Food and Revolution

Food policy and practices varied widely in Nicaragua during the last decades of the twentieth century. In the 1970s and ‘80s, food scarcity contributed to the demise of the Somoza dictatorship and the Sandinista revolution. Although faced with widespread scarcity and political restrictions, Nicaraguan consumers still carved out spaces for defining their food choices. Despite economic crises, rationing, and war limiting peoples’ food selection, consumers responded with improvisation in daily cooking practices and organizing food exchanges through three distinct periods. First, the Somoza dictatorship (1936–1979) promoted culture and food practices from the United States, which was an option only for a minority of citizens. Second, the 1979 Sandinista revolution tried to steer Nicaraguans away from mass consumption by introducing an austere, frugal consumption that favored local products. Third, the transition to democracy between 1988 and 1993, marked by extreme scarcity and economic crisis, witnessed the re-introduction of market mechanisms, mass advertising, and imported goods. Despite the erosion of food policy during transition, the Nicaraguan revolution contributed to recognizing food security as a basic right and the rise of peasant movements for food sovereignty.

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Food and Revolution is engagingly written and makes excellent use of records from such international organizations as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, German and Swiss development assistance archives, newspapers, government documents, nutritional surveys, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional leaders’ autobiographies, and previously gathered testimonies from Contras, peasants, and middle- and low-ranking Sandinistas. The end result is a welcome addition to studies of Nicaragua, the Sandinista Revolution, and its aftermath.

Hispanic American Historical Review

This book will be of interest to historians of Nicaragua, consumer culture, and the global politics of hunger. Through its multilayered analysis, it shows how the trajectory of the Nicaraguan Revolution was shaped by a range of actors that scholars have not yet considered in much depth, including relief agencies, European and Latin American governments, consumers, and officials concerned with food distribution and agricultural reform. As a result, it is a welcome contribution to an exciting and growing academic debate in which historians of Central America discuss how the international, transnational, and local intersected and shaped the trajectory of the Nicaraguan Revolution.

H-Net Reviews

Berth offers us much more than a deep and textured history of food politics and policy in Nicaragua. This book speaks directly to everyone concerned with food security and food sovereignty, the politics of hunger and the possibilities for localization in a globalized consumer culture.

Richard Wilk, Distinguished Professor and Provost’s Professor Emeritus, Indiana University

Christiane Berth insightfully combines an analytical focus on food policy and culinary culture in Nicaragua from dictatorship to revolution and then to neoliberalism, all the while paying tribute to the resiliency of the Nicaraguan people.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, University of Toronto

Fighting Hunger in Nicaragua, 1960-1993

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296 Pages, 6 x 9 in.

February, 2021

isbn : 9780822946045

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