Dietary practices and social classification Are tacos a “popular” food?

Abstract

The consumption of tacos reveals the social ambivalence that characterizes contemporary food practices. The analysis of a case study shows the social origins and the modernity of a “popular” dietary practice. The historical perspective highlights how tacos acquired the status of a national dietary practice through a gentrification process. The interaction of two sources of legitimacy helps to understand how these practices spread through the social space. The internationalization and “patrimonialization” of tacos modified “popular” food representations. Both processes thus transformed the perception and the nature of dietary practices in Mexico. The ethnographic observation of tacos consumption, which takes into account internal and external forces influencing this practice, helps us to rethink its social classification and to better understand the production of its legitimacy.