Comida Sin Par. Consumption of Mexican Food in Los Angeles: “Foodscapes” in a Transnational Consumer Society

A nthropological literature has looked in various ways at ethnic food in multicultural, transnational contexts, largely emphasizing discourses of cultural symbolism and self-identification. ¹ In this literature, ethnic food is often regarded as a system of communication ² that discloses the daily practices and the habits that people enact when they purchase, cook, and eat their ethnic food. In transnational contexts, ethnic food is also seen as a vehicle for understanding the practices of “home cooking,” ³ where food practices represent a symbolic and cultural connection with the homeland. In this respect, ethnic food is considered as a “symbolic marker of identity,” ⁴ where the boundaries of ethnicity and regionalism are often transcended in new forms of sociality.