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Is what you eat political?

Do you accept the claim that your food choices determine your social order in this world?

And do you accept that conforming to white American norms in eating is important in transforming people of color into better citizens? Will assimilating one’s food choices make people of color less prone to crime and revolutionary tendencies?

Believe it or not, this is something that has been explored and well discussed in our communities for over a century.

In the 1920s in Southern California there were social reformers who were sent on transform the eating choices made by the public, especially among the immigrant working-class.

One of the most notable reformers to arise in this era was a lady by the name of Pearl Idelia Ellis, of the Department of Americanization and Homemaking, of Covina City Elementary Schools.

She was the author the guide Americanization though Homemaking which was published in 1929, detailing her work.

Mas…POCHO HISTORY 101: ‘Americanizing’ Mexicans by changing their diet