Refusing to be fat llamas: Resisting violence through food in sozaboy and purple hibiscus

Food and foodways are among the most potent of cultural expressions. The food people eat and the way it is prepared speaks volumes about their relationship to their culture, their place in society, and their interaction with the environment. As with all artistic expressions of culture, cooking can be eminently practical or wondrously elaborate. On a most basic level, though, food has the ability to remember home, to reconstruct cultural memory from the integration of ingredients, seasonings, and preparations.