Category: Current Affairs

Popcorn, The Original Mexican Corn. Maíz Palomero, El Máiz Original de México

This article originally published in Mexico Cooks! on January 21, 2017. Due to world political events beyond our control, very few people initially read it. Welcome us back today, just as we welcome you back, with a second opportunity to learn about this urgently important movement in Mexico!

From the un-popped kernel to the fully popped microwave-able snack treat, popcorn's evolution is many millennia old. Popcorn was the first corn in Mexico, domesticated at least 5000 years before the common era. In other words, the cultivation of popcorn is at least 7,000 years old–and probably closer to 11,000 years old!

The non-profit organization Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, founded by my dear friend Rafael Mier, celebrated its first birthday on November 17, 2016. In the single year of its existence, the group has gathered together more than 153,000 followers on Facebook. Every one of these followers, people from all over Mexico, from Guatemala, and from other countries in Central and South America, is nervous about the decline of the tortilla, the possible loss of Mexico's native corns as well as those where they live, and the near-extinction of popcorn: Mexico's original corn. Here's the link to the group; please join! Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana

Update: just prior to publication of this article, membership in the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana jumped to over 200,000 members! There is plenty of room for more, join up!

Two of the first beautiful ears of maíz palomero toluqueño (popcorn from Toluca, Mexico) that the preservation team harvested in late September, 2016.

This basket is filled to overflowing with maíz palomero (Mexican popcorn), seed sourced and sown in the State of Mexico by my colleague maestro Rafael Mier and his team of assistants: harvested on September 25, 2016, a day to remember. The thrill of being just a tiny part of this project makes my heart skip a beat!

One ear of maíz palomero rests in the palm of my hand. The photo gives you a good idea of the size of these ears; compared to the size of USA-grown hybrid ears, these are tiny. USA growers have hybridized popcorn to give a large ear that yields more popcorn in a smaller planting area. Popcorn, however, has been hybridized, not genetically modified. There is NO GMO popcorn. Think otherwise? Google is your friend!

Obtaining the popcorn seed was the result of an exhaustive investigation in which he traveled to different small towns around Toluca (in years gone by, a tremendous source of Mexican popcorn) to obtain the grain. To Mier's great surprise, almost no one had kept any seed from former plantings. Popcorn truly was on the verge of extinction. Mier explained, "The United States is the leader in popcorn production, the popcorn business in that country has dedicated itself hugely to the grain’s development. Mexico could have the power. We are only lacking programs that push a viable cultivation of the varieties that are in Toluca, Chihuahua, and Jalisco. With those, we could satisfy the national demand.”

Here's Mexico Cooks! as part of the very first harvest of Mexican-grown popcorn in the grand project of saving this original Mexican corn from extinction. I was so, so excited to peel back the green husks of this ear of popcorn, harvested just moments earlier, and see the tiny ears grown from 50-year-old seed. Yes! CIMMYT (International Maize and White Improvement), an international seed bank with research facilities near Mexico City, gave Maestro Rafael enough banked, refrigerated seed to plant several small parcelas (sections of land) with popcorn.

These tiny dehydrated olotes (corn cobs)–each measures two to three inches long–were discovered in 1965 in the cave near Coxcatlán, Puebla, and are on daily exhibit at the Tehuacán (Puebla) Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum). For more information about this cave and its agricultural and archeological importance, please see Mexico Cooks!' article dated October 1, 2016. These corn cobs are carbon-dated to approximately 5,000 B.C.E. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

One huge pot filled with popcorn, a direct descendent of Mexico's very first corn: maíz palomero (popcorn). Today, many thousands of years after Mexico's great-great-a thousand times-great-grandparents domesticated maíz palomero, 95% of all popcorn grows north of the Mexican border. Popcorn has crossed the border into the United States of America and become one of the USA's most popular exports. Photo courtesy Lori Lange.

Popcorn is a simple food that we associate with snacking and with moments of entertainment. Who doesn’t want some buttered, salted popcorn at the movies, or while enjoying a day at the fair? Long ago in what is now Mexico, popcorn was already a treat: they were called “corn flowers” and according to the 16th century chronicles of Fray Bernadino de Sahagún, popcorn was sold in what is now Mexico’s plazas and was used as necklaces and in rituals. People did eat it, of course, but its consumption was not recreation-based.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBgT62f3W4&w=560&h=315]
In this beautiful and evocative video, Maestro Rafael explains what has happened to Mexico's maíz palomero and what he and others, including myself, are doing to save Mexican popcorn from extinction. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll be able to watch the process of planting and harvest. Video courtesy Rafael Mier.

Despite the fact that Mexico is the country of origin of all corns, including popcorn, less than 2% of the popcorn eaten in Mexico today is grown here. The enormous majority comes from the United States of America, with a much smaller amount imported from Argentina. “In Mexico, over time we’ve lost the planting of this corn,” comments Rafael Mier. “Sowing popcorn is difficult work now because our native seed is all but extinct,” he says. He and his team are working every day to reverse Mexican popcorn's slide into extinction. Photo: invitation to the November 17, 2016 public presentation of the popcorn project.

The best way to get involved in this project is to join the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana. If you'd rather not use Facebook, subscribe to Mexico Cooks!. How? Look at the right-hand side of this page: you'll see a box titled, Share Mexico Cooks with Your Friends. In that box, there's a link called, "Subscribe to this blog's feed". Click on that, then follow the simple instructions. Mexico Cooks! will arrive in your email inbox every Saturday morning at about ten o'clock.

We look forward to having you as part of the Mexican popcorn and tortilla team! During 2017, Mexico Cooks!' 11th consecutive year on line, you'll see a lot more about what we're doing in this initiative.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

4 de March de 2017
Mexico Cooks! Takes a Short Break :: Mexico Cooks! Toma un Descansito

El Maizal (the corn field), 1955. Painter: Gerardo Murillo, AKA Dr. Atl.

Dear readers, the time between November 8, 2016 and today has taken a toll on our world, no matter where each of us stands along the political spectrum. Mexico Cooks! has decided to take a month away from writing about Mexican food in order to devote more time to some other important cross-border issues.

While I'm away, please look around for informative and fun articles both old and new in the Mexico Cooks! archives. There are literally hundreds to read.

I'll be back here on March 4, 2017, and thank you for your understanding. I look forward to seeing all of you then.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

25 de February de 2017
Mexico Cooks! Takes a Short Break :: Mexico Cooks! Toma un Descansito

Molinillos (hand-held wooden chocolate frothers), Mercado de Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Dear readers, the time between November 8, 2016 and today has taken a toll on our world, no matter where each of us stands along the political spectrum. Mexico Cooks! has decided to take a month away from writing about Mexican food in order to devote more time to some other important cross-border issues.

While I'm away, please look around for informative and fun articles both old and new in the Mexico Cooks! archives. There are literally hundreds to read.

I'll be back here on March 4, 2017, and thank you for your understanding. I look forward to seeing all of you then.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

18 de February de 2017
Popcorn, The Original Mexican Corn. Maíz Palomero, El Máiz Original de México.

From the un-popped kernel to the fully popped microwave-able snack treat, popcorn's evolution is many millennia old. Popcorn was the first corn in Mexico, domesticated at least 5000 years before the common era. In other words, the cultivation of popcorn is at least 7,000 years old–and probably closer to 11,000 years old!

The non-profit organization Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana, founded by my dear friend Rafael Mier, celebrated its first birthday on November 17, 2016. In the single year of its existence, the group has gathered together more than 153,000 followers on Facebook. Every one of these followers, people from all over Mexico, from Guatemala, and from other countries in Central and South America, is nervous about the decline of the tortilla, the possible loss of Mexico's native corns as well as those where they live, and the near-extinction of popcorn: Mexico's original corn. Here's the link to the group; please join! Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana

Update: just prior to publication of this article, membership in the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana jumped to over 200,000 members! There is plenty of room for more, join up!

Two of the first beautiful ears of maíz palomero toluqueño (popcorn from Toluca, Mexico) that the preservation team harvested in late September, 2016.

This basket is filled to overflowing with maíz palomero (Mexican popcorn), seed sourced and sown in the State of Mexico by my colleague maestro Rafael Mier and his team of assistants: harvested on September 25, 2016, a day to remember. The thrill of being just a tiny part of this project makes my heart skip a beat!

One ear of maíz palomero rests in the palm of my hand. The photo gives you a good idea of the size of these ears; compared to the size of USA-grown hybrid ears, these are tiny. USA growers have hybridized popcorn to give a large ear that yields more popcorn in a smaller planting area. Popcorn, however, has been hybridized, not genetically modified. There is NO GMO popcorn. Think otherwise? Google is your friend!

Obtaining the popcorn seed was the result of an exhaustive investigation in which he traveled to different small towns around Toluca (in years gone by, a tremendous source of Mexican popcorn) to obtain the grain. To Mier's great surprise, almost no one had kept any seed from former plantings. Popcorn truly was on the verge of extinction. Mier explained, "The United States is the leader in popcorn production, the popcorn business in that country has dedicated itself hugely to the grain’s development. Mexico could have the power. We are only lacking programs that push a viable cultivation of the varieties that are in Toluca, Chihuahua, and Jalisco. With those, we could satisfy the national demand.”

Here's Mexico Cooks! as part of the very first harvest of Mexican-grown popcorn in the grand project of saving this original Mexican corn from extinction. I was so, so excited to peel back the green husks of this ear of popcorn, harvested just moments earlier, and see the tiny ears grown from 50-year-old seed. Yes! CIMMYT (International Maize and White Improvement), an international seed bank with research facilities near Mexico City, gave Maestro Rafael enough banked, refrigerated seed to plant several small parcelas (sections of land) with popcorn.

These tiny dehydrated olotes (corn cobs)–each measures two to three inches long–were discovered in 1965 in the cave near Coxcatlán, Puebla, and are on daily exhibit at the Tehuacán (Puebla) Museo del Maíz (Corn Museum). For more information about this cave and its agricultural and archeological importance, please see Mexico Cooks!' article dated October 1, 2016. These corn cobs are carbon-dated to approximately 5,000 B.C.E. All photos copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

One huge pot filled with popcorn, a direct descendent of Mexico's very first corn: maíz palomero (popcorn). Today, many thousands of years after Mexico's great-great-a thousand times-great-grandparents domesticated maíz palomero, 95% of all popcorn grows north of the Mexican border. Popcorn has crossed the border into the United States of America and become one of the USA's most popular exports. Photo courtesy Lori Lange.

Popcorn is a simple food that we associate with snacking and with moments of entertainment. Who doesn’t want some buttered, salted popcorn at the movies, or while enjoying a day at the fair? Long ago in what is now Mexico, popcorn was already a treat: they were called “corn flowers” and according to the 16th century chronicles of Fray Bernadino de Sahagún, popcorn was sold in what is now Mexico’s plazas and was used as necklaces and in rituals. People did eat it, of course, but its consumption was not recreation-based.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBgT62f3W4&w=560&h=315]
In this beautiful and evocative video, Maestro Rafael explains what has happened to Mexico's maíz palomero and what he and others, including myself, are doing to save Mexican popcorn from extinction. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll be able to watch the process of planting and harvest. Video courtesy Rafael Mier.

Despite the fact that Mexico is the country of origin of all corns, including popcorn, less than 2% of the popcorn eaten in Mexico today is grown here. The enormous majority comes from the United States of America, with a much smaller amount imported from Argentina. “In Mexico, over time we’ve lost the planting of this corn,” comments Rafael Mier. “Sowing popcorn is difficult work now because our native seed is all but extinct,” he says. He and his team are working every day to reverse Mexican popcorn's slide into extinction. Photo: invitation to the November 17, 2016 public presentation of the popcorn project.

The best way to get involved in this project is to join the Facebook group Tortilla de Maíz Mexicana. If you'd rather not use Facebook, subscribe to Mexico Cooks!. How? Look at the right-hand side of this page: you'll see a box titled, Share Mexico Cooks with Your Friends. In that box, there's a link called, "Subscribe to this blog's feed". Click on that, then follow the simple instructions. Mexico Cooks! will arrive in your email inbox every Saturday morning at about ten o'clock.

We look forward to having you as part of the Mexican popcorn and tortilla team! During 2017, Mexico Cooks!' 11th consecutive year on line, you'll see a lot more about what we're doing in this initiative.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

21 de January de 2017
Costumbres de Año Nuevo en México :: New Year’s Rituals in Mexico

In Mexico and some other Latin American countries, women wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve to bring good luck and wealth in the year to come. Wearing red underwear indicates a New Year's wish for an exciting love interest! Whatever the color, be sure your unmentionables for Año Nuevo are newly purchased–recycling a former year's undies won't do the trick!

Superstition or not, many here in Mexico have the custom of many ritos del Año Nuevo (New Year's rituals). Some rituals include foods, others prescribe certain clothing, and still others warrant attention for their religious interest.

As the clock strikes midnight to ring out the old and ring in the New Year, it's common to eat twelve grapes–one at each ding, one at each dong of the bell. While eating the grapes, you make a personal wish for each one you consume, welcoming the new year that's beginning. Mexico Cooks! finds that it's helpful to write down the twelve wishes so as not to forget one or choke in the rush to swallow the grapes before the clock finishes striking the hour!

Sweep all the rooms of your house, your front steps, and the street in front of your house to remove all traces of the old year. Some people put 12 gold coins outside–to be swept into the house after the house is swept clean. The coins are to invite money and other abundance to come into the home. Photo courtesy Jeff Trotter.

Eating a tablespoonful of cooked lentils on New Year's Eve is said to bring prosperity and fortune. You can also give raw lentil as a gift–just a handful–with the same wish for abundance for family and friends.

On a small piece of paper, write down the undesirable habits and customs you'd like to let go of in the New Year that's just starting. Burn the paper, then follow through with the changes!

Choose three stones that symbolize health, love, and money. Put them in a place where you will see them every day.

Light candles: blue for peace, yellow for abundance, red for love, green for health, white for spirituality, and orange for intelligence.

Spill clean water on the sidewalk in front of your house as the clock rings in the New Year. Your house will be purified and all tears will be washed away.

To have money for your needs all year, have some bills in your hand or in your pocket to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Some people fold up the money and put it in their shoes!

Take your suitcase for a walk. Legend is that the farther you walk with your suitcase, the farther you'll travel. Several New Year's Eves ago, Mexico Cooks! and a few friends celebrated by walking our suitcases around the block, and we all traveled far and wide during the new year that followed.

Mexico Cooks! wishes all of you a muy Próspero Año Nuevo–and especially wishes that your red underwear brings you (or keeps you) the love of family, friends, and that special someone.

We'll see you right here throughout 2017–celebrating TEN YEARS of the joy of sharing Mexico' cuisines and cultures with all of you.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

31 de December de 2016
Do You Call It a Manger Scene? A Creche? In Mexico, It’s a Nacimiento.

A Christmas tree may be the central focus of your home decoration during this joyous season of the Christian year. In most parts of Mexico, though, the Christmas tree is a fairly recent import and the primary focus of the holiday is still on the nacimiento (manger scene, creche, or nativity scene).

One of Mexico Cooks!' biggest delights every late November and early December is shopping for Christmas–not hunting for gifts, but rather on the lookout for new items to place in our nacimiento (manger scene). Truth be told, we have five nacimientos–or maybe six–that come out each Christmas season, but only one of them keeps growing every year.

The tiny figures in this nacimiento are made of clay; the choza (hut) is made of wood. The shepherds and angels have distinctive faces; no two are alike. One shepherd carries firewood, another a tray of pan dulce (sweet breads), a third has a little bird in his hands. The tallest figures measure only three inches high. According to la leyenda navideña (the Christmas legend), even the animals in the stable bowed down to worship the Niño Dios (Baby Jesus).

The Niño Dios is not usually placed in the pesebre (manger) until the night of December 24. The Niño Dios for the clay nacimiento above is just over an inch long and is portrayed sleeping on his stomach with his tiny knees drawn up under him, just like a real infant. This entire nacimiento was made about 35 years ago in Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico.

Mexican households traditionally pass the figures for their nacimientos down through the family; the figures begin to look a little tattered after traveling from great-great-grandparents to several subsequent generations, but no one minds. In fact, each figure holds loving family memories and is the precious repository of years of 'remember when…?''. No one cares that the Virgin Mary's gown is chipped around the hem or that St. Joseph is missing an arm; remembering how the years-ago newest baby, now 32 and with a baby of his own, teethed on the Virgin's dress or how a long-deceased visiting aunt's dog bit off St. Joseph's arm is cause for a family's nostalgic laughter.

Nacimiento en vivo (living nativity scene), Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. In 13th century Italy, St. Francis of Assisi was the first to be inspired to re-enact the birth of Christ. The first nacimiento was presented with living creatures: the oxen, the donkey, and the Holy Family. Even today in hundreds of Mexican communities, you'll see living manger scenes.

Holy Family, 18th century Italy. The first nativity figures, made of clay, were created in 15th century Naples and their use spread rapidly throughout Italy and Spain. In Spain, the early figural groups were called 'Belenes' (Bethlehems).

A few weeks before Christmas, my tiny nacimiento de plomo (manger scene with lead figures, none over four inches high) comes out of yearlong storage. The wee village houses are made of cardboard and hand-painted; each has snow on its roof and a little tree in front. You might well ask what the figures in the photo represent: Sr. San José (St. Joseph, who in Mexico always wears green and gold) leads the donkey carrying la Virgen María (the Virgin Mary) on their trek to Belén (Bethlehem). We put these figures out earliest and move them a bit closer to Bethlehem every day. This nacimiento is the one that grows each year; I have added many, many figures to the original few. This year I expect the total number of figures to rise to well over 200.

Click on this photo from the early years of my nacimiento and you will see that the Holy Family has not yet arrived in Bethlehem; the choza is empty and St. Joseph's staff is just barely visible in the lower right-hand corner. Click to enlarge the photo to better see the figures in the nacimiento: gamboling sheep, birds of all kinds, shepherds, shepherdesses, St. Charbel, an angel, and Our Lady of Guadalupe are all ready to receive the Niño Dios (Baby Jesus). Notice the upright red figure at the right, standing in the Spanish moss: that's Satanás (you know), who is always present in a Mexican nacimiento to remind us that although the birth of Jesus offers love and the possibility of redemption to the world, sin and evil are always present.

Detail of the lead figures in my ever-growing nacimiento. To the left is a well (with doves) and a woman coming to draw water; to the right is an arriero (donkey-herder) giving his stubborn little donkey what-for. No matter how many figures are included, the central figures in any nacimiento are the Holy Family (St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and the Baby Jesus). In Mexico, those three are collectively known as el misterio (the mystery).

A very small portion of one of the largest nacimientos on display in Mexico City. It measures more than 700 square meters and includes thousands of figures. They include everything you can think of and some things that would never occur to you: a butcher shop, a running stream and a waterfall, sleeping peasants, and washerwomen. A nacimiento can include all of the important stories of the Bible, from Genesis to the Resurrection, as well as figures representing daily life–both today's life in Mexico and life at the time of Jesus's birth. Photo courtesy El Universal.

Papel roca (hand-painted paper for decorating a nacimiento), a choza (little hut), and two kinds of moss for sale in this booth at the Guadalajara tianguis navideño (Christmas market). Over the course of years, Mexico Cooks! has purchased figures of a miniature pre-Hispanic loinclothed warrior, a tiny shoemaker working at his bench, a wee man sawing firewood, and a shepherd standing under a tree while holding a lamb. The shepherd's tree looks exactly like a stalk of broccoli and makes me smile each time I look at it.

Where in Mexico can you buy figures for your nacimiento? Every city and town has a market where, for about a month between the end of November and the first week in January, a large number of vendors offer items especially for Christmas. Some larger cities, like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Morelia, and others, offer several tianguis navideños (Christmas markets) where literally thousands of figures of every size are for sale. A few years ago, we found a tiny figure of the seated Virgin Mary, one breast partially exposed as she nurses the Niño Dios, who lies nestled in her arms. It's the only one like it that we have ever seen.

This shepherd keeps watch over his cook-fire in the Mexico Cooks! nacimiento. He's about three inches long from head to toe; the base of the fire is about the same length; the lead props for the pot are about two inches high.

This booth at a tianguis navideño in Guadalajara offers Niños Dios in every possible size, from tiny ones measuring less than three inches long to babies the size of a two-year-old child. In Mexico City's Centro Histórico, Calle Talavera is an entire street devoted to shops specializing in clothing for your Niño Dios. The nacimiento is traditionally displayed until February 2 (Candlemas Day), when the Niño Dios is gently taken out of the pesebre in a special ceremony called the levantamiento (raising). The nacimiento is then carefully stored away until the following December.

The choza (hut) in the Mexico Cooks! nacimiento. People and animals are waiting for the arrival of the Mary and Joseph, and for the birth of the Christ Child. Click on any photo for a larger view. In addition to the original lead figures, we now have indigenous figures found in a Mexico City flea market, antique lead animal figures (the rabbit behind the sleeping lamb, the little brown dog behind the kneeling shepherd), finely detailed santons from a trip to Provence, modern resin figures of every description, and many more. Two hundred more–and counting!

Piles of gold and silver glitter cardboard stars of Bethlehem, for sale at the tianguis navideño in southern Mexico City's Mercado Mixcoac.

At another tianguis navideño, an assortment of clay figures for your nacimiento: villagers, chickens, and vendors. Size and scale don't matter: you'll find crocodiles the size of a soft drink can and elephants no bigger than your little finger. Both will work equally well in your nacimiento.

Giant flamingos go right along with burritas (little donkeys). Why not?

Each traditional figure in a nacimiento is symbolic of a particular value. For example, the choza (the little hut) represents humility and simplicity. Moss represents humility–it's something that everyone steps on. The donkey represents the most humble animal in all creation, chosen to carry the pregnant Virgin Mary. The star of Bethlehem represents renewal and unending light.

Which diablito (little devil) tempts you most, the one with the money bag or the one with the booze?

How many shepherds do you want? This annual tianguis navideño booth has hundreds, and in sizes ranging from an inch to well over a foot tall.

It wouldn't be a Mexican nacimiento without tortillas! You wouldn't want the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) to go hungry, would you?

A new addition for Navidad 2016: a dear friend knows my nacimiento passion and found these antique turkeys for me. The bigger one is just 3" from beak to tail. They'll fit right in with the other 200-plus figures!

This Christmas, Mexico Cooks! wishes you all the blessings of the season. Whatever your faith, we hope you enjoy this peek at the nacimiento, one of Mexico's lasting traditions.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

24 de December de 2016
The Many Images of Our Lady of Guadalupe :: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Imágenes

The actual tilma (cape-like garment made of woven maguey cactus fiber) worn by San Juan Diego in December 1531. The image is imprinted on the fabric; no science has been able to determine the source of the image. The framed tilma hangs over the main altar at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Mexico City.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsT0CgsrIzo&w=560&h=315]
Listen as this group sings La Guadalupana, one of the most popular of Mexico's many traditional songs honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. The lyrics tell the story of her apparition to Juan Diego on the now-Mexico City hill called Tepeyac, and also emphasize the honor felt by Mexicans that she appeared here.

The annual feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) falls on December 12–in 2016, that's this coming Monday. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is Mexico's patron saint, and her image adorns churches and altars, house facades and interiors, taxis, private cars, and buses, bull rings and gambling dens, restaurants and houses of ill repute. The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, la Basílica, is a place of extraordinary vitality and celebration. On major festival days such as the anniversary of the apparition on December 12th, the atmosphere of devotion created by several million pilgrims is truly electrifying. Yes, several million go to "echarle una visita a la Morenita" (pay a visit to the little brown virgin) during the 24 hours of her feast day. On ordinary days, Masses are offered nearly every hour to the assembled faithful.

Statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe for sale at the many, many souvenir booths outside the Basílica. Statues range in size from two or three inches tall to life-size.

The enormous Basílica of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City is the second most visited pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere–second only to the Vatican. Its location, on the hill of Tepeyac, was a place of great sanctity long before the arrival of Christianity in the New World. In pre-Hispanic times, Tepeyac had been crowned with a temple dedicated to an earth and fertility goddess called Tonantzin, the Mother of the Gods. Tonantzin was a virgin goddess associated with the moon, like Our Lady of Guadalupe who usurped her shrine.

Our Lady of Guadalupe tattoo.

There's a saying in Mexico: "No todos somos católicos, pero todos somos guadalupanos." (We may not all be Catholics, but we are all devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.)

Read the full story of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by fresh roasted peanuts, Morelia, Michoacán. November 2009.

Holy water bottles in rainbow colors of plastic, for sale at the booths just outside the Basílica.

Art casket, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Basílica.

A late 18th or early 19th century tiny painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in its original metal frame. It measures approximately 2" by 1.5" and is part of Mexico Cooks!' small collection of art related to her.

Modern but primitive folk art depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This wall art, advertising for a Los Angeles, California kitchen cabinet business, shows Our Lady of Guadalupe embracing Pope John Paul II, who was devoted to her. This image is reproduced as wall art, advertising, calendars, statues of all sizes, and pictures to hang on the wall. Nearly 15 years after his death, Mexico continues to feel a deep connection to Pope John Paul II. Photo courtesy OnBeing.org.

Portrait of Monseñor Diego Monroy, rector of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. The painting is part of Monseñor Monroy's private collection.

A late 19th/early 20th century tip tray, drilled at the top to hang on a wall. The tray measures approximately 6" high.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, hand embroidered on silk with pearlized tiny beads, roses, and sequins. Her face and hands, and the cherub at her feet, are hand-painted celluloid. This piece was originally the ceremonial capote de paseo (shoulder piece) of a bullfighter's traje de luces (suit of lights). It is the vestige of an 18th century long cape worn during the bullfighter's promenade into the ring. When worn, this curved item fit over the bullfighter's left shoulder as a sort of epaulet. This particular piece was sewn into an inverted cone for display.

In 1810, Padre Miguel Hidalgo carried this banner to lead the struggle for Mexico's independence from Spain.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, lovely image painted on a cement wall in Morelia, Michoacán.

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) is truly the heart and soul of Mexico. When you visit Mexico City, the Básilica is a must-see. Let me know when you'll be here and I'll go with you.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here to see new information: Tours

10 de December de 2016
In Mexico, Christmas Food is All About Tamales!

Tamales Oaxaca style, wrapped in banana leaves. These tamales, prepared in the kitchen at Restaurante Las 15 Letras in Oaxaca, were filled with armadillo meat. They were absolutely delicious.

When I was a child, my mother would sometimes buy a glass jar (I have conveniently forgotten the brand name) packed with what we called "hot tamales". Wrapped individually in parchment paper, covered in a thin, brackish, tomato-y fluid, these slippery travesties were all I knew of tamales until I moved to Mexico.

The first Christmas season I that I lived in this country, nearly 36 years ago, my neighbor from across the street came to my door to deliver a dozen of her finest home-made tamales,fresh from the tamalera (tamales steamer). I knew enough of Mexican culture to understand that to refuse them would be an irreparable insult, but I also was guilty of what I now know as contempt prior to investigation. I did not want tamales. The memory of those childhood tamales was disgusting. I smiled and thanked her as graciously as I could.

"Pruébalos ya!" she prodded. "Taste them now!" With some hesitation I reached for a plate from the shelf, a fork from the drawer (delay, delay) and unwrapped the steaming corn husk wrapper from a plump tamal she said was filled with pork meat and red chile. One bite and I was an instant convert. My delighted grin told her everything she wanted to know. She went home satisfied, wiping her hands on her apron. I downed two more tamales as soon as she was out of sight. More than 25 years later, I haven't stopped loving them.

A three-compartment tamalera: bottom left, Oaxaca-style tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Right, central Mexico-style tamales, wrapped in corn husks.

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUWjZTAWMQU&w=350&h=315]
The 'official' voice of the ubiquitous Mexico City tamales oaxaqueños vendors. One of these carts visits our street every night at about ten o'clock.

Christmas in Mexico is a time for special festive foods. More tamales than any other food come from the Christmas kitchen. Tamales of pork, beef or chicken with spicy red chile, tamales of rajas con queso (strips of roasted poblano chiles with cheese), and sweet pineapple ones, each with a single raisin pressed into the masa (dough), pour in a steady, steaming torrent from kitchen after kitchen.

I asked my next door neighbor what she's making for Christmas Eve dinner. "Pues, tamales,que más," she answered. "Well, tamales, what else!"

I asked the woman who cleans my house. "Pues, tamales, que más!"

I asked the woman who cuts my hair. "Pues, tamales, que más!"

And my handyman. "What's your wife making to eat for Christmas Eve, Jorge?"

I bet by now you know what he replied. "Pues,tamales, que más?"

Obviously there are other things eaten on Christmas Eve in Mexico. Some folks feast on bacalao a la vizcaína (dried salt codfish stewed with tomatoes, capers, olives, and potatoes). Some women proudly carry huge clay cazuelas (rustic casserole dishes) of mole poblano con guajolote (turkey in a complex, rich sauce of chiles, toasted spices, and chocolate, thickened with ground tortillas) to their festive table. Some brew enormous ollas (pots) of menudo (tripe and cow's foot soup) or pozole (a hearty soup of prepared corn, chiles, pork meat, and condiments) for their special Christmas Eve meal, traditionally served late on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), after the Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass).

As an exceptional treat, we're sharing part of a photo essay by my good friend Rolly Brook. The photo essay is all about tamales, their ingredients and preparation. Rolly's friend doña Martha cooks a whole pig head for her tamales; many cooks prefer to use maciza—the solid meat from the leg. Either way, the end result is a marvelous Christmas treat.

Doña Martha Prepares Tamales for Christmas

Doña Martha begins to take the meat off the cooked pig head.

Doña Martha mixes the shredded meat from the pig head into the pot of chile colorado (red chile that she prepared earlier in the day).

Doña Martha needs a strong arm to beat lard into the prepared corn for the masa. The lard and ground corn must be beaten together until the mixture is fluffy.

Doña Martha's daughter spreads masa (corn dough) on the prepared hojas de maíz (corn husks).

Corn husks spread with masa, ready to be filled.

Doña Martha fills each masa-spread corn husk with meat and chile colorado.

Folding the hojas de maíz is an assembly-line process involving the whole family.

Tamales in the tamalera, ready to be steamed. Steaming takes an hour or so.

The photos only show part of the process of making tamales. You can access Rolly's entire photo essay on his website. Rolly graciously allowed Mexico Cooks! the use of his wonderful pictures. Although Rolly is now having his Christmas tamales in heaven, his website is permanently on line for the benefit of anyone who needs almost any information about life in Mexico.

Can we finish all these tamales at one sitting? My friends and neighbors prepare hundreds of them with leftovers in mind. Here's how to reheat tamales so they're even better than when they first came out of the steamer.

Recalentados (Reheated Tamales)

Over a medium flame, pre-heat an ungreased comal (griddle) or heavy skillet. Put the tamales to reheat in a single layer, still in their corn husk wrappers. Let them toast, turning them over and over until the corn husks are dark golden brown, nearly black. Just when you think they're going to burn, take them off the heat and peel the husks away. The tamales will be slightly golden, a little crunchy on the edges, and absolutely out of this world delicious.

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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3 de December de 2016
Holiday Gift Recommendations from Mexico Cooks!: Books About Mexico That You’ll Love

During the course of the last year, Mexico Cooks! has received several new books about Mexico's people, places and things. You can see that my desk is stacked up–and this is just the short stack! It's time for holiday giving, and the Mexico-phile on your gift list would definitely enjoy one of these. In alphabetical order by last name of author, they are:

Many of you may already know Suzanne Barbezat, who writes extensively about Mexico travel for About.com. Suzanne is based in Oaxaca and has years of experience as a travel and cultural expert, particularly in the southern part of Mexico. She's taken her cultural expertise one step further–and a giant step, at that–with her newly minted book Frida Kahlo at Home. Photo courtesy Suzanne Barbezat.

Fully illustrated in both color and black and white, the book features Suzanne's writing, photos of Frida's paintings together with archive images and Kahlo family photographs, many objects and artifacts that the artist collected, as well as photographs of the surrounding Mexico City landscape to provide an insight into how these places shaped this much-loved artist and how the homes and streetscapes of her life and travels relate to and shape her work. Even though books about Frida Kahlo abound, Suzanne brings a fresh look at the artist in her hogar–her own home. New insights, fresh research, gorgeous photography, and a beautiful format make Frida at Home the perfect gift for any Frida fan.

Sheri Brautigam is extraordinarily well-versed in regional Mexican textiles. She's recently written Textile Fiestas of Mexico, a lovely and comprehensive book about the textiles fairs of several of those regions, including Chiapas, Michoacán, Puebla, and Oaxaca, among others. Photo courtesy Norma Schafer.

It's exciting to read this compendium of textile fiestas and shopping; the book is subtitled A Traveler's Guide to Celebrations, Markets, and Smart Shopping and Sheri is as good as her word in sharing wonderful information with the reader. Sheri was at one time a well-known textile designer and collector and now sells fabulous things from her online Etsy shop, Living Textiles. Whether you want to go to a tempting textile sale in Michoacán, an indigenous market in Oaxaca, or a fair in the state of Chiapas, her new book will get you to some of the top textile venues in Mexico. The photos are terrific for studying the variety of hand-woven fabrics used in all sorts of indigenous dress. Regional differences in dyes, weaving, and dress are well-covered, and Sheri offers wise advice on everything from bargaining to laundering your acquisitions. This is a great starter book for sourcing textiles, both wearable and decorative, and I recommend it highly.

Meet Lydia Carey, the author of La Roma, the excellent new guide to Mexico City's Colonia Roma. La Roma (the neighborhood) is one of the truly hot spots in the city, filled with restaurants (and more restaurants!), galleries, street food, cantinas, pulquerías, mezcalerías, cozy little (and not so little) hotels, and up-to-the-minute modern shops. Lydia is a relative newcomer to the city and I was quite frankly surprised and delighted by the extraordinary scope of her research. She's done a superb job of scouting out the most interesting, most fun, most delicious of everything La Roma has to offer. If you're coming to Mexico City and want to explore the trendiest part of the city, you will want–nay, you will NEED this book. The book is bilingual English and Spanish–the cover means "Come right in!"

La Roma is organized by sections of the colonia (neighborhood), which makes it very easy to look up or walk the area, section by section, to see just what interests you. Whether you need a shoe repaired, need a street stand recommendation for tacos, want to buy wonderful fresh-baked bread, or you're thinking of buying a home, La Roma will point you in the right direction. It's terrific to have a bilingual guidebook dedicated to one of Mexico City's brightest and most entertaining colonias. Two thumbs up for Lydia and her book La Roma!

Lesley Téllez is the author of Eat Mexico, a book about the joys of Mexico City market stalls, food on the street, and more, featuring Lesley's updated recipes for classic street food and home cooking favorites. Lesley's personal story is about discovering her own roots; born in California into a Mexican-American family and raised on Cal-Mex food, Lesley moved to Mexico City when her husband's work brought him here in 2009. She quickly discovered that she knew almost nothing about the food of Mexico's interior, took a short course at a local cooking school, and started her own blog and her own Mexican food-oriented tour company. Lesley lived and wrote in Mexico City for about four years; when she moved back to the USA in 2013, she produced the book Eat Mexico. From her home in Queens, New York, she continues to direct a group of tour guides in Mexico. Photo courtesy Lesley Téllez.

Lesley's most impressive accomplishment is her zero-to-sixty zoom from neophyte to self-proclaimed expert. She writes with style, although not 100% accuracy, about a most complex subject. Her recipes look quite authentic to the casual observer, although many are simplified for cooks who might not have access to standard Mexican ingredients. Certainly we can't all follow Diana Kennedy's traditional methods and recipes that all but instruct us, "first you plant your corn". A good example of that simplification is her suggestion to use masa harina (corn flour) or even cornstarch to thicken atole (a thick hot drink with a corn masa [dough] base). It seems logical that not everyone who wants to prepare corn-based recipes has access to raw tortilla dough, and masa harina might well work as a short-cut thickener, but thickening atole with cornstarch gives the finished drink an unpleasant slippery texture; I wouldn't recommend that short cut. There are a number of similar conveniences in the recipes, created with the best of intentions for the modern home cook. Overall, Eat Mexico is a well-designed, well-organized cookbook that will get the user into the home kitchen to make Mexican food. It will be a start in learning about commonly eaten foods in Mexico City and its surroundings.

It's a month before the year-end holidays! You have plenty of time to order any or ALL of these books as gifts for that special someone on your list–and maybe even an extra of each for yourself. Enjoy!

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26 de November de 2016
The Spiritual Component of the Day/Night of the Dead in Mexico :: La Parte Espiritual del Día y Noche de Muertos en México

Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
…from a tombstone

What is death? We know its first symptoms: the heart stops pumping, breath and brain activity stop. We know death's look and feel: a still, cold body from which the spirit has fled. The orphan and widow know death's sorrow, the priest knows the liturgy of the departed and the prayers to assuage the pain of those left to mourn. But in most English-speaking countries, death and the living are not friends. We the living look away from our mortality, we talk of the terminally ill in terms of 'if anything happens', not 'when she dies'. We hang the crepe, we cover the mirrors, we say the beads, and some of us fling ourselves sobbing upon the carefully disguised casket as it is lowered into the Astroturf-lined grave.

Octavio Paz, Mexico City's Nobel Laureate poet and essayist who died in 1998, is famously quoted as saying, "In New York, Paris, and London, the word death is never mentioned, because it burns the lips."

Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery), Mexico Cooks! photo. These fellows sing to la Descarnada (the fleshless woman) on November 2, 2009.

In Mexico, on the contrary, every day is a dance with death. Death is a woman who has a numerous affectionate and humorous nicknames: la Huesuda (the bony woman), la Seria (the serious woman), la Novia Fiel (the faithful bride), la Igualadora (the equalizer), la Dientona (the toothy woman), la Pelona (the bald woman), la Patrona (the boss lady), and a hundred more. She's always here, just around the next corner or maybe right over there, behind that pillar. She waits with patience, until later today or until twelve o'clock next Thursday, or until sometime next year–but when it's your time to go, she's right there, ready to dance away with you at her side.

November 2013 altar to La Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Sta. Ana Chapirito (near Pátzcuaro), Michoacán. Devotees of this deathly apparition say that her cult has existed since before the Spanish arrived in Mexico.

In Mexico, death is also in the midst of life. We see our dead, alive as you and me, each November, when we wait at our cemeteries for those who have gone before to come home, if only for a night. That, in a nutshell, is Noche de Muertos: the Night of the Dead.

In the lower center portion of this photograph, you can see the Quiroga, Michoacán, panteón municipal (town cemetery). Late in the afternoon of November 1, 2013, most townspeople had not yet gone to the cemetery with candles and flowers for their loved ones' graves. Click on any photograph for a larger view.

Over the course of the last 30-plus years, Mexico Cooks! has been to countless Noche de Muertos events, but none as mystical, as spiritual, or as profoundly magical as that of 2013. Invited to accompany a very small group on a private tour in Michoacán, I looked forward to spending three days enjoying the company of old and new friends. I did all that, plus I came away with an extraordinarily privileged view of life and death.

A magnificent Purépecha ofrenda (in this case, a home altar) in the village of Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán. This detailed and lovely ofrenda was created to the memory of the family's maiden aunt, who died at 74. Because she had never married, even at her advanced age she was considered to be an angelito (little angel)–like an innocent child–and her spirit was called back home to the family on November 1, the day of the angelitos. Be sure to click on the photo to see the details of the altar. Fruits, breads, incense, salt, flowers, colors, and candles have particular symbolism and are necessary parts of the ofrenda.

Detail of the ofrenda casera (home altar) shown above. Several local people told Mexico Cooks! that the fruit piled on the altar tasted different from fruit from the same source that had not been used for the ofrenda. "Compramos por ejemplo plátanos y pusimos unos en el altar y otros en la cocina para comer. Ya para el día siguiente, los del altar pierden su sabor, no saben a nada," they said. 'We bought bananas, for example, and we put some on the altar and the rest in the kitchen to eat. The next day, the ones in the kitchen were fine, but the ones from the altar had no taste at all.'

Preparing a family member's ofrenda (altar) in the camposanto in the village of Arócutin, Michoacán. The camposanto–literally, holy ground–is a cemetery contained within the walls of a churchyard. The candles used in this area of Michoacán are hand made in Ihuatzio and Santa Fé de la Laguna.

Come with me along the unlit road that skirts the Lago de Pátzcuaro: Lake Pátzcuaro. It's chilly and the roadside weeds are damp with earlier rain, but for the moment the sky has cleared and filled with stars. Up the hill on the right and down the slope leading left toward the lake are tiny villages, dark but for the glow of tall candles lit one by one in the cemeteries. Tonight is November 1, the night silent souls wend their way home from Mictlán, the land beyond life.

At the grave: candlelight to illuminate the soul's way, cempazúchitl (deeply orange marigolds) for their distinctive fragrance required to open the path back home, smoldering copal (frankincense) to cleanse the earth and air of any remnants of evil, covered baskets of the deceased's favorite foods. And a low painted chair, where the living can rest through the night.

Watching through the night. This tumba (grave) refused to be photographed head-on. From an oblique angle, the tumba allowed its likeness to be made.

"Oh grave, where is thy victory? Oh death, where is thy sting?"

Noche de Muertos is not a costume party, although you may see it portrayed as such in the press. It is not a drunken brawl, although certain towns appear to welcome that sort of blast-of-banda-music reventón (big blow-out). It is not a tourist event, though strangers are certainly welcomed to these cemeteries. Noche de Muertos is a celebration of the spirit's life over the body's death, a festival of remembrance, a solemn passover. Years ago, in an interview published in the New York Times, Mexico Cooks! said, "Noche de Muertos is about mutual nostalgia. The living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home."

One by one, grave by grave, golden cempazúchtles give shape to rock-bound tombs and long candles give light to what was a dark and lonely place, transforming the cemetery into a glowing garden. How could a soul resist this setting in its honor?

"Our hearts remember…" we promise the dead. Church bells toll slowly throughout the night, calling souls home with their distinctive clamor (death knell). Come…come home. Come…come home.

Waiting. Prayers. No me olvido de tí, mi viejo amado. (I haven't forgotten you, my dear old man.)

Next year, come with me.

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5 de November de 2016