Expressing Spanish Atlantic Identity
Using the sites from Jerez de la Frontera and St. Augustine described in previous chapters as a case study, “Expressing Spanish-Atlantic Identity” explores the multi-directional nature of culture exchange in the Spanish Atlantic and how information and goods were flowing in both directions across the Atlantic. The chapter examines food preparation and foodways, how the advent of American ingredients transformed or were included in Spanish cuisine, and how French culinary techniques became widely adopted in the Spanish Atlantic. It also examines the ceramic trade, hygiene vessels, and tableware. Similarities among the three sites discussed in this study suggest that wide-spread changes in dining practices were being adopted on both sides of the Spanish Atlantic nearly simultaneously. This chapter argues that the nature and timing of these changes indicates that eighteenth-century Spanish America was perhaps more closely connected to Spain than previously thought.