Tasting Nostalgia

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced a new agriculture plan on Tuesday to boost “food sovereignty” in the country by returning to the staples and stores of its past, while critics blasted the initiative, saying the country has moved on, according to ABC News.

In the 1980s, meals in Mexico usually consisted of tortillas, beans, instant coffee, and cheap hot chocolate that were bought at small and shabby government-controlled stores stocking limited items. Sheinbaum’s agriculture plan aspires to revive those stores and produce more of the goods on their shelves.

“It is about producing what we eat,” Sheinbaum said of her policy. “It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of potato chips.”

The government aims to boost bean production by about 30 percent in six years to replace bean imports. It also aims to lower tortilla prices by 10 percent, and guarantee prices for farmers who grow the corn used in them.

The plan also includes supporting coffee production, mainly for instant coffee, which the government claims is used by 84 percent of Mexican households.

Skeptics of the plan have raised concerns that the goods chosen by the government run counter to current trends in the food industry. For example, consumption of fresh ground coffee instead of instant has grown exponentially, and specialized coffee chains and shops are ubiquitous in the country. Instant products accounted for only about 37 percent of the sales value of coffee products, according to a recent Techanvio report.

Meanwhile, bean and tortilla consumption have been dropping for decades, with Mexicans often disparaging beans as food for the poor.

Critics also pointed out that with this plan, Mexico is moving towards more central planning in its economy while also planning to produce cheaper products, bucking a trend toward higher value-added goods that bring in more revenue.