Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of consumers of organic food, based on their motivations. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire based on the Food Choice Questionnaire was applied to a 656 consumers. A multivariate factor analysis and cluster analysis was performed to the data. Findings: Seven factors were identified: ecological concern; nutritional content; availability of natural products; sensory aspects; certifications, health and confidence; and economic aspects. Resulting clusters were named as: conscious and interested in certification; conscious with no interest in certification; opportunist in transition; unconscious opportunist. There are signs of different consumers. The consumers of these products are characterised by an interaction between hedonic and ethical motivations, where the most important motivation is environmental concern and the least important are the economic aspects. Research limitations/implications: The reduced number of alternative markets in Mexico limits the amplitude of the research. Practical implications: The work herein reported is pioneer and contributes to reduce the lack of studies on the motivations and characteristics of consumers of organic foods in Mexico. Findings may set a path for new research in other cultural contexts; as well as for more specific work in Mexico as of consumers of industrialised organic products. Social implications: Characterising consumers of organic foods will enable the development of these markets. Originality/value: Social studies of eating habits have taken place in European countries; and several works have been developed in other areas of the world to determine the way in which consumers build their preferences and food choice patterns. In Mexico, specifically in organic foods, studies have focussed in agrarian economics, but the analysis of motivations for choice has not been addressed. Therefore, it is important to research this issue given the relevance for consumers.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors associated with the consumption of traditional foods (TFs) in central Mexico. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 512 surveys were applied to consumers in central Mexico. The survey included a free word association with TF and an example, the food choice questionnaire, and the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. A binary logistic regression was carried out comparing regular TF consumers with non-regular TF consumers. Findings: Men tend to eat TFs in more regular way than women. People with heavier consumption habits associate TF with “authenticity/way of doing”, “origin” and “habit”, which are reinforced both by TF examples and the FCQ variables. Foods considered traditional were classified as cooked (elaborated under specific recipes of gastronomic heritage) and uncooked. Both groups comprise central foods, basic in the Mexican diet, in which maize, chili and beans are outstanding. Research limitations/implications: The study did not comprehend the whole country and not consider specific food categories. Practical implications: Provides important information on the factors that drive consumption of TFs in Mexico, information that may be useful in valorisation processes. Social implications: Results may support the commercialisation of these foods, and lead to an improvement in the livelihoods of producers of TFs. Originality/value: In Mexico, the study of consumers has not been addressed. Therefore, this is a pioneer study that documents the factors associated with the consumption of TFs.

El trabajo retoma al ecofeminismo de la subsistencia para conocer la participación de las mujeres en la conservación de los maíces nativos a través de la elaboración y venta de tortillas artesanales. Es un estudio etnográfico feminista que pretende dar visibilidad a las relaciones de género que resultan en negociaciones entre mujeres y hombres que sostienen la continuidad alimentaria maíz-tortillas artesanales. Para ello se llevaron a cabo tres tipos de entrevistas (a profundidad, semiestructuradas y estructuradas) a mujeres y hombres ≥ 18 de años de edad, que participan en actividades relacionadas con la continuidad alimentaria maíz-tortillas artesanales en el mercado La Placita de Ixtlahuaca, Estado de México. Los resultados se agruparon en tres tipos de actores/as: mujeres que elaboran y venden tortillas artesanales, productores/as de maíces nativos y consumidores/as de tortillas. Se discuten las negociaciones entre grupos, así como la influencia de factores externos como la siembra de maíces mejorados y el acceso a maíz nativo. Se concluye que la permanencia de los maíces nativos se debe a las relaciones y negociaciones que articulan las mujeres que elaboran y venden tortillas entre productores/as y consumidores/as, vinculadas a las estrategias de subsistencia.

El surgimiento de actividades recreativas en zonas rurales denota un proceso de turistificación del territorio, en el que sus dimensiones material y simbólica son convertidas en mercancías al servicio de los mercados turísticos. Se aborda el caso de la región vitivinícola de Querétaro donde se describen los procesos de apropiación del territorio en el marco del enoturismo. A partir de la perspectiva de la biografía cultural del territorio y desde un enfoque cualitativo, se discute cómo el turismo ha significado un mecanismo de apropiación territorial y dinamización del territorio. Se observa que el enoturismo es una plataforma de exhibición para los vinos queretanos y es una herramienta para la postulación de la calidad territorial, asociado a estos productos. Calidad, turismo y territorio son tres realidades interdependientes que ilustran la consolidación del capitalismo tardío en el espacio rural, al mismo tiempo que son la precondición para la revitalización económica y cultural de los espacios productores de vino.

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze gender inequalities and intersectionality experienced by rural-indigenous women who produce and sell native maize tortillas at three different markets-tianguis in central Mexico, facing the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This was a qualitative study based on 36 in-depth interviews before pandemic (2018), as well as 16 interviews during pandemic (2020) of women engaged in this work.Results: Making corn tortillas by hand is one of the culturally assigned gender roles in the indigenous population of the Mazahua region, which is why their sale in local markets as a female strategy to have access to income for household sustenance has been widely by the communities. The configuration of the different market-space for the sale of handmade tortillas, reflects the inequalities of gender and intersectionality (ethnicity, class, age, family life cycle and education levels). The women in conditions of poverty, landlessness, and with school-age children, have met greater disadvantages in continuing to sell tortillas in the face of the experience of pandemic restrictions.Conclusions: The women who were already disadvantaged by their intersectional relationships continue to experience the same inequalities that conditioned their position in the marketplaces before the pandemic, sustaining a marginal but constant market.

Este estudio visibiliza la participación femenina en las estructuras de los Comités Comunitarios de Agua Potable de Toluca (CCAPT), mediante la perspectiva de género. A partir de trabajo de campo etnográfico, aplicación de entrevistas a profundidad e historias de vida de 26 mujeres de 15 CCAPT, se identificó que el mayor empoderamiento femenino se da en las mujeres que ocupan el cargo de tesoreras. Esto se explica por el cuidado de las finanzas en el hogar, tarea asignada tradicionalmente a ellas y extendida a los ámbitos públicos que procuran el bien común. Ello ha revalorizado el cargo de tesorera, de tal forma que éstas juegan un papel estratégico para favorecer una convivencia pacífica en la comunidad. Generalmente, las mujeres que han desempeñado este cargo, lo hacen poniendo en el centro el aspecto ético, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas, lo que mejora la gobernanza de los CCAPT.