Associate professor of sociology at North Carolina State University Sarah Bowen discovered there was much she and most Americans didn’t know about the rich history of tequila. While researching her doctoral thesis on denominations of origin in France, the United States, and Mexico, Bowen chronicled her findings in her critically acclaimed book, “Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production.” In the Huffington Post’s Voices in Food story, by Joanna O’Leary, Bowen describes this history, as well as women’s and workers’ rights in the food industry.
History of Tequila
She states that tequila is a mezcal. This means that it is a distilled agave spirit that has a hundred-year history in Mexico. Mezcals have been produced throughout the country for hundreds of years. Tequila used to be “mezcal de Tequila,” the mezcal from the area around the city of Tequila, but over time shortened to just tequila.
Tequila is famous because mezcal producers expanded and industrialized their business more successfully than the competition in the 1800s. These producers were some of the first to crush agave with a tahona, or stone wheel, instead of by hand. The agave was also cooked in masonry ovens and distilled with column stills. Since 1974, tequila has been protected by a “denomination of origin,” meaning only producers in the Mexican state of Jalisco (the home of Tequila) have the right to use the term ‘tequila.’
Though men are often lauded as the ‘heroes’ of tequila, it is actually the women who play central roles in the production of tequila. They have been historically less visible than the likes of Jose Cuervo and Cenobio Sauza because the industry is dominated by men.
Rebranding of Tequila
In the 1990s, the industry worked hard to rebrand and reimagine tequila, not as a lowbrow unsophisticated drink but a suave, cultured spirit enjoyed by people willing to pay higher prices. Tequila has in turn become a true success story. Production has tripled since the 1990s, and premium tequila is booming.
Unfortunately, this success has not trickled down to farmers, workers, and communities who produce tequila. The quality of the spirit has been defined as the barrels it was aged in and the flavors that were added rather than its connection to a particular place or the unique character behind its birth.
Unsung Heroes of Production
Farmers and farmworkers are hidden figures in the tequila labor chain. Though tequila can only be made in one region, with one type of agave, the region where agave is grown is huge. It consists of an entire Mexican state and parts of four other states. Tequila companies have reduced farmers’ power by contracting production and sourcing their agave from across the region. It takes up to eight years to mature an agave plant, and the industry has struggled with surpluses and shortages for decades. If a field of agave matures during a period of shortage, farmers can become rich overnight, but there were also periods of surplus when farmers let agave rot in the fields because of such low prices.
The jimadores (people who harvest agave in the fields) are even more vulnerable. Tequila distillery tours emphasize how jimadores have traditional knowledge that allows them to select the best agave hearts, but they don’t mention the low wages, chronic health problems, and deplorable working conditions the jimadores face. Though the industry relies on them to produce tequila’s image, they make almost nothing.
America and Tequila
Bowen said, “The main argument of my book and of my work, in general, is that the regulations that define products need to be defined by people in the communities that produce them.”
The United States is the biggest producer of tequila, by far, and U.S. consumers and bottlers are responsible for what happens in these industries. American consumers need to know how their purchasing choices and priorities have power. It is imperative we push for an equitable and fair industry.
