Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19

by Lori A. Flores

Overview

Though Latinx foodways are eagerly embraced and consumed by people across the United States, the nation exhibits a much more fraught relationship with Latinx people, including the largely underpaid and migrant workers who harvest, process, cook, and sell this desirable food. Lori A. Flores traces how our dual appetite for Latinx food and Latinx food labor has evolved from the World War II era to the COVID-19 pandemic, using the US Northeast as an unexpected microcosm of this national history.

Spanning the experiences of food workers with roots in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Central America, Flores’s narrative travels from New Jersey to Maine and examines different links in the food chain, from farming to restaurants to seafood processing to the deliverista rights movement. What unites this eclectic material is Flores’s contention that as our appetite for Latinx food has grown exponentially, the visibility of Latinx food workers has demonstrably decreased. This precariat is anything but passive, however, and has historically fought—and is still fighting—against low wages and exploitation, medical neglect, criminalization, and deeply ironic food insecurity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469679877
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/10/2025
Series:	Latinx Histories
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Lori A. Flores is associate professor of history at Stony Brook University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Exciting and well-conceived, this rich and skillful narrative is sure to become a foundational text in the field. Truly, there is nothing comparable—an innovative exploration at the intersection between food, labor, and Latinx history. Stunning!”—Llana Barber, author of Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945–2000

“Lori Flores is one of the most perceptive writers about migration and the migrants who do the work that gets food into our kitchens and bodies. In Awaiting Their Feast she brings to light how migrants eat and produce food at the same time, which becomes the key to understanding their impact on this country’s national cuisine. Consumers who value the pleasure we get from eating should afford workers the same, knowing that this means seeing more clearly who they are and what they fight for. This book opens the door to that understanding.”—David Bacon, author of Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants

“This important book explains why it matters that so many Americans happily eat tacos, salsa, and farm produce but care nothing for the Latinx workers who grow and cook that bounty. Industrial agribusiness profits from ignoring their toil and denying their human rights.”—Jeffrey Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food

“Grounded in a wealth of research, filled with extremely compelling stories, and conceived by an author highly qualified to write it. This book is much needed.”—Aviva Chomsky, author of Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration

Editorial Reviews

Exciting and well-conceived, this rich and skillful narrative is sure to become a foundational text in the field. Truly, there is nothing comparable—an innovative exploration at the intersection between food, labor, and Latinx history. Stunning!”—Llana Barber, author of Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945–2000

“Lori Flores is one of the most perceptive writers about migration and the migrants who do the work that gets food into our kitchens and bodies. In Awaiting Their Feast she brings to light how migrants eat and produce food at the same time, which becomes the key to understanding their impact on this country’s national cuisine. Consumers who value the pleasure we get from eating should afford workers the same, knowing that this means seeing more clearly who they are and what they fight for. This book opens the door to that understanding.”—David Bacon, author of Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants

“This important book explains why it matters that so many Americans happily eat tacos, salsa, and farm produce but care nothing for the Latinx workers who grow and cook that bounty. Industrial agribusiness profits from ignoring their toil and denying their human rights.”—Jeffrey Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food

“Grounded in a wealth of research, filled with extremely compelling stories, and conceived by an author highly qualified to write it. This book is much needed.”—Aviva Chomsky, author of Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration

From the Publisher