K’Oben traces the Maya kitchen and its associated hardware, ingredients, and cooking styles from the earliest times for which we have archaeological evidence through today’s culinary tourism in the area. It focuses not only on what was eaten and how it was cooked, but the people involved: who grew or sourced the foods, who cooked them, who ate them. Additionally, the authors examine how Maya foodways and the people involved fit into the social system, particularly in how food is incorporated into culture, economy, and society. The authors provide a detailed literature review of hard-to-find sources including: out of print centuries old cookbooks, archaeological field notes, ethnographies and ethnohistories out of circulation and not available in English, thesis documents only available in Spanish and in university archives as well as current field research on the Maya. The more recent Maya foodways can be studied from cookbooks, ethnographies and ethnohistorical documentation. Between the two of us, we have assembled a small but representative collection of cookbooks, some self-published and rare, that were available in Merida and elsewhere in Mexico during the late 20th century. Some are quite old, and all reflect local traditional foodways. Geographically, the book concentrates on Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico, but will include Pre-Classic and Classic evidence from Guatemala and El Salvador, whose foodways are influenced by Maya traditions.

"K’oben is the Yucatec term for the famous three-stoned hearth that centers the kitchen throughout the Maya region—and turns out to appear relatively recently in Maya history. What the two authors do best is move readers away from the stereotype of the Maya ‘triad’ (corn/tortilla, beans, squash, plus chiles) to understanding the historically emergent, postcolonial nature of Maya cooking, eating, and influence on world cuisines. O’Connor and Anderson (emer., anthropology, Univ. of California Riverside) organize most of their book chronologically; the last two chapters bring their account to the present. One details the cuisine of each Mexican ‘Mayaland’ state. The closing (and best written) chapter explores how expanded tourism and UNESCO efforts to curate and protect distinctive cuisines instead homogenize them and objectify Maya women. A useful appendix presents ingredients and recipes. The book is a lively read….The authors have filled it with sustained symbolic analysis as well as choice tidbits, such as the fact that the emblematic Mexican mole poblano is actually an Arab-Andalusian staple with chocolate and chile added, or Cuba’s role in Yucatec Maya flavors. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." - CHOICE