The Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción (Church of the
Immaculate Conception) is located on Calle Tejedores de Aranza in
Morelia, Michoacán. The Immaculate Conception, a dogma of the Roman
Catholic Church, means, "conceived without stain of original sin" and
refers to the Virgin Mary.
This past Wednesday (May 12, 2010), thirteen friends, some of whom are long-time Morelia residents who had never experienced this local tradition, got together for a Big Night Out at Morelia's Templo de La Inmaculada Concepción. It seemed timely to publish this 2008 article again, with a few photos just taken this week.
Shortly after Mexico Cooks!
moved to Morelia, a friend here insisted that we go to supper with her
at a local institution. She wouldn't tell us exactly where we
were going, just settled herself in our car and told us, "Turn here.
Now here, and left at the next corner. Then right…" In a few
minutes we were parking at the curb in a well-kept working class
neighborhood, a huge church looming on the corner. Imagine our surprise
when she told us that we were going to supper at the church!
Just
a few steps down from the sidewalk, we were astonished to see a huge
room filled with tables, chairs, and the hustle and bustle of a horde of
people.
Bring enough people so that some can stand in one line, some in
another, and some can save a place for your group to eat supper.
This
was no run-of-the-mill church supper, with covered casseroles and your
Aunt Joan's coconut cake. Morelia's Templo de la Inmaculada
Concepción (Church of the Immaculate Conception) started its nightly
food fair as a kermés, way back in the 1960s. A kermés
is a street fair devoted to the sale of food, soft drinks, and sweets
for the purpose of raising money for a cause. More than 30 cooks in the
neighborhood of La Concha (that's the affectionate nickname for
any woman named Concepción, and it's the nickname for the church
as well) prepared enchiladas, pozole, tamales, buñuelos, atole
and an infinity of other typical Mexican dishes, all for sale in front
of the original adobe church. Every night of each kermés,
thousands of people ate their fill of delicious food. Before long, the
funds from kermés La Concha made the new church a
reality.
Pay for everything from drinks to dessert with tickets you buy at the
booth pictured below. Ticket denominations range from two to six pesos.
When you finish your meal, you can exchange any leftover tickets for
money. You can rent silverware, too, and turn it in for a refund when
you're finished eating.
The nightly kermés–it opens at about 7:00PM and closes at about 10:00PM–has changed a
lot over the course of more than forty years. When the neighborhood
built the new church, the lower level became a permanent cenaduría
(supper spot) that continues to raise funds for the parish. Nearly 30
booths range around the perimeter of the huge space, serving everything
from soup (pozole, a thick, rich pork, chile, and corn
stew) to desserts (tamales dulces (sweet tamales) and
crispy, crunchy, syrupy buñuelos). Current prices for food range from thirty
pesos for a plate of chicken with enchiladas and vegetables down to nine
pesos for a soft drink.
Lucille Arneson had never tasted a pambazo and was about to dig into this one when Mexico Cooks! all but grabbed the fork out of her hand. "Wait! Let me take its picture first!".
To make a pambazo,
start with a really good bolillo, split almost in half. Dip the whole thing
in rich enchilada sauce and deep fry it till it's smooshy and
crunchy and totally decadent. Stuff
the roll with as much picadillo as you can. Plate it with fried diced carrots and
potatoes and top with freshly diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and
crumbled cheese.
Alice Katz, who celebrates her 13th birthday in July, said that her pambazo was great–"almost as good as the ones I get in Mexico City." Alice liked her first visit to La Inmaculada and said she'd go back any time.
Me
traes un refresco…a mi unas servilletas…me falta un salero, por
favor…" "Bring me a soft drink…some napkins for me…I need a
salt shaker, please…" When you're finished with your supper, the
children take your plates, clear the rest of the table, and make it
spotless for the next round of guests. A tip is nice for the kids, even
if they've only cleaned your table. Give them a couple of your
leftover food tickets–your waitstaff will exchange them for cash.
Ready for the customer who ordered them: four orders of enchiladas
with chicken and a pambazo, Michoacán style.
Rodger García enjoyed his quesadillas and pozole blanco while he mugged for the camera. Linda Pierce egged him on.
Bunny Richards devoured a bowl of pozole blanco, a juicebox of
Boing! mango drink, and then ordered a buñuelo, which she shared
with the table.
Bunny's buñuelo.
Buñuelos are similar to very large
flour tortillas. Form the dough into a big disk, deep fry it, and then cover it with a rich
syrup of made from piloncillo (cones of brown sugar)and anís
(anise). The buñuelo in the picture above was broken into three
or four pieces so that it would fit on the eight-inch plate.
The choice of drinks is almost endless. In addition to soft drinks,
you can also choose from several house-made aguas frescas.
Alcohol is not permitted.
So, you might ask yourself, if the
biggest bill comes out to thirty
pesos for a big plate of food and nine pesos for a drink to go with it, how
profitable could this neighborhood charity be? Naturally most people
order other foods as well, raising the cost of their supper by a
little. When Mexico Cooks! eats at La Inmaculada, we
usually spend about 120 pesos per couple. It's almost impossible to
resist eating too much.
Cyndie Katz (Alice's mother) and Lucille Arneson enjoyed everything about our Big Night Out at La Inmaculada.
Okay, how much money does the parish take
in? Are you sitting down? Every night, the profits are approximately
40,000 pesos (about $4,000 USD). The parish priest administers the
funds, which are used, among other things, to provide school breakfasts
and food baskets for the needy. The parish also provides a free
doctor's office and a variety of other services.
Once in a while, roving mariachis sing at La Concha.
At the Templo
de la Inmaculada–La Concha, when we're feeling tender-hearted–we
eat well and we know we're contributing to a variety of good causes.
Next time you're in Morelia, come along with us!
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