How Does Mexico Organize Its Meals? First, Let’s Have Desayuno (Breakfast)

Mexico Cooks! receives many, many inquiries from foreigners planning a vacation in Mexico: "Where should I go for lunch?"  "What's a good time to go out for supper?"  "I want to eat lunch at (X high-end restaurant with a 12-course tasting menu) and supper at (Y restaurant with an 8-course tasting menu).  Will that work?" 

When I answer that the concepts of "lunch" and "supper" really don't exist in Mexico as one knows those meals, particularly in the USA or Canada, people are shocked.  Some come and try to acclimate to the Mexican way of eating, and others write to me later to say, "No wonder there was no one in the restaurant when my family was there at 6:30PM!  We thought it would be bustling, but no.  When we were finished with our meal, at about 8:30PM, people started arriving.  You were right!"  

Let's talk about mealtimes in Mexico, starting with breakfast.

A typical breakfast in the USA, circa 1950s: unsweetened cereal topped with sugar, a banana–often cut up into the cereal–and milk, poured over the cereal.  Many people in the USA and Canada still start the day with something similar.

The corunda is a regional tamal from Michoacán.  This modern-style corunda is filled with cream cheese and strips of roasted chile poblano, and then topped with Mexican table cream and a sauce made of chile perón (a local, Michoacán-grown chile).  This makes a great desayuno when accompanied by a cup of hot atole, made either with fresh guava or fresh blackberry.

People in Mexico frequently eat two morning meals. The first is desayuno, which comes from the root word ayunar, to fast.  Desayuno literally means "I un-fast" and is ordinarily eaten first thing in the morning, maybe before work while you are standing in the pre-dawn kitchen thinking about the coming day on the job or gobbled while you are hurrying the kids into their school uniforms.  This breakfast consists of something quick and simple or a smear of yesterday's frijolitos refritos on a leftover tortilla, washed down with a glass of fresh orange juice; a pan dulce fresh out of the oven from the corner bakery, accompanied by a cup of milky Nescafé (Mexico's ubiquitous instant coffee).  It's just enough to help your brain kick into gear.

This Mexico Cooks! desayuno includes home-made calabaza en tacha, ready to be bathed in hot milk–plus a slice of pan relleno con chilacayote (bread filled with sweetened chilacayote squash paste), served with fresh juice or coffee.

At home, Mexico Cooks! occasionally prepares molletes, an old-time family favorite.  I grill a bolillo (a dense-textured and crusty white bread roll), add a thick smear of chile-spiced refried beans, and top them with huevos volteados (over-easy eggs).  With a fresh fruit accompaniment, this almuerzo is really stick-to-your-ribs.

Around 10:30 or eleven o'clock in the morning, when the stomach starts to require something more substantial to keep the body going, many people take a break for almuerzo.  There really is no adequate word in English for this meal.  It's not breakfast and it's not a snack, and it's really not brunch, either.  Almuerzo is typically a larger meal than desayuno.  Workers on a construction job, for example, often stop work, build a little fire, and heat up yesterday's leftovers that they've brought along in a 'tupper'–the generic word for a covered plastic container.  Warmed-up leftovers, a stack of tortillas, and a fresh-made pot of coffee keep the girders going up. 

Another really hearty almuerzo: a plateful of enchiladas verdes con pollo deshebrado (enchiladas with shredded chicken in green sauce) topped with finely grated white cheese and minced onion, accompanied by a guarnición (side) of refried beans.

Here's another typical almuerzo in Mexico: chilaquiles verdes (fried tortilla strips simmered in green sauce), topped with grated white cheese and thinly sliced white onions, then crowned with huevos al gusto (eggs however you like them).  Add a side of frijolitos refritos, a plate of ripe seasonal fruit, a warm-from-the-oven bolillo, either salsa or butter for the bread, and a great cappuchino, all served on a sunny terrace.  Heaven…

Next week, next meal!  Comida, Mexico's main meal of the day, coming up.  We'll save your place at the table. 

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