"A dish so potent": heritage, identity, and materiality of the San Antonio Chili Queens, 1850-1930
| Author(s) | Ochoa Rincon, Laura Fernanda | |
| Date Accessioned | 2022-10-31T11:34:47Z | |
| Date Available | 2022-10-31T11:34:47Z | |
| Publication Date | 2022 | |
| SWORD Update | 2022-08-10T19:09:45Z | |
| Abstract | From about 1850-1930, the so-called Chili Queens of San Antonio ruled the city’s plazas at nighttime selling various forms of Mexican food. But what made them so desirable and memorable in the memory of Texans? This thesis explores the ways in which the Chili Queens of San Antonio took preexisting stereotypes about Mexican women and further amplified them in order to sell a certain vision of Mexican womanhood and used that to assert themselves as connoisseurs of their own culture to white patrons. The first section explores the background, identity, and food of the women who later became known as Chili Queens. By looking at their lives before they became a fixture of nighttime plazas, we can gauge a better idea as to how they had to skillfully understand and navigate certain stereotypes to enhance their success with white patrons. Once they leave the home, they enter the public arena and export their product to potential customers while selling a certain vision of identity. ☐ Through their use of dress, decoration, and the food itself as material culture, the Chili Queens created a deliberate decorative program in a public space. We see an interesting shift of heritage presentation from the privacy of their own community to the public plazas, one which gave the Chili Queens more autonomy and political and social capital. Exploring the interesting relationship between white patrons who wrote about the Chili Queens and the Chili Queens themselves, my thesis shows how the Chili Queens’ legacy would not have survived without this unlikely union that simultaneously exoticized the women and complimented their cooking and culture. Through their deliberate presentations, the Chili Queens were able to be successful not just in business but also in establishing their legacy. | en_US |
| Advisor | Ott, Cindy | |
| Degree | M.A. | |
| Program | University of Delaware, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.58088/5q13-4450 | |
| Unique Identifier | 1349339049 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/31544 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | en_US |
| URI | https://login.udel.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/dish-so-potent-heritage-identity-materiality-san/docview/2700744314/se-2?accountid=10457 | |
| Keywords | Chili | en_US |
| Keywords | Identity | en_US |
| Keywords | Indigenous | en_US |
| Keywords | Mexican American | en_US |
| Keywords | Texas | en_US |
| Keywords | Women | en_US |
| Title | "A dish so potent": heritage, identity, and materiality of the San Antonio Chili Queens, 1850-1930 | en_US |
| Type | Thesis | en_US |