The role of the Ark of Taste in promoting pinole, a Mexican heritage food

The heritagisation of food reveals the underlying processes by which various actors articulate a particular foodstuff as a heritage in an attempt at pursuing differing aims. Pinole, a Mexican traditional sweet, has recently been reconceptualised as 'heritage' by various actors across geographical levels: local Mexican farmers, transmigrant workers in Philadelphia, and the international food movement Slow Food. A multi-level analysis of the material fluxes and semiotic narratives emerging around the international diffusion of pinole reveal how these actors' interests can overlap as well as conflict.