Corn Meets Maize Food Movements and Markets in Mexico [Hardcover]

The slogan in defense of maize is used in Mexico to support local farming initiatives and agricultural knowledge to protect the diverse, multiple forms of this plant. Environmental studies scholar Baker uses corn (the English translation of maize) as a contrasting metaphor to refer to large-scale commercial food production. The book explores the relationship between local maize and commercial corn in contemporary Mexico in the context of a global food crisis, increasing use of genetically modified crops (including corn), and the government's dramatic reduction of support for small-scale farmers at the same time that these farmers compete with highly subsidized crops from the US under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The three rich case studies illustrate the possibilities of food sovereignty in contrast to neoliberal models. One case study is Itanon? Tortiller?a, a family-run restaurant in the city of Oaxaca serving maize-based dishes from crops grown by a network of regional farmers. . . . This valuable book will be of interest to scholars in food studies, Latin American studies, and environmental economics. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty.Corn Meets Maize is a compelling look at the complex and contested terrain of the global food system through the interconnections between people and the various cultural and ecological worlds they inhabit. The book focuses on the ways that local food networks in Mexico are shaped by neoliberal policies and the geographical imaginations of place-based resistance efforts. The narrative weaves together the personal experiences and detailed research of Lauren Baker, an activist-scholar who spent many years working with sustainable food movements in Toronto, Canada. Bakers analysis describes Mexican food networks as examples of biocultural agrifood relations, a concept she develops to explain the interconnections between ecology, culture, and local/global politics. . . . Bakers Corn Meets Maize ilS´