Real Thesis

In the months of research that go into a senior thesis, one is bound to stumble on some random, yet nonetheless valuable nuggets of information.

After completing her thesis this past March, for instance, Monica Huerta ’03 can probably now locate the best bargain on a beef burrito in the entire city of Chicago. A History and Literature concentrator, Huerta used her thesis to explore how Mexican culture is portrayed in Mexican restaurants.

“I read a book by Jos Limn that had a chapter which encouraged further study of Mexican-American culture,” Huerta says. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and after some research I decided to focus on restaurants.”

Huerta was interested in the language that people use to describe Mexican food, rather than any specific aspect of the cuisine. “I noticed the way that food critics use language to critique Mexican restaurants,” Huerta says. “From the 1960s to the 1990s, the language that critics have used demonstrates a tendency of theirs to evolve into cultural experts that have the ability to decide what’s authentic in regards to Mexican food.”

This linking of food to culture—the notion of an authentic Mexican restaurant based on an authentic Mexican culture—led Huerta to focus on the Mexican restaurants in Chicago, with its sizable population of Mexican-Americans. After talking with the owners of mostly family-owned restaurants, as well as studying the menus of these same establishments, Huerta says that she realized that there are discernible contradictions to be found in the menus and personal narratives. The pictures, symbols and language employed in the menus, as well as in the decor of restaurants, all try to project an aura of Mexican authenticity, even if it doesn’t reflect the personal experiences of people who own and run the place.

Huerta says she was overwhelmed by the way in which Mexican culture is transformed into a one-size-fits-all mask once situated in the United States. “There’s a definite discourse of authenticity that Mexican restaurant owners and food critics use,” she says. Huerta now worries that reducing Mexican culture into terms that fit a menu may underrepresent an otherwise rich and diverse culture.

“There’s a danger in categorizing what Mexican is,” Huerta says.

FM asked Huerta if she had any insights into Harvard Square’s very own attempt to recreate the real Mexican culinary experience, or at least fast-food experience: Real Taco.

“All I know from my experience there is that the food is bad,” Huerta says.

Apparently, there is nothing real about Real Taco.