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Bottling Hell: Myth-Making, Cultural Identity And The Datil Pepper Of St. Augustine, Florida, Anna Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis interrogates the datil pepper (capsicum chinense) as a potent cultural symbol against a backdrop of heritage tourism in St. Augustine, Florida, widely known as "the nation's oldest city." the datil is a locally popular and regionally unique heirloom pepper endemic to St. Augustine and the surrounding environs. A romantic origin story and local lore are embedded on this spicy pepper, tying it to north Florida's Minorcan population, a group descended from indentured workers brought to the area in the late 1700s. The prominence of this mythology speaks to heritage tourism's demand for consumable cultural emblems, and the datil …