Between Yerba Mate and Soy

The Orange as National Food and Landscape from the Early Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Centuries in Paraguay

Bibliographic Data

ID13018288
AuthorsBridget María Chesterton (0009-0003-5874-5136, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume8
Issue2
Pages128-148
Publication date2022-04-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Food History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2054-9555 • E-ISSN: 2054-9547
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/20549547.2022.2058278
OpenAlexW4226407706
LanguageEN
References cited18

Yerba mate (Paraguayan green tea) and soy are the commodities most associated with Paraguayan foodways and landscapes. This article, however, explores how oranges played an outsized role in Paraguay from the nation’s founding in the early nineteenth century to the fruit’s decline in the early twenty-first century. Using the narratives of travel writers, the writings of Paraguayan scientists, newspaper articles, and recorded memories, the text argues that oranges shaped an image of an “exotic,” “fertile,” and “abundant” nation. Even during times of famine oranges persisted as symbols of “survival.” In the end, the article posits that a simple imported plant fundamentally shaped the construction of ideas about nation and landscape in nineteenth and twentieth-century Paraguay. By connecting land, production, and subsistence, this article interrogates the creation and meanings of national foods

Agriculture · Archaeology · Art · Biology · Famine · Foodways · Geography · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Newspaper · Orange (colour · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Anthropology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Indigenous Studies in Latin America · Horticulture

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