Ted Genoways: How José Cuervo Marked a Turning Point in Mexico’s History

Food with Mark Bittman

Sweetness and Light

Nutrition, Arts, Food, Culture, Cooking, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.9 • 947 Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Journalist Ted Genoways talks to Mark about his book, Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico, which is the first biography of Cuervo; about how Cuervo was responsible for the first cartel—and what it was like when cartels were simply business collectives; about how Cuervo saw the future of Mexico; and about why tequila is at the nexus of food and power.

Read an excerpt from Tequila Wars on The Bittman Project: https://bittmanproject.com/how-jose-cuervo-beat-the-odds/

Listen to Ted Genoways talk about human trafficking and the meatpacking industry on Food with Mark Bittman: https://tinyurl.com/bde43zep

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to food. I'm Kate Bitman, and we are so glad that you're here with us. If you want more,
0:08.4	remember to check us out online at bitmanproject.com. We've got more than 1,500 recipes with new ones
0:14.8	added daily, plus some really wonderful food writing from some really wonderful food writers,
0:20.5	and recommendations for products
0:22.4	and more. Bitmanproject.com. And as always, email us with any questions or feedback at
0:28.7	food at markbitman.com. This week we're doing something that we've done just once or twice in the past.
0:51.3	We're having someone on for the second time, and not long after
0:55.1	we had him on the first time. Why, you might ask? Because that person, Ted Genoese, has just
1:01.2	written the very first biography of Jose Cuervo, one of the most famous names in Mexican history.
1:08.0	What perhaps added to his fame is that Cuervo famously disappeared, which awarded
1:12.8	him an aura of mystery and made him a trickier person to profile. Ted's biography is called Tequila
1:19.4	Wars, Jose Cuervo and the bloody struggle for the spirit of Mexico, and it's interesting and
1:24.9	comprehensive, and if you know Ted at all, extremely well written.
1:29.4	We published an excerpt from it on the Bitman Project last month.
1:32.6	We're linking to that in today's show notes, so be sure to check it out.
1:37.1	Ted Genoese, if you weren't able to listen to our first interview with him, which aired in April,
1:42.5	and which we're also linking to, is a senior editor
1:45.6	at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. His typical beat is the meatpacking industry,
1:51.0	which is what we talked about previously, but he took a break from that to dive deep into tequila.
1:57.0	Here he is with Mark.
1:59.6	Ted, thanks for coming back.
2:01.4	You're setting the record for person appearing most frequently closest together on food with Mark Bittman.
	...

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