Cheese, Tamales and Beans
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Fouts, Sarah. “Cheese, Tamales and Beans.” Food Anthropology, July 3, 2018. https://foodanthro.com/2018/07/03/cheese-tamales-and-beans/.
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Working for the past seven years with Central American food vendors in New Orleans led me to conduct field work in Honduras. In the summer of 2013 and again in 2015, I followed food vendors’ stories to Honduras, staying with their families in places like Tela, Olancho, Santa Barbara, and San Pedro Sula. Like other scholars that conduct transnational research, I was often asked by my contacts (many of whom are undocumented) to take items with me to Honduras to give to their families. Cellphones, clothes, toys, and school utensils took up more space in my backpack than my own gear, but it was worth it be able to offer gifts from loved ones. After each visit, families in Honduras wanted to send me back with gifts, too. Options were limited, especially considering the extreme poverty of the families. Often at the behest of their family member in New Orleans, they sent me back with food, or at least tried.