had started a business that failed all too soon. She explained that he had been exasperated by the way in which local cantinas and small restaurants catered to their patrons. He did not like the botanas34 served there and decided that he would open his own bar where he “would teach Yucatecans the proper way to eat.” After a couple of months, during which he failed to ensnare Yucatecans willing to learn the ‘right' way of consuming food and drinks in a cantina, he was forced to close down his business. For some time, I thought that this was an extraordinary occurrence, until, one year later, my wife told me that a Mexican friend in her guitar group had launched an ‘economic kitchen' (a take-out eatery) that soon failed. He did not like Yucatecan food and opened his business with the conviction that he would be able “to teach Yucatecans about good Mexican food” (Vargas Cetina, pers. comm.). This sort of ‘imperial certainty', which is implicit in the social performance of central Mexicans and perceived as such by Yucatecans, plays a part in strengthening the cultural and social divide between local and non-local people.
In addition to attempts to educate Yucatecans about the unquestionable superiority of Mexican food, Mexicans are reputedly imposing changes in the composition of traditional Yucatecan dishes. Instead of recognizing or showing a willingness to explore and respect the different and particular aesthetic forms of Yucatecan cuisine, Mexicans often complain about the lack of familiar ingredients (which Yucatecans perceive as alien to their own cuisine) and the scarcity of central Mexican dishes, requesting that they be introduced in the preparation of meals and in the menus of restaurants, respectively. Thus, cheese, an uncommon ingredient in local tamales, soups, and stews, is sometimes a distasteful—or at least an unexpected—find for Yucatecans who visit restaurants purportedly specializing in regional Yucatecan cooking. When Yucatecans either complain or voice their surprise, waiters or managers apologetically explain that the large number of Mexicans they serve has forced them to introduce those changes, because Mexicans did not like the dishes in their original form.
As a result of their everyday interactions with this sort of Mexican, as well as widespread rumors about Mexicans' ill-mannered behavior, some of which is observed first-hand, many Yucatecans now believe that Mexicans constitute a threat to Yucatecan culture, society, and identity. Thus, once, among many conversations I held with different acquaintances and friends about the increasing crime rates in Mérida, a couple of friends accused Mexicans of being the main source of crime. One of them passionately suggested: “We should start fencing the borders of the state. We should also give visas to foreigners and select those who will be allowed into Yucatán.” This attitude toward the people of Mexico is not uncommon, as some of my Yucatecan friends, probably alarmed at the breach of cultural intimacy, have suggested.35 Today, Yucatecans may not call for independence from Mexico, but, as the following account illustrates, they always find an opportunity to voice their distance from Mexican society.
During a house party in 2007, at which our hosts were serving Yucatecan tamales (vaporcitos), sandwiches filled with sandwichón mix, and cold overcooked pasta with a thin tomato sauce and fresh cheese sprinkled on top,36 I engaged in conversation with a Yucatecan entrepreneur. When he learned that we had recently driven about 6,000 kilometers from Ithaca to Mérida, he asked about our trip. In the course of giving an account, I mentioned that I had been surprised, when we arrived at the crossroads named La Tinaja in the state of Veracruz, to find a road sign pointing in the direction of the city of Veracruz and another one pointing to “El Sureste” (the southeast), encompassing under that term the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán. The entrepreneur laughed and then, turning serious, commented that he was aware that there had been, in years past, a project to build a channel in the Mexican Isthmus of Tehuantepec. He remarked that the official statement was that a channel was needed to facilitate trade between the Pacific and Gulf coasts of Mexico and as an alternative to the Panama Canal. However, he said, it was clear that it was in fact a strategy to separate physically the southeast from the rest of Mexico. In the end, the project did not prosper—which was a pity, he said, since it would have been better for Yucatán. After all, the people of the peninsula share a common culture, and there is enough ecological diversity to allow agricultural production to sustain the inhabitants of the region. There is oil around the peninsula, and Yucatecans also have the Caribbean coast, where the Maya Riviera and Cancún resort are located; hence, tourism could provide substantial revenue to Yucatán. When I reminded him that the Maya Riviera is in Quintana Roo and the oil is in the Bay of Campeche (states that border Yucatán), he reminded me, in turn, that they were originally part of Yucatán. Thus, together, these states would be able to exploit abundant natural resources and attract foreign capital to support themselves. Once separated, he added, Yucatecans could create a special residence tax for all non-Yucatecans living in the territory. Given their large number, this would provide a good amount of start-up capital for the new country.
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