Category: Current Affairs

Muestra de Gastronomía Regional in Pátzcuaro: Regional Food, Pátzcuaro Style

Seasonal chiles en nogada (stuffed chiles poblano in walnut sauce) were the most popular item at the Pátzcuaro food show in September.

Pátzcuaro has just celebrated its 474th anniversary as a certified municipio (similar to a US county seat). Lots of events were scheduled during the weekend of September 19-21, including a parade, an artisans' fair, concerts, and two regional muestras de gastronomía (food exhibits and sales).

Joaquín Pantoja, Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga, Pátzcuaro.

Mexico Cooks! was there, of course. Would we miss a reason for a fiesta? We spent a full and diverse day in Pátzcuaro, first listening to a concert by the incredibly talented Joaquín Pantoja, visiting friends at a nearby gallery opening, attending a talk at Casa Werma Buddhist Center, and eating–you guessed it–wonderful chiles en nogada at Sunday's Muestra de Gastronomía Regional on Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga.

Imagine the taste of spicy chiles poblano stuffed with a rich meat and fruit picadillo (hash), bathed in creamy walnut sauce, and garnished with fresh pomegranate seeds and cilantro. Normally served in Mexico during late August, September, and October (the time when both pomegranates and walnuts are harvested), this beautiful dish represents the colors of the Mexican flag. For a recipe, look at this archived article from Mexico Cooks!

Just one of the Muestra de Gastronomía Regional tables in Pátzcuaro. From the beautifully presented platillos (individual courses) to the hand-embroidered tablecloth, the table was a feast for all the senses.

Pollo en Cuñete, a superb example of comida casera michoacana (Michoacán home cooking) that Mexico Cooks! has never seen on any restaurant menu.

Pollo en Cuñete

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds, skinned and cut into serving pieces
11 cloves of garlic, mashed
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons corn or other vegetable oil
20 new potatoes, peeled
3/4 cup vinegar, either white or red wine
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
6 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 chiles serrano

Romaine lettuce
Pineapple slices
Orange slices
Avocado slices
Radishes

Procedure
Rub the chicken pieces with garlic, sea salt, and pepper and refrigerate for one to four hours.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the chicken pieces, putting them in a large casserole dish as they brown. In the same oil, lightly brown the potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the oil and reserve.

Allow the oil to cool slightly. Add the vinegar (carefully, it will splash) and heat until it begins to boil. Remove the brown pieces that stick to the bottom of the pan. Pour the vinegar through a strainer and over the chicken. Add the olive oil, the salt, the bay leaves, the thyme, and the oregano to the chicken in the casserole dish. Place the chicken over a high fire until it begins to boil. Cover it tightly and lower the flame. Every 10 minutes, turn the chicken. After 30 to 40 minutes, test for taste and add the chiles and the potatoes. Cover and cook over a slow fire for approximately 15 minutes, or until the potates are done.

To Serve
Cover a large platter with romaine lettuce leaves. Arrange the chicken pieces on the platter. Garnish with decoratively cut radishes, peeled orange slices, thinly sliced pineapple, and sliced avocados.

Serves 6 to 8 as a main course.

This gorgeous jewel-colored drink is actually ensalada del obispo a Morelia traditional speciality served only during Semana Santa (Holy Week). It's prepared with beets, oranges, lettuce, other vegetables, and peanuts. You eat it with a spoon and drink the liquid.

This little section of the muestra de dulces regionales (regional sweets exhibit) features gelatina de frutas con leche (milky gelatin with fruits), pastel de almendras (almond cake), rollo de chocolate (chocolate roll), and ate casero de membrillo (home-made quince paste). We split a slice of almond cake and a little cocada casera (home-made coconut candy).

Pátzcuaro is famous everywhere in Mexico for its ice cream, especially the nieve de pasta (richly creamy ice cream flavored with ground almonds, cinnamon, and honey). Mexico Cooks! didn't have room to eat even a small cup, but instead stopped a passer-by who waited patiently before taking a bite to have a photo taken of his treasure: nieve de pasta con mermelada de zarzamora (with fresh blackberry marmalade).

11 de October de 2008
La Feria del Hongo (The Mushroom Fair) in Senguio, Michoacán

Along the winding road to the Feria del Hongo (Mushroom Fair) in Senguio, Michoacán. The pink flowers in the center foreground are mirasoles (wild cosmos); behind them is a good-size corn field, then trees, then the lush blue-green mountains of north-central Michoacán.

Senguio, Michoacán, a tiny town much closer to the border of the State of México than to the city of Morelia, recently hosted its eleventh annual Feria del Hongo (Mushroom Fair). More than 100 locally found varieties of edible mushrooms were on display, along with 15 poisonous varieties and a few that are used medicinally.

Biologist Oralia Díaz Barriga Vega informed Mexico Cooks! that residents of Senguio consume more than 40 varieties of local woodland mushrooms. "The mushrooms most frequently eaten are the patitas de pájaro, the orejas de puerco, and a few others. People here in Senguio have a good bit of knowledge about edible as well as poisonous mushrooms that grow in local woodlands. Medicinal mushrooms are also widely used here, for diseases that range from viral and bacterial infections to high blood pressure to muscular dystrophy, chronic fatigue syndrome, and many types of cancer."

Hypomyces lactifluorum, known in English as lobster mushroom and in Spanish as oreja de puerco (pig's ear), is widely eaten in the mountains of Michoacán, particularly around Lake Pátzcuaro.

The level of cultivated, commercial mushroom production in Senguio has not been able to keep up with the demand for high-quality product demanded by international clients. Mushroom producers in Senguio harvest approximately two tons of mushrooms every month; that quantity satisfies only about five per cent of the demand from restaurant owners and other consumers. Juan González Ramirez, one of Senguio's top producers, says that within a short time, Senguio will produce a ton of mushrooms each week.

Patitas de pájaro (little bird's feet), occasionally known as manitas de santo (little saint's hands) is in season right now. It's found throughout the mountainous pine forests of Michoacán.

Pancita, or Boletus edulis, has until now only been used for medicinal purposes in Michoacán. Like most of the rest of these mushrooms, it grows wild in the pine forests here.

Boletus edulis, known in Mexico as the pancita mushroom, has traditionally been used medicinally. Because Mexican mushroom producers are unaccustomed to its use in cooking, its cultivation has not yet been prominent. In the year to come, mushroom growers in Senguio plan to produce a substantial quantity of what the world's kitchen knows as the porcini mushroom. "On the international market, this mushroom can bring as much as 800 pesos per kilo," mentioned one of the Senguio growers.

Pedos de burro–donkey farts–are better known (but much less picturesquely named in English) as the common woodland puffball. They're edible–and delicious–when picked while the flesh is white.

The beautiful russula emetica isn't edible; it provokes vomiting and diarrhea.

Although the festival organizers labeled this mushroom Amanita parva, the label appears to have been moved from another mushroom. This very large mushroom has been tentatively identified by another mycologist as Omphalotus sp.

Dr. R.E. Tulloss, a specialist in the genus Amanita, told me, "Amanita parva is a very small, white species ('parva' means 'little') that is known from sandy pine-oak forests between Long Island, NY (USA) and (probably) the Gulf Coast states of the US. I would not think that it would be a good choice as an edible. In fact, there is a possibility that it is poisonous. To my knowledge, A. parva has never been reported from Mexico."

The seta is one of three mushroom varieties (setas, shiitake, and common white table mushrooms) grown commercially in Senguio.

Mexico Cooks! talked at length with Ezequiel Gómez López, who grows both setas and shiitake mushrooms. In the photo above, setas are growing in a plastic bag stuffed with sterilized hay. The bag is about 18" square. The setas in the picture sprouted the day before the photo and will mature in three days.

Lentinula Edodes, the shiitake mushroom originally cultivated in Japan and Korea, is heavily produced in Senguio.

Sr. Gómez explained that the shiitake mushroom grows on harvested oak branches about three to four feet tall and three to five inches in diameter. "Growing mushrooms on these branches is so much better than burning the branches as fire wood!" he said. "Each branch can produce shiitakes for seven years." The mushrooms grow from spores to maturity in only a week. Once the shiitakes are harvested the branch is allowed to rest for a period of time and then is re-inoculated with spores for another crop. Sr. Gómez showed off a picture of his shiitake farm. It's a long, narrow room with oak branches leaning against the walls, not at all what Mexico Cooks! ever thought of as a mushroom farm.

Mexico Cooks! ate quesadillas de hongos (mushroom quesadillas) at the Feria del Hongo. The filling on the left is chicken with mushrooms and cheese; the filling on the right is rajas de chile poblano (poblano chile strips) with mushrooms and cheese.

The food at Senguio's Feria del Hongo was substantially different from the food at most Mexican festivals. Some names were the same: quesadillas, pozole, ceviche, and tacos, but all of the dishes were prepared with mushrooms as the predominate ingredient. We also saw mushroom yoghurt and various mushroom ointments.

The Senguio Feria del Hongo is small in scale but filled with information and ideas. Mexico Cooks! had a marvelous time.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here:
http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

27 de September de 2008
Fiestas Patrias Mexicanas: Mexican Independence Day

Mexico celebrates its yearly Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day holidays) during the entire month of September. From the end of August until mid-September, flag and patriotic souvenir sellers like this one in Morelia roam the streets of most cities.

The height of the annual party is the night of September 15, when every town in Mexico reenacts the Grito, the historic 1810 cry for independence from Spanish rule. The entire country whoops it up with public and private parties during this Gran Noche Mexicana (Great Mexican Night). Look back at this September 2007 Mexico Cooks! article for more of Mexico's Independence Day celebrations.

************************************************************************************

Those two short paragraphs were to have been Mexico Cooks! for September 20, 2008. However, sometimes our lives are changed in ways we could never have believed possible.

At 11:05 PM on September 15, 2008, the unthinkable changed the life of every Moreliano (resident of Morelia, Michoacán). With 30,000 people assembled to hear Governor Leonel Godoy proclaim the first Grito of his term of office, on the most important festival night in Mexico, two fragmentation grenades exploded in Plaza Melchor Ocampo, directly in front of Morelia's Palacio del Gobierno (state capitol office building).

The attack, presumed to have been orchestrated by Mexico's drug mafiosos and meant to be a spit in the faces of the state and federal governments, is the first attack that has been directed squarely at the innocent.

The toll: seven dead, more than 100 injured–many gravely–and this city of one million plunged into mourning. The deaths include a mother of three, her youngest still a nursing baby. A band at her grave, hired by her family, played Juan Gabriel's Amor Eterno. The refrain:

Como quisiera, ay
Que tu vivieras
Que tus ojitos jamás se hubieran
Cerrado nunca y estar mirándolos
Amor eterno,
E inolvidable
Tarde o temprano estaré contigo
Para seguir amándonos.

How I wish, oh,
That you were still alive
That your beloved eyes
Had never closed, so that I could see them
Eternal love,
Unforgettable love
Sooner or later I'll be with you
And we'll continue loving one another.

The injuries include a 12-year-old, all of whose fingers had to be amputated, and another young woman who required amputation of both legs. Ángel Uriel, age 13, is still in intensive care in Morelia's Children's Hospital: shrapnel wounds to his torso destroyed several of his organs.

Sunday, September 21, 2008: This morning's newspaper announced that Ángel Uriel died on Saturday. Qué en paz descanse.

La Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows), pictured with seven swords piercing her heart.

There have been nearly 3,000 drug-related assassinations in Mexico in 2008. Who will stop the violence? What cost must we pay?

May Our Lady of Sorrows console us all.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

20 de September de 2008
Circo Hermanos Atayde: Atayde Brothers Circus

Photo courtesy Circo Hmnos. Atayde.

The circus came to Morelia! Mexico Cooks! had to be there.

The Mexican Circo Hermanos Atayde (Atayde Brothers Circus) gave its first show in 1888. The founder, Aurelio Atayde Guízar, actually ran away from home as a child to join a circus. Later, Aurelio convinced his other brothers to come with him to found their own company. One hundred and twenty years later, the Circo Hermanos Atayde is the longest-running and most exciting circus in Mexico.

Under the Big Top, the circus roustabouts set up the ring for the opening act.

Getcher cotton candy! Getcher popcorn here! Georgia and Chuck were as excited as any kids.

Fifteen enormous tigers filled the ring to capacity.

We were seated less than six feet from the big cats. One of our companions got a special souvenir: a huge male tiger sprayed her trousers with urine! She was eager to see what her house cats would think of that memento when she got home.

Pink and purple lights played over the ring filled with the tigers. Beautifully cared for, healthy and well-muscled, these tigers respected their trainer and he definitely respected them.

This bactrian (two-humped) camel ate as much popcorn as it could while posing for photos.

First the juggler juggled silver clubs, then huge rubber balls, then seven ping-pong balls (with his mouth!), and ended with flying multi-colored straw hats.

The last of the dancing horses in the ring took a bow for the troupe.

The Ibarra brothers flew on the high trapeze, nearly 45 feet above the ring floor.

We waited till the last night to go to the circus this year, but we'll absolutely go again the next time the Big Top goes up. The circus! It was pure magic, pure entertainment, and pure delight.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

13 de September de 2008
Como México, No Hay Dos: David Lida in Mexico City

More than a few blocks off the tourist track: lunch in Tepito. Photo courtesy of Federico Gama.

Rachel Laudan, a singularly intelligent and well-spoken friend who lives in Guanajuato, says in her blog that Mexico Cooks! writes about "a dreamy Mexico". I've puzzled a bit over that statement, not knowing if her words are complimentary or if she thinks that I'm an innocent about how things really are here in México lindo y querido (beautiful and beloved Mexico). The truth is, I do think that at times, many things Mexican have a surrealistic, dream-like quality about them. It can be difficult to reconcile the several truths that exist in any one statement about la República mexicana.

Mexico Cooks! usually writes about aspects of culinary and cultural items of interest to Mexicophiles of various stripes. I've deliberately chosen–at least here on Mexico Cooks!–not to delve into the oftentimes problematic and frequently sublimely enigmatic components of Mexican sociopolitical daily life that also fascinate me.

David Lida, author of First Stop in the New World. Photo courtesy of Federico Gama.

However, a few months ago Mexico Cooks! met David Lida, in that blogospheric nouveau way that we've adopted here in cyberspace. I admired his blog and told him so. He admired Mexico Cooks! and told me so. David offered to send me a copy of his latest book, First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century. Would I kindly think about reviewing it? With some trepidation, I said, "Send it on." His blog posts were quirky and interesting, but a whole book about the odder side of Mexico City? How good could it be?

Viva Tepito! Photo courtesy of Federico Gama.

Ay ay ay, friends, the book is really good. It's really, really very good. It's three-thumbs-up good, it's six-stars-in-a-five-star-rating-system good. First Stop in the New World is as spot-on as it gets about Mexico City and about the Mexican character in general.

Lida, a native New Yorker, has lived in Mexico City for nearly 20 years. When he first arrived in Mexico, he spoke little Spanish and was more than a little fearful. Today, he knows Mexico City's down-and-dirty nuances like the back of his (unwashed) hand.

Although David Lida writes about a few typical tourist attractions, for the most part his essays provide insight into a Mexico City that tourists never see. Paradox by paradox, he delineates the Distrito Federal (the Federal District, seat of national government and in that respect analogous to the District of Columbia in the United States). A porno king is juxtaposed with Rigoberta Menchú; Lida's personal secuestro express (express kidnapping) is cheek by jowl with the story of Christ's Passion according to José Manuel Guillén. Lida compares La Central de Abastos (Mexico City's central wholesale produce market) with Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, and a 13-year-old homeless glue sniffer to the richest man in the world. It all works, drawing together Mexico City's ancient history and the capitalino's modern life at its most vibrant.

Competition, Tepito style. Photo courtesy of Federico Gama.

This is Mexico City at its grittiest. The details of the seamy side tell us that David Lida really "gets" what the Distrito Federal is all about. Any tourist can write a postcard home about the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the charming Coyoacán plaza, or Sanborn's Casa de Azulejos (House of Tiles). David Lida's knowledge of Mexico City starts on the floor of a taxicab and leads to Tepito, the capital of piratería (pirated goods) and home of La Santa Muerte (St. Death).

You'll have to ask the photographer about this photo. Photo courtesy of Federico Gama.

I'm not alone in loving First Stop in the New World. Here's what a few other reviewers have to say:

"It’s received some incredible reviews since it was published in June.
Reed Johnson of the Los Angeles Times called it “streetwise and
up-to-date … a charmingly idiosyncratic, yet remarkably comprehensive
portrait of one of the planet’s most misinterpreted urban spaces.” Mary
D’Ambrosio of the San Francisco Chronicle said, “As Joseph Mitchell
captured life on the margins of midcentury New York, Orhan Pamuk the
melancholia of 20th century Istanbul, and Martha Gellhorn civilian
suffering in Civil War Spain, Lida masterfully details the plight of a
struggling and repressed city.” And Richard B. Woodward of The New York
Times opined, “To test the quality of a travel book, it helps to ask:
Would you like to share a meal or a drink with the writer? On the
evidence of his book, which reveals him to be an expansive soul with
big eyes and an even bigger heart, Mr. Lida should expect calls from a lot of newly arrived strangers, including me.”

First Stop in the New World, book cover. Photo courtesy of David Lida.

So buy the book. You have to have it. Look in the book list, to the left on this page, and click on the book cover to be taken directly to Amazon.com. Don't wait, do it now!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here:
http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_cooks/2008/05/rinconcitos-esc.html

30 de August de 2008
Sin Maíz, No Hay País: Without Corn, There is No Country

Yumil Kaxob, the Mayan corn god.

Mexico is corn, corn is Mexico.   From prehistoric times, Mexico has produced corn to feed its people. Archaeological remains of early corn ears found in the Oaxaca Valley date as far back as 3450 B.C. Ears found in a cave in Puebla date to 2750 B.C.

Diego Rivera, Festival de Maíz, 1923-24.

Around 1500 B.C. the first evidence of large-scale land
clearing for milpas appears.
Indian farmers still grow corn in a milpa, (corn field),
planting a dozen crops together, including corn, melon, tomatoes, sweet potato, and varieties of squash and beans.
Some of these plants lack nutrients which others have in abundance,
resulting in a powerful, self-sustaining symbiosis between all
plants grown in the milpa. The milpa is therefore seen by some
as one of the most successful human inventions – alongside corn.¹

Listen as this group from Burgos, Tamaulipas, sings Las Cuatro Milpas, a song from the early 20th Century: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se4OcLbFuFg.

The song's sad verses recount the loss of a family's home and its milpas.

         "Only four cornfields remain
          Of the little ranch that was mine,
      And that little house, so white and beautiful
          Look how sad it is!

        Loan me your eyes, my brown woman,
          I'll carry them in my soul,
          And what do they see over there?
         The wreckage of that little house,
         So white and beautiful–
       It's so sad!

   The stables no longer shelter cattle,
        Everything is finished! Oh, Oh!
        Now there are no pigeons, no fragrant herbs,
      Everything is finished!

    Four cornfields that I loved so much,
      My mother took care of them, Oh!
If you could just see how lonely it is,
      Now there are no poppies and no herbs!"

The family-owned milpa is quickly disappearing from Mexico's flatlands and hillsides, giving way to agro-business corn farming. Today, Mexico's corn industry produces more than 24 million tons of white corn a year. Nearly half again that amount is imported from other countries. The imports are primarily yellow corn used to feed animals.

Woman blowing on corn as she puts it in the fire– so that the corn will not be afraid of the heat. Florentine Codex, Fray Bernardino Sahagún, third quarter 16th Century.

According to the Popul Vuh, the Mayan
creation story, humans were created from corn. Do you know the story?

At first, there were only the sky and the sea. There was not one bird, not one animal. There was not one mountain. The sky and the sea were alone with the Maker. There was no one to praise the Maker's names, there was no one to praise the Maker's glory.

Traditional milpa (cornfield) in the mountains of central Mexico.

The Maker said the word, "Earth," and the earth rose, like a mist from the sea. The Maker only thought of it, and there it was.

The Maker thought of mountains, and great mountains came. The Maker thought of trees, and trees grew on the land.

The Maker made the animals, the birds, and all the many creatures of the Earth.

Masa tricolor (three-color corn dough) ground by hand using the metate y mano.

The Maker wanted a being in his likeness. First the Maker used dirt to create a Human, but
made of mud and earth. It didn't look very good. Dry, it crumbled and wet, it softened. It looked lopsided and twisted. It only spoke nonsense. It could not multiply. So the Maker tried again.

Our Grandfather and Our Grandmother, the wise deities of the Sun and Moon, were summoned. "Determine if we should carve people from wood," commanded the Maker.

They answered,
"It is good to make your people with wood. They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply."

"So be it," replied the Maker. And as the words were spoken, it was done. The doll-people were made with faces carved from wood. They had children. But they had no blood, no sweat. They had nothing in their minds. They had no respect for the Maker or the creations of the Maker. They just walked about, accomplishing nothing.

"This is not what I had in mind," said the Maker, and destroyed the wooden people.

In Michoacán, unfilled tamales called corundas are eaten with churipo, a richly delicious beef and cabbage soup.

The Maker sat and contemplated the ears of corn, the kernels of the ears. The Maker thought, "What comes from this nourishing life will be my people," and the Maker ground the corn, ground the corn and formed Man and Woman. On the first day, when Man and Woman, formed from corn, awakened, they rose up praising the Maker's name and giving thanks for their lives. They bore children, they praised the Maker as they planted corn and tended the crop. They were made in the Maker's image, born from corn. The Maker and his people rejoiced in one another."

Stone image of Yumil Kaxob. Photo courtesy of Michael Martin.²

Imagine an entire people formed from corn, formed to honor the seed, the earth, the plant, the crop! Corn cannot grow without human intervention; ancient Mesoamerican humanity could not have existed without corn. Spiritual planting rituals continue to be celebrated in the milpas every chosen planting day.

Corn is still the staple food of Mexico. Nixtamal (dried dent corn soaked in water and cal, builder's lime) is corn's basic currency. Nixtamal is the starting point for the tortilla, the tamal, the corunda, the sope, the cup of atole, and a myriad of other masa-based preparations.

This poster advertises a conference about "Nuestro Maíz" (Our Corn) held on June 3, 2008 at the Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico.

As Mexico changes, corn production also changes. NAFTA and globalization have affected Mexico's corn industry, as has genetic modification of corn itself. Is corn food, or is corn fuel for vehicles? Argument rages about the future of Mexico's corn. There is, however, no doubt: sin maíz, no hay país. Without corn, there is no country.

1. http://www.philipcoppens.com/maize.html
2. http://www.pbase.com/pinemikey/image/85632845

14 de June de 2008