and resilience and cultural continuity.
It wasn't like theas and the portfidiata were saying that
it was oppression. No, this is who we are and
(13:18):
they are always women, right, they are ensuring that these
traditions remain alive, and they are taking things like Juahaca
mole to different parts of the country. So they're beginning
to unify the country through food.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
And using food as symbols of strength and resilience and patriotism.
I think it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It is, It is so beautiful with the soleted As
are doing this, and you know, after the revolution, Mexico
is still trying to figure out what their identity was.
So they were, you know, they were indigenous Mexico. They
were the hundreds of years of colonies and they were
(14:01):
all of it, right, So they're trying to build a
national identity, and food became a way to bring the
country together. The food that the Soleas prepared and the
techniques that they used influenced cookbooks of the period. So
of course I'm obsessed with cookbooks, so I just want
to mention a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
They're so gay.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So there's one called moern Ross Cocina Mexican. It's nineteen
twenty nine modern recipe for Mexican cooking by a woman
named Maria Juarola des Salcea, and she starts the book
saying that Mexican food might be less substantial. The Spanish
food is non as complicated or elegant as French food,
but it is more diverse than any other and should
(14:42):
be an element of pride. And so there's another one.
Anna Marier Nandez, she was a teacher, a writer, and activist.
She published a book in nineteen thirty four called Comejo
lament the Lobrero Campesino, like how to Better the food
of the of the of the worker and the Farmer.
And she dedicated the book to then President elect las Aarrgarvanez,
(15:04):
and he calls him a socialist and great friend of
revolutionary women. She writes that there's no Mexican woman that
does not show pride in making it the fanciest woman
in the capitol and the humblest table and so. And
she has recipes for anchilas and tamalez, and then she
has recipes for chicken with hollandaise saws and volovont gosh.
So it's all of these. It demonstrates the layers of
(15:27):
Mexican cuisine. And through these layers of cuisine we could
see the layers of history.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You know, a lot of people don't know how the
revolution ended, and you know, eventually Granza emerged as a
leader and they drafted the Mexican Constitution of nineteen seventeen,
and it was the first constitution in the world to
include social rights. Like that was it blows me away
(15:55):
how progressive Mexico was in this in this moment. They
had land reform, they had labor rights, they had education
rights guaranteed free secular public education. They removed religion from
public education. They had cultural and national rights protections for
marginalized communities. They recognized the right to cultural identity by
(16:17):
limiting the power of foreign entities. Like these social rights
were so revolutionary at the time, and they influenced future
constitutions and labor laws in Latin America and beyond. And
so not all was enforced, but they really set a
powerful legal framework for reform and justice in a post
(16:40):
revolutionary Mexico. So the you know, the fight for rights
always continues, Like I remember people talking about Roby Wade
about that, Like, you know, the fight to keep our
rights is almost as hard as the fight to get
to receive and get those rights.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But the framework is there. I mean these labor rights,
but some of them they established protections for workers, including
eight hour work days, one day of rest per week,
the right to strike, the word to unionize, a minimum weight,
equal pay for work, protections for women and children, including maternity.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Eternity leave. We don't today, I know this.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Is nineteen seventy prohibition of child labor, safe working conditions.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
It's like, what was the what was the impact of
the revolution, do you think? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So this struggle right so, and the way the country
embarked on this bold project of reinvention. Right, the struggle
for land and justice and equality reshaped the social landscape,
but sparked this search for a new national identity rooted
in its own people. And this idea became known as Mexikania.
(17:51):
It's like, okay, who are we?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Were?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
This?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Were that?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Or everything? So this concept of okay, rather than looking
to Europe for inspiration, these post revolutionary leaders and artists
and intellectuals, they turned in words and they celebrated the
indigenous and Mestizo heritage and rejected this colonial legacy of elitism.
(18:15):
And so we see this in murals, right, like they
got to bed and cicatos and all of these. We
see them in murals and dance and in cinema and
clothing and dress. You know, and of course you had.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Food if of course food, but it feels like the
revolution the biggest impact that it had on people was
a cultural renaissance, you know, like it was this like
identity more than you know, we're now we have you know,
a better legal structure or anything like that. Like they
(18:45):
were like, this is who we want to be and
it is definitely nothing of colonialism.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
They called it the Mexican Renaissance. There was a really
influential figure at this time, Josevasconcelos. He was Mexico's first
Secretary of Public Education, and he launched campaigns to promote
literacy and support public art and published works that celebrated
(19:13):
indigenous traditions. You know, we have the artists Deriveda and
all of them. You're doing public murals that glorified Mexico's
indigenous past and revolutionary war, you know, heroes and working
class struggles and cinema, the rise the golden age of cinema,
Maria Felix and all of these great actors of this
(19:36):
golden age, and they began to popularize symbols like the
charro and the China polana, and they turned these into
icons of national pride.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And because our food and the diet was so preserved
throughout this entire time. I mean from the conquest, by
the way, from the fifteen hundreds up until now we're
in the post revolutionary era. Food became central to this
cultural revival, and it's recognized today by UNESCO as having deep,
(20:09):
deep roots historically, you know, native ingredients, traditional cooking, and
I feel like, you know, the soldadera has emerged as
you know, these guardians of the culinary and cultural knowledge.
And I find that to be to be beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And if we look at some of that imagery from
a modern perspective, not the food, but the charro, the
sharp dressed horsemen in an embroidered suit, and the chinapaulana,
the woman in a beaded blouse and flowing skirt. They're
really beautiful and instantly recognizable, but they come from very
specific regions and histories, and over the last century have
(20:48):
been presented as one true face of the nation, really
sidelining or erasing hundreds of other cultures and styles. So
they also lack men and women in to these old
school roles as like the macho protector and the demure
decorative beauty. So it's heritage, yes, but it's also a
(21:09):
very curated snapshot of what it means to be Mexican,
and so yeah, through art, education, film, and food, this
post revolutionary era defined or redefined what it meant to
be Mexican and Mixikani. Dad was a cultural revolution, I mean,
and this is the image of Mexico, the flavor of
(21:30):
Mexico that was also just transported to the world.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
To sum it up as a Mexican Revolution was one
of the most significant political upheavals in Latin American history.
I mean, so many other countries obviously have their run
ins with dictators still by the way to this day,
but this civil war is what transformed Mexico's society, government,
land ownership, or national identity, and it involved peasants to workers,
(21:58):
to intellectuals, to landowners, to indigenous communities, and each with
different goals. You know, some wanted a new democracy, some
wanted land reform, some people wanted labor rights. And I
think a lot of good came out of the Mexican Revolution,
including most importantly safeguarding the cuisine.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And I really think it's so interesting that we talked
about the Enlightenment, the Age of Enlightenment last time. These
thinkers leaders that of the revolution. They were still following
those ideals from one hundred years prior, so, these ideas
of we could do better, we could do better, and
(22:40):
we could still do better. Right, but Viva Mexico.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Miva Mexico, Iviva latilla. I'm glad they did it. I'm
glad that was not lost.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Never, it will never be lost.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It will never be lost, never be lost. Well, I
hope you guys enjoyed our three part series French Revolution,
Revolution and the Mexican Revolution. Be sure to subscribe to
our show and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Hungary for History is a hyphen It Media production in
partnership with Iheart'smichael Tura podcast network.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
My name is Eva Longoria and I am Mate Remezracon
and welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores
our past and present through food.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some
of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages from our culture.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So make yourself at home.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I wen Broche Part three, Part three of our three part.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Series The Mexican Revolution. And you know, I love food
because it tells you so much about history, and our
last two episodes did just that. Mike and I are
history geeks and foodies, so we combined the two together.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
We are the perfect match for this. And so yeah,
I'm so excited to talk about the Mexican Revolution today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Because Miva MEXI call Meva Meal almost Mechi.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Mexicans, and I love that we'll explore it through the
lens of social history with a focus on, of course food.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
I know a lot about the Mexican Revolution historically, I
don't know about the food impact, so this is exciting
for me.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The food impact is really kind of extraordinary. But just
to backtrack a little bit, so the Mexican Revolution happened
over a century after the French and American ones, right
the Mexican independence was in eighteen ten. The revolution started
in nineteen ten, but they were both a part of
this larger global legacy of the French Revolution.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If you can state again about Mexican independent the difference
between Mexican independence and the revolution, because I actually always
get it confused because it's eighteen ten, nineteen ten.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So Mexican independence was a war of independence, and this
was when Mexico, Mexican became independent from Spain. This happened
right around the time of the French and American revolutions.
So the Mexican Revolution was an internal revolt that was
caused or that was shaped because of centuries of colonial oppression. Basically,
(02:10):
so this happened in nineteen ten, so one hundred years
after the others.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I have a question why if Mexican independence from Spain
happened in eighteen ten, which was the same time as
all the revolution, American Revolution, the French Revolution, why didn't
they call it the Mexican revolution back then? Because it
was against colonialism, and it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Was against colonialism, but usually you know, revolutions are more internal.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Eighteen ten was against the colonialism, nineteen ten was against
a dictator, right.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yes, yes, so yeah, eighteen ten was a separation from
Spain to become independent from Spain, right, and then those
one hundred years between the War of Independence from Spain
and the Revolution, the Mexican Revolution, it was one hundred
years of instability and oppression and just really a lack
(03:05):
of consistent leadership. It was just all really kind of
a mess, and that led to the revolution. And ultimately
it was because of Porfdio Das. He was a misthiso
from Waga. He was a Francophile. He served as president
of Mexico for over three decades. Basically he was a
(03:27):
dictator and his long rule was known as the Portfitiato.
And so that was sort of like the straw that
broke the camel's back on these just hundred years of
colonial oppression.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So is a Francophile somebody obsessed with France. Yes, he
was upsessed with France. But the revolution was against him.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
The revolution was against everything that he stood for and
everything that his regime his regime exactly because I used.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
To get them confused. I used to think, you know,
because all the revolutions happened at a similar time, even
eighteen ten, that Mexican independence was a bit of a
revolution because it was against colonialism. It was against you know,
Spain having control over them from so far away, much
like the American Revolution of like, dude, you're not even here,
(04:19):
why are you telling me what to do? People think
that single DeMaio is our Mexican Fourth of July, and
I am constantly correcting people. It is not.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It is absolutely not. It was a battle of Bueerblain
and he Parfdias was a hero of this battle, and
that's what kind of put him on the map essentially.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Once he was like this hero of this Battle of Puebla,
which was by the way, against France. Mexico beat the
French in Puebla. He remained in power for decades, but
he used like re elections and he changed the constitution
to stay in power. So he's celebrated by a lot
of people because he brought a lot of economic growth
(05:04):
to Mexico. But he was definitely a dictator. I mean,
he had a lot of inequality, which then led to
the revolution, which was a nineteen ten correct.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yes, absolutely started in nineteen ten. But like you said,
he is celebrated by a lot of people because he
brought a lot of modernization, like railroads and industries, and
this European style architecture, like especially in the big cities.
If you go to Mexico City, these buildings like the
Mayasata is a fine arts palace. It's this gorgeous, you
(05:39):
know building, and you know, Juanajuato has the theater. Like
there's just so much European style architecture that he brought,
so you know, this is why he's celebrated by a
lot of people. But of course with all of this
European style architecture, brought European style food. So let's talk
(05:59):
about food and dining during the Buffadeto.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Like the other revolutions, food and dining really reflected the
deep economic divide, right, like the way French cuisine became
a symbol of sophistication and was like embraced by upper class,
I think the elites in Mexico also, you know, copied
(06:23):
this kind of symbol of sophistication right with the upper class.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, totally. And there were all of these specialty shops
in Mexico City that sold gourmet petats and imported wine
and brandies. And his whole thing was this europeanization of
food culture in Mexico was part of the s's vision
of Mexico as a quote unquote civilized nation, and so
(06:51):
this of course only reinforced these class and racial hierarchies.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
He also really it was this is what I find
interesting is he was Wahaka and he rejected like he
was indigenous himself. Right, he was a mesthy so he
was dark, but yeah, he rejected indigenous traditions and he
you know, he viewed Maisa as a symbol of oppression,
and he promoted all of this European culture almost like
(07:20):
it feels self hating to me.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I know, it's so weird. And he saw corn as
a symbol of oppression. But everybody's eating coffilla's in their house.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There's well, there's a whole thing about the haciendas, right,
and this was a big part of the revolution, was
the way hausciendas were run and how you know, people
were indebted as servants who worked on the husciendas, Like
it was a whole cast system in Mexico. And then
the haciendas began producing cash crops like sugar and coffee
and cotton to export to the US into Europe. And
(07:51):
these these cash crops ended up replacing food crops like
beans and corn, and so that made less available for
the locals, So the food prices went up, but also
malnutrition and food insecurity worsened because of this.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, absolutely, And of course foreign companies and local elites
were getting really rich while most Mexicans were poor and hungry.
And we learned, of course from the French Revolution, that
when people are hungry, they will revolt. He ran his
rule by the phrase ban so reflecting this idea of
(08:30):
obey and you will be rewarded. Disobey and you will
be punished.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Right, obey and you'll get bread, or disobey and you'll
get the stick. Is really how it literally translates not
a good strategy that he was operating or not a
good strategy, and how he asserted his dominance and enslaved people,
because then that's really how they became rebellious.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, and he famously said after you know Mattelos and Galliente,
so kill them, like do it fast or do it
with passion, like about rebels and Veracruz, who he wanted
who wanted to overthrow him in eighteen seventy nine. So
I know, it's crazy to seeing these like these parallels
of bano palo today in different ways.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well, I feel like we're going through a bano polo
strategy today. You know, in in certain parts of the world,
it's you know, it's bano pallo right now, and it's
so disheartening and also surprising that we're back to kind
of this not only rhetoric, but like this style of leadership.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, I know, it's like, if you cooperate, you're enriched,
If you resist, you're silenced or imprisoned.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Or killed exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Just it's awful. I always think, you know, when you
look back at history, if I were that person, like,
I would be out there fighting, and I want to
think that my family was out there. My maternal great
grandfather was actually Porfidio the S's dentist, and he was
(10:10):
the founder of the Dental Society in Mexico. And in
nineteen hundred the s sent my great grandfather to the
Paris Exposition and there's this newspaper clipping about it. He
was part of all of these banquets. And his wife,
my great grandmother, she was French Basque and she had
her closed ship from France. So you think, oh, yes,
(10:34):
my my descendants are revolutionaries. Maybe maybe not mine, maybe
not on that side of that of the family.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
There's so many similarities with what was happening in France
before the French Revolution, but that most Mexicans continue to
eat traditional and misdiso based diets because it's it's what
their indigenous servants prepare. They prepared tomales, atoles, guisabos. So
(11:02):
this is why our food was never lost, because everybody
continued to eat the diet that they always knew. But
let's talk about sold as. Who or were they and
why were they so important? I've read many books about them.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Oh, my gods, were so badass. I mean, they were
the og chingo nats, right, they were just so bad ass.
So these were these women that traveled with revolutionary armies
and they really played an essential role on and off
the battlefield. Some of them were soldiers. Some of them
fought alongside soldiers and those were called adelitas. And some
(11:43):
of them, you know, were wives, mothers, widows, rebels like.
Some of them were serving as cooks and nurses and caretakers,
ensuring that soldiers were fed and informed. And they sometimes
they carried messages, they gathered intelligence. They used the fact
that there were women, and they wouldn't attract suspicion, and
(12:07):
so they kind of moved around and were serving, you know,
serving the soldiers with intelligence. But their food, their cooking
was central to their work and to their legacy. I
mean they fed entire armies. They cooked over open flames,
they foraged, they treated ingredients so by doing, and they
(12:28):
were traveling around the country, so they preserved and shared
regional recipes and they really laid the groundwork for a
more unified Mexican national quill.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
They because they were like making wahaka and mullis and
Yucatan skocinita and Veracruz's seafood, which is pretty amazing in
this era. To unify a nation by the diversity of food.
How crazy is that?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
It is? Totally and foods like the malees and bortolain
that was they became symbols of national pride and tortillas emerged.
It's these emblems of patriotism and resilience and cultural continuity.
It wasn't like theas and the portfidiata were saying that
it was oppression. No, this is who we are and
(13:18):
they are always women, right, they are ensuring that these
traditions remain alive, and they are taking things like Juahaca
mole to different parts of the country. So they're beginning
to unify the country through food.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
And using food as symbols of strength and resilience and patriotism.
I think it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It is, It is so beautiful with the soleted As
are doing this, and you know, after the revolution, Mexico
is still trying to figure out what their identity was.
So they were, you know, they were indigenous Mexico. They
were the hundreds of years of colonies and they were
(14:01):
all of it, right, So they're trying to build a
national identity, and food became a way to bring the
country together. The food that the Soleas prepared and the
techniques that they used influenced cookbooks of the period. So
of course I'm obsessed with cookbooks, so I just want
to mention a couple of them.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
They're so gay.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So there's one called moern Ross Cocina Mexican. It's nineteen
twenty nine modern recipe for Mexican cooking by a woman
named Maria Juarola des Salcea, and she starts the book
saying that Mexican food might be less substantial. The Spanish
food is non as complicated or elegant as French food,
but it is more diverse than any other and should
(14:42):
be an element of pride. And so there's another one.
Anna Marier Nandez, she was a teacher, a writer, and activist.
She published a book in nineteen thirty four called Comejo
lament the Lobrero Campesino, like how to Better the food
of the of the of the worker and the Farmer.
And she dedicated the book to then President elect las Aarrgarvanez,
(15:04):
and he calls him a socialist and great friend of
revolutionary women. She writes that there's no Mexican woman that
does not show pride in making it the fanciest woman
in the capitol and the humblest table and so. And
she has recipes for anchilas and tamalez, and then she
has recipes for chicken with hollandaise saws and volovont gosh.
So it's all of these. It demonstrates the layers of
(15:27):
Mexican cuisine. And through these layers of cuisine we could
see the layers of history.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You know, a lot of people don't know how the
revolution ended, and you know, eventually Granza emerged as a
leader and they drafted the Mexican Constitution of nineteen seventeen,
and it was the first constitution in the world to
include social rights. Like that was it blows me away
(15:55):
how progressive Mexico was in this in this moment. They
had land reform, they had labor rights, they had education
rights guaranteed free secular public education. They removed religion from
public education. They had cultural and national rights protections for
marginalized communities. They recognized the right to cultural identity by
(16:17):
limiting the power of foreign entities. Like these social rights
were so revolutionary at the time, and they influenced future
constitutions and labor laws in Latin America and beyond. And
so not all was enforced, but they really set a
powerful legal framework for reform and justice in a post
(16:40):
revolutionary Mexico. So the you know, the fight for rights
always continues, Like I remember people talking about Roby Wade
about that, Like, you know, the fight to keep our
rights is almost as hard as the fight to get
to receive and get those rights.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But the framework is there. I mean these labor rights,
but some of them they established protections for workers, including
eight hour work days, one day of rest per week,
the right to strike, the word to unionize, a minimum weight,
equal pay for work, protections for women and children, including maternity.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Eternity leave. We don't today, I know this.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Is nineteen seventy prohibition of child labor, safe working conditions.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
It's like, what was the what was the impact of
the revolution, do you think? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So this struggle right so, and the way the country
embarked on this bold project of reinvention. Right, the struggle
for land and justice and equality reshaped the social landscape,
but sparked this search for a new national identity rooted
in its own people. And this idea became known as Mexikania.
(17:51):
It's like, okay, who are we?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Were?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
This?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Were that?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Or everything? So this concept of okay, rather than looking
to Europe for inspiration, these post revolutionary leaders and artists
and intellectuals, they turned in words and they celebrated the
indigenous and Mestizo heritage and rejected this colonial legacy of elitism.
(18:15):
And so we see this in murals, right, like they
got to bed and cicatos and all of these. We
see them in murals and dance and in cinema and
clothing and dress. You know, and of course you had.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Food if of course food, but it feels like the
revolution the biggest impact that it had on people was
a cultural renaissance, you know, like it was this like
identity more than you know, we're now we have you know,
a better legal structure or anything like that. Like they
(18:45):
were like, this is who we want to be and
it is definitely nothing of colonialism.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
They called it the Mexican Renaissance. There was a really
influential figure at this time, Josevasconcelos. He was Mexico's first
Secretary of Public Education, and he launched campaigns to promote
literacy and support public art and published works that celebrated
(19:13):
indigenous traditions. You know, we have the artists Deriveda and
all of them. You're doing public murals that glorified Mexico's
indigenous past and revolutionary war, you know, heroes and working
class struggles and cinema, the rise the golden age of cinema,
Maria Felix and all of these great actors of this
(19:36):
golden age, and they began to popularize symbols like the
charro and the China polana, and they turned these into
icons of national pride.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And because our food and the diet was so preserved
throughout this entire time. I mean from the conquest, by
the way, from the fifteen hundreds up until now we're
in the post revolutionary era. Food became central to this
cultural revival, and it's recognized today by UNESCO as having deep,
(20:09):
deep roots historically, you know, native ingredients, traditional cooking, and
I feel like, you know, the soldadera has emerged as
you know, these guardians of the culinary and cultural knowledge.
And I find that to be to be beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
And if we look at some of that imagery from
a modern perspective, not the food, but the charro, the
sharp dressed horsemen in an embroidered suit, and the chinapaulana,
the woman in a beaded blouse and flowing skirt. They're
really beautiful and instantly recognizable, but they come from very
specific regions and histories, and over the last century have
(20:48):
been presented as one true face of the nation, really
sidelining or erasing hundreds of other cultures and styles. So
they also lack men and women in to these old
school roles as like the macho protector and the demure
decorative beauty. So it's heritage, yes, but it's also a
(21:09):
very curated snapshot of what it means to be Mexican,
and so yeah, through art, education, film, and food, this
post revolutionary era defined or redefined what it meant to
be Mexican and Mixikani. Dad was a cultural revolution, I mean,
and this is the image of Mexico, the flavor of
(21:30):
Mexico that was also just transported to the world.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
To sum it up as a Mexican Revolution was one
of the most significant political upheavals in Latin American history.
I mean, so many other countries obviously have their run
ins with dictators still by the way to this day,
but this civil war is what transformed Mexico's society, government,
land ownership, or national identity, and it involved peasants to workers,
(21:58):
to intellectuals, to landowners, to indigenous communities, and each with
different goals. You know, some wanted a new democracy, some
wanted land reform, some people wanted labor rights. And I
think a lot of good came out of the Mexican Revolution,
including most importantly safeguarding the cuisine.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
And I really think it's so interesting that we talked
about the Enlightenment, the Age of Enlightenment last time. These
thinkers leaders that of the revolution. They were still following
those ideals from one hundred years prior, so, these ideas
of we could do better, we could do better, and
(22:40):
we could still do better. Right, but Viva Mexico.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Miva Mexico, Iviva latilla. I'm glad they did it. I'm
glad that was not lost.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Never, it will never be lost.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
It will never be lost, never be lost. Well, I
hope you guys enjoyed our three part series French Revolution,
Revolution and the Mexican Revolution. Be sure to subscribe to
our show and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Hungary for History is a hyphen It Media production in
partnership with Iheart'smichael Tura podcast network.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
For more of your favorite shows, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
MAITE GOMEZ-REJÓN
Eva Longoria
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