{"id":59252,"date":"2025-03-19T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?p=59252"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:10:22","slug":"lori-a-flores-on-awaiting-their-feast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/lori-a-flores-on-awaiting-their-feast\/","title":{"rendered":"Lori A. Flores on \u201cAwaiting their Feast\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably remember the picture of himself, both thumbs up, that Donald Trump posted on social media with the caption, \u201cBest Taco Bowl.\u201d It was his ode to Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo 2016. The picture was mocked relentlessly, and deservedly so. For Latinos, taco bowls aren\u2019t really a thing. And even if they were, it\u2019s doubtful that Trump Tower would serve the best of them. For Latinos, Cinco de Mayo is also less of a thing than it is for other groups. But most importantly, Trump was celebrating Mexican food at the same time that, on the campaign trail, he was denigrating Mexican immigrants. Lori A. Flores\u2019s new book, Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19<\/em>, effectively explores this tension between many Americans\u2019 love for Mexican food and their simultaneous distaste for Mexican people. Fortunately, Flores doesn\u2019t make us relive the cringe of Trump\u2019s post\u2014as I\u2019ve done here. Instead, she introduces us to the Latina and Latino food workers; Latina and Latino\u2013owned restaurants; and American consumer\u2019s taste for Latin American and Latino cuisine in New England, especially New York. I\u2019m so glad to kick off Season 3 of Writing Latinos<\/em> by talking with Flores about her new book. We discuss the popularity of tamales in New York during the 19th century, Latino workers\u2019 demands for healthy food and food from their culture, the Mexican proprietor of a high-end Mexican restaurant, the laborers who assemble our Christmas wreaths, and the workers who harvest the mighty sea cucumber. All these subjects are original contributions to the field of Latino history, but they\u2019re also just super interesting, as you\u2019ll see when you listen. Flores is a professor of history at SUNY\u2013Stony Brook. Awaiting Their Feast<\/em>, published by the University of North Carolina Press, as part of their Latinx Histories series, is her second book. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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