Abodegais a small owner-operatedconvenience storeserving hot and prepared food, often open late hours and typically withethnic marketinfluences.[1][2][3]TheNYC Department of Healthdefines a bodega as any store of sufficient size "that sells milk, meat or eggs but is not a specialty store (bakery, butcher, chocolate shop, etc) and doesn't have more than two cash registers".[4]Most famously located on New York City's street corners and associated with immigrant communities as well asthe Puerto Rican community,they are renowned for their convivial culture and colorful character.[5]As of 2020, there were an estimated 13,000 bodegas across the city.[6]
Etymology
editInSpanish,bodegais a term for "storeroom" or "wine cellar", or "warehouse", with a similar origin to the words "boutique"and"apothecary";the precise meaning varies regionally in the Spanish language, and the later New York City term evolved from Puerto Rican and Cuban usage for" small grocery ". (In contemporary Cuba, the term now usually connotes agovernment ration store.)
InEnglish,the first appearance of the bodega in print dates to a travelogue of Spain from 1846, describing wine cellars.[1][7]In New York City,The Sunreported the first bodega opening in 1902; it was described as a Spanish "barroom",[8]more like acantina.The more specific meaning of a type of New York City Puerto Rican convenience-store only came about in the mid-20th century, with the first print appearance inTimein 1956;[9]though the term has also been applied retrospectively to such establishments as far back as the 1920s–30s.[citation needed]
In a New York City context, the "bodega" resembles, and may overlap with, adelicatessen,newsstand,corner store,cornergrocery store,orcandy store.[2][10][11]
Culture and economy
editBodegas were popularized in the mid-twentieth century byPuerto Ricans.[3][12][13]Some stores were named after places in Puerto Rico.[14]Although they were initially documented in the 1930s (a 50th anniversary was marked on Spanish-language radio stationWADOin 1986), the first bodega may have opened even earlier.[15]Early examples were establishments serving factory workers inGreenpoint, Brooklyn,andLa Marquetain East Harlem, where stalls serving Puerto Rican staples (at first included among goods sold by local Jewish merchants) became increasingly Puerto Rican-owned in the 1920s/30s.[16]Other Latino groups in the city have also embraced the bodega, serving a wider variety ofLatin American cuisine.[17]Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueñosat CUNY Hunter College owns a collection of historical bodega photography.[18]Despite their Hispanic origins, by the late 2010s approximately half of all bodegas were operated byYemeni Americanimmigrants.[19]Yemeni business owners led acampaign of bodega closuresin February 2017 in protest of theTrump travel ban.
Bodegas in popular culture
editOne famous bodega,Gem Spa,was a gathering place forbeat poetsin New York'sGreenwich Villagein the 1960s. Gem Spa is also thought by some to be the birthplace of theegg cream.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
In the 1998stoner comedyHalf Baked,Thurgood, played byDave Chappelle,refers to purchasingcannabisat bodegas: "You can get the stuff at little corner stores called bodegas. Say it with me – BO-DE-GAS. Yes, very good! These places always have incredibly old products, but the weed ain't bad."[26]
Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2005 musicalIn the Heightscentres on the character of Usnavi, the owner of a local bodega inWashington Heights, Manhattan.[27]
In 2018,Camden, New Jersey,rapperMir Fontanereleased an EP titledMacaroni Tonyfeaturing the track "Bodega" that emphasizes the central role bodegas play in urban communities.[28]When asked about bodegas, Mir Fontane explained: "To me, the bodega always represented a hub for the community... but it also embodies the spirit of the hustle and grind. The owner of the bodega is one of the first true businessmen you meet growing up in the hood."[28]
A 2019Saturday Night Liveskit references New York City bodegas.[29]
See also
edit
- Bodega,for other uses of the term
- Bodega cat
- Halal cart
- Delicatessen
- Asian supermarket
- Milk bar
- Spaza (shop)
- Toko (shop)
- Botánica
References
edit- ^abFarfan, Isa (2022-07-19)."The NYC Bodega: A History of Violence and Resilience".Untapped New York.Retrieved2022-09-06.
- ^ab"Ask A Native New Yorker: What's The Difference Between A Bodega, A Deli & Corner Grocer?".Gothamist.2014-05-02.Retrieved2022-09-05.
- ^ab"New York City Bodegas And The Generations Who Love Them".NPR.March 10, 2017.Retrieved2022-09-06.
- ^Bel, Pierina Pighi."Bodegas: The small corner shops that run NYC".www.bbc.com.Retrieved2023-10-07.
- ^Randle, Aaron (22 February 2020)."Inside the New York City Bodegas Going Viral on TikTok".New York Times.Retrieved23 February2020.
- ^"New York readies to say goodbye to a staple of city life: plastic shopping bags".New York Daily News.23 February 2020.Retrieved24 February2020.
- ^"bodega".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.December 2019.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
- ^"The Sun 10 Dec 1902, page Page 8".Newspapers.com.Retrieved2022-09-06.
Its native place was Spain, but the bodega flourishes to-day in every European capital. The name is applied to a sort of barroom in which all the liquors are supplied from the wood. Americans who have tested the bodega on their European travels have usually decided that its most attractive feature is the spectacle presented by the casks piled about the walls and the other incidents of the decoration copied from the Spanish wine houses of which the bodega has become the international type.
- ^"It's time to kvell about some awesomesauce new words: the OED January 2020 update".Oxford English Dictionary.2020-01-08.Retrieved2022-09-18.
- ^ Zukin, Sharon (2014)."Restaurants as" Post Racial "Spaces." Soul Food "and Symbolic Eviction in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Brooklyn)".Ethnologie française.44(1):135–147.doi:10.3917/ethn.141.0135.ISSN0046-2616.JSTOR42772447.
- ^Gray, Madison (2012-05-25)."The Bodega: A Brief History of an Urban Institution".Time.ISSN0040-781X.Retrieved2022-09-06.
- ^Carter, Stephen L. (15 April 2022)."Don't Call It a Convenience Store: The New York Bodega Is So Much More".Bloomberg News.Retrieved19 April2022.(subscription required)
- ^Sanabria, Carlos (2016).The bodega: a cornerstone of Puerto Rican barrios (the Justo Marti collection).New York: Centro Press.OCLC982960226.
- ^"The Legacy of the Puerto Rican Bodega | Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños".centropr-archive.hunter.cuny.edu.Retrieved5 August2022.
'Bodegas provided a link to Puerto Rico,' (Sanabria) writes, citing everything from the products they carried to the towns in Puerto Rico from which they derived their names.
- ^Howe, Marvine (19 November 1986)."Bodegas find prosperity amid change".New York Times.Retrieved1 March2020.
- ^Korrol, Virginia Sánchez (1994-11-18).From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City.University of California Press. pp.55–56.ISBN978-0-520-07900-7.
- ^Ricourt, Milagros; Danta, Ruby (2018-08-06).Hispanas de Queens: Latino Panethnicity in a New York City Neighborhood.Cornell University Press. pp.46–50.ISBN978-1-5017-2465-7.
- ^"The Legacy of the Puerto Rican Bodega | Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños".centropr-archive.hunter.cuny.edu.Retrieved2022-09-05.
- ^Goldbaum, Christina (April 29, 2019)."Behind the Counter, a New Political Force Takes On The New York Post and Trump".The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon 16 June 2020.Retrieved11 April2021.
Of the roughly 10,000 bodegas in the city, YAMA estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 are owned by Yemeni-Americans.
- ^Paradise, Ben Nigh, Lisa."An iconic bodega in the East Village is at risk of shuttering — here's why they hope a traditional NYC drink will help them survive".Business Insider.Retrieved2022-09-16.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^"Gem Spa, East Village Store Famous for Egg Creams, Shuts Down for Good".www.ny1.com.Retrieved2022-09-17.
- ^Conti, Allie (2019-08-29)."Can Instagram and Egg Creams Save the Last Punk Rock Bodega?".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2022-09-17.
- ^Vadukul, Alex (2021-08-18)."What Happened to Gem Spa's Zoltar Fortunetelling Machine?".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2022-09-17.
- ^Orlow, Emma."New York institution Gem Spa is permanently closing".Time Out New York.Retrieved2022-09-17.
- ^Swanson, David (2020-05-11)."Gem Spa closes: Bye Bye, Miss American Egg Cream".The Village Voice.Retrieved2022-09-17.
- ^"Half Baked Blu-ray Review | High Def Digest".bluray.highdefdigest.com.Retrieved2022-10-12.
- ^Zuckerman, Esther (10 June 2021)."How 'In the Heights' Built Its Perfect Bodega".Thrillist.RetrievedSeptember 12,2023.
- ^ab"Mir Fontane Pays Homage to Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman Feliz in" Bodega "Video".HYPEBEAST.2018-09-10.Retrieved2022-09-16.
- ^"Bodega Bathroom - SNL".YouTube.2019-03-03.Retrieved2024-08-25.
Bibliography
edit- Janer, Zilkia; Albala, Ken (2008).Latino food culture.Food cultures in America / Ken Albala, general ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-313-34027-7.
- Fuster, Melissa (2021).Caribeños at the table: how migration, health, and race intersect in New York City.Chapel Hill (N.C.): The University of North Carolina press.ISBN978-1-4696-6456-9.
- Meltzer, Rachel; Schuetz, Jenny (2012)."Bodegas or Bagel Shops? Neighborhood Differences in Retail and Household Services".Economic Development Quarterly.26(1):73–94.doi:10.1177/0891242411430328.ISSN0891-2424.