The dish that I am choosing is the 7-layer Mexican dip. This dish is not a Mexican originated dish, based on all of its readily available American ingredients in cans or containers. It is the American version of Mexican food. It was hard finding the true history of the dip, probably because it was just an American invention that you find in a magazine or the back of a can. This dish matters to me because it is always something that my roommates and I have made. When I think about this dish I think about all of the times that me and my roommates would hangout and laugh while making/eating it. Whether were eating it at 1 in the afternoon or 1 AM, we manage to scrape the dish clean. We would always make it during football games, but it was such a hit that we made it more often. Me and my roommates are not the best cooks and usually set off the fire alarm when we attempt to be chefs, but somehow this dish is easy for us. It was pretty simple by taking each ingredient and literally just laying it on top of each other. Sounds pretty simple, and it is and the best part about it is that it brought all of us together to do a fun activity.

I think that cooking food can bring people together and is a great bonding experience. I think that this Mexican dip is a great dish to do so. Despite all of its steps, it is simple and a great dish to make as a group. Barbara Kingsolver affirms this idea of coming together through food in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  “I thanked my parents for having me, thanked the farmers for the food, thanked family and friends for the music, the dancing, the miles traveled, and the stunning good luck of having them all in my life. But I did not say ‘Thank you’ for a plant. My garden lives” (107). Gardening and eating all of the local foods she received brought Kingsolver close to her community and they all had a good time doing it. Kingsolver and her friends and family all enjoy eating locally, gardening, and eating the fresh food and that is the same feeling that me and my friends get when we make the Mexican Dip. This dish is meant to bring family close, by preparing and eating it. This dish isn’t meant to be for one person; it is meant to be shared among many people, usually at group or sporting events.

In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he talks about the process of making food, then digesting it. The repetitive phases of cooking leave plenty of mental space for reflection, as I chopped and minced and sliced I thought about the rhythms of cooking, one of which involves destroying the order of the things we bring from nature into our kitchens, only to then create from them a new order. We butcher, grind, chop, grate, mince, and liquefy raw ingredients, breaking them down formerly living things so that we might recombine them in new, more cultivated forms…putting a great dish on the table is our way of celebrating the wonders of form we humans can create from this matter-the quantity of sacrificed life-just before the body takes its first destructive bite (405).

There is no meat in the Mexican dip—no animals are killed to make this meal—but there are plants and food items that were once living. Sometimes when I am making this dish, I don’t really think about each step I take and where the item is from. But this recipe has 9 simple ingredients that layered on top of each other to create a very simple 7 layers. You know exactly what you are eating in each bite, what gets destroyed with each bite you take, as Pollan says.

Here is some background so some of the layers in the Mexican Dip; each ingredient has such a different history and is layered together to make one complete dish. Salsa was originated with the Inca people and can be traced back to the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. The Spaniards first had encountered tomatoes when they went to Mexico in 1519-1521 and that marked the history of the salsa sauce. Mayo is a thick dressing that is often used as a condiment. It is made out of oil, egg yolk, and either vinegar or lemon juice. Cheddar cheese originated in the British village of Cheddar in Somerset. Cheddar is the most popular type of cheese in the UK. It is also the second most popular cheese in the US behind mozzarella. Sour cream is a dairy product that is fermented with cream and some kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria culture naturally sours and thickens the cream. The name comes from the production of lactic acid by bacterial fermentation, called souring. You never really think about the history of the ingredients you are cooking with,  as you mixing it in the dish to create the meal.

Before this class and reading all of these novels, I never really analyzed my food. Of course, I was a little curious as to where it came from. Sometimes I would just ignore the fact that I was unaware of the food I was eating because I didn’t want to know. For example, when I would go to McDonalds, I knew that it was so bad for me but I didn’t want to truly recognize the fact that it was. Making this 7-layer Mexican Dip was a fun activity for me, but now after really analyzing this dish, I will think more about it when I make it.

Servings: 12

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces refried beans
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup of guacamole
• 1 cup of salsa
• 1 cup of lettuce
• 1 cup of Mexican blend cheese
• 4 ounces of sliced olives
• 1 cup of tomatoes

http://www.food.com/recipe/7-layer-dip-126480