Tucson eat yourself: Food, ethnicity and the substantiation of identity

Abstract

For twenty five years, during the second weekend of October, El Presidio Park in downtown Tucson has been the site of a folk festival that aims to celebrate southern Arizona's ethnic diversity and create community amongst Tucsonans. Formerly Tucson Meet Yourself, the festival is today known as the Tucson Heritage Experience. Since its inception in 1974, the festival has showcased ethnicity through music and dance, costumes, storytelling, workshops, and craft demonstrations but most importantly through the sale and preparation of food. This thesis examines the role of food in constructions of community and ethnicity at the Tucson Heritage Experience. Situated at the crossroads of wider debates concerned with the nature of ethnicity, community formation, and the relationship between food and identity, this thesis draws on ethnographic field research to argue that the unique, incorporative nature of food makes it a powerful medium in the substantiation of community and ethnic ties.