As Food Studies has grown into a well-established field, literary scholars have not fully addressed the prevalent themes of food, eating, and consumption in Chicana/o literature. Here, contributors propose food consciousness as a paradigm to examine the literary discourses of Chicana/o authors as they shift from the nation to the postnation.

PART I: TRANSLATABLE FOODS 1. Diabetes, Culture, and Food: Posthumanist Nutrition in the Gloria Anzaldúa Archive; Suzanne Bost 2. Bologna Tacos and Kitchen Slaves: Food and Identity in Sandra Cisneros's Caramelo; Heather Salter 3. Food Journeys in Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation and Woman Hollering Creek; Norma L. Cárdenas PART II: THE TASTE OF AUTHENTICITY 4. 'Because Feeding is the Beginning and End': Food Politics in Ana Castillo's So Far From God; Elizabeth Lee Steere 5. Food, Consciousness and Feminism in Denise Chávez's Loving Pedro Infante; Laura P. Alonso Gallo PART III: THE VOICE OF HUNGER 6. Families Who Eat Together, Stay Together: But Should They?'; Meredith E. Abarca 7. La Comida y La Conciencia: Foods in the Counter-Poetics of Lorna Dee Cervantes; Edith Vásquez, University of California, Riverside, & Irene Vásquez 8. Hungers and Desires: Borderlands Appetites; Norma E. Cantú PART IV: MACHOS OR COOKS 9. Chicano Culinarius: From Cowboys to Gastronomers; Nieves Pascual 10. Mexican Meat Matzah Balls: Burciaga as a Culinary Ambassador; Mimi Reisel Gladstein 11. Reading the Taco Shop Poets in the Crossroads of Chicano Postnationalism; Paul Allatson