Category: Music

World Cultural Tourism Fair (Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural) in Morelia, Michoacán

The World Cultural Tourism Fair logo, all lit up for the fair's opening night at Morelia's Teatro Ocampo.

For the second year in a row, Morelia, Michoacán was chosen as the site of the Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural: the World Cultural Tourism Fair. Hot on the heels of Mexico City's FITA (International Tourism Fair of the Americas) at the end of September, Morelia captured a world-wide crowd of numerous exhibiting countries–including Indonesia, Slovakia, and Japan–plus twenty Mexican states, and several corporate exhibitors, all designed to attract tourism and travel both to Mexico and to their own venues.

Mexican federal tourism secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo with Mexico Cooks!, photographed at the Feria Mundical de Turismo Cultural opening night cocktail party. The party, held in the central patio of Morelia's beautiful mid-17th century Palacio Clavijero, included music, folkloric dancing, drinks, food, as well as great opportunities to make new acquaintances and hug old friends.

The delightful president of CONACULTA (Mexico's Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes–the national arts council), Dra. Consuelo Sáizar, spoke to inaugurate the FMTC, along with national tourism secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo, Michoacán's Governor Leonel Godoy, Michoacán and local Morelia tourism directors, and other state and national dignitaries.

The objective of the annual world cultural tourism fair is to offer a platform for global tourism industry operators, including travel agents, state and national tourism representatives from various international countries and Mexican states, and to ensure growth in this arm of the tourist industry. National Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara Manzo assured the attendees that the event would enrich and strengthen the goals of the Mexican national tourism agreement, particularly in its sixth strategic pillar.

Michoacán state tourism secretary Lic. Thelma Aquique (right, in yellow) takes time out from the fair's intense schedule of events to talk with an attendee. Photo courtesy Estado de Michoacán.

During the three-day cultural tourism event, visitors, buyers, and exhibitors alike were treated to the best that Michoacán and Mexico have to offer. From the ceremonial cutting of the opening ribbon to exhibitions of Michoacán's folkloric dancing, regional foods, and the artisan work from several Mexican states, the booths filling Morelia's Casa de la Cultura (State Cultural Center) were packed with foreign and national buyers seeking ways to promote tourism.

Wood carvings from master sculptor Jesús Ursino Ramos Cota of Sinaloa. Tomatoes and corn are the two major agricultural products of Sr. Ramos's home state.

A gigantic hot air balloon made of paper. In Mexico, these are called globos de Cantoya. Their name comes from Sr. Joaquín de la Cantoya y Rico who lived in Guanajuato in the past century and allegedly began making these balloons. They are made of hundreds or even thousands of individual sheets of papel de china (tissue paper) and are expanded by a flame-generated hot air device carried in a small basket inside the balloon. This globo de Cantoya, two stories high, bears the logo of the 2011 Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural. Click to enlarge the photo and see the connections of the tissue paper sheets.

To the delight of the crowd, the giant paper balloon sailed off successfully into Morelia's night sky.

This wooden indigenous Huichol sculpture of a deer, a bit more than two feet long from head to tail, is completely covered first with beeswax and then with thousands of individually hand-placed tiny beads. This particular sculpture originated in and was brought to the fair by representatives of the state government of Nayarit. Click to enlarge any photo for a better view.

Mexico's southernmost state, Chiapas, was represented at the Casa de la Cultura tourism booths by this lovely young woman in her ropa típica chiapaneca (typical dress of Chiapas). Entirely hand-sewn and hand-embroidered, the dress is worn in a folkloric ballet or for other folkloric events.

Banamex, one of Mexico's prominent banks, is a strong supporter of traditional arts and crafts and their makers throughout the country by way of its program Fomento Cultural Banamex, A.C.. The Banamex stand featured clay work from Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán, as well as the extraordinary book Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular Mexicano (Great Masters of Mexican Popular Arts), which Banamex publishes.

This excellent brass band, dressed all in purple, played a public concert in the Plaza del Carmen, just behind the Casa de la Cultura, seat of the FMTC. While they played, their concert was also projected on the big screen behind them. The concert was part of the cultural program of the FMTC.

Morelia's cathedral. The city, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991. Its 16th century pink cantera (stone) buildings, its European air, its exquisite regional gastronomy, and its hundreds of tourist attractions make it the ideal setting for the Feria Mundial de Turismo Cultural.

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

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

5 de November de 2011
Fiestas Patrias Mexicanas: Celebrating Mexican Independence Day

Street vendors hawk la bandera nacional (the Mexican flag) in dozens of forms for several weeks during August and right up to September 16, Mexico's Independence Day.

September 16 is Independence Day in Mexico. Mexico's struggle for freedom from Spanish colonization began sometime between midnight and dawn on September 16, 1810, when Father Miguel Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores) from the parish bell tower in the town known today as Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato. Mexico celebrates its Fiestas Patrias (Patriotic Holidays) on September 16 with parades of school children and military batallions, politicians proclaiming speeches, and general festivity.

Hundreds of books have been written about Mexico's break from Spain, millions of words have been dedicated to exploring the lives of the daring men and women who knew, a bit more than 200 years ago, that the time had come for freedom. You can read some of the history on the Internet. Another excellent source for Mexican history is The Life and Times of Mexico, by Earl Shorris. You'll find that book available on the left-hand side of this page.

But the best-kept secret in Mexico is the Independence Day party. No, the big deal is not on September 16th. Held every year on the night of September 15, the Gran Noche Mexicana (the Great Mexican Night), the real celebration of the revolutionary events in 1810, is a combination of New Year's Eve, your birthday, and your country's independence festivities. Wouldn't you really rather hear about the party?

Jalisco town kiosko (bandstand) decorated for the Fiestas Patrias.

For years I've attended the September 15 celebrations in a variety of towns and cities. In Mexico City, the country's president leads hundreds of thousands of citizens in late-night celebrations in the zócalo, the enormous square surrounded by government buildings and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Every Mexican town big enough to have a mayor holds a reenactment of the Grito de Dolores, Hidalgo's cry for independence. The town square is decorated with flags, bunting, and ribbons. Cohetes (sky rockets) flare and bang. Sometime around eleven o'clock at night, the folks, assembled in the town plaza since nine or so, are restless for the celebration to begin. The mayor's secretary peeks out from the doorway of the government offices, the folkloric dancers file off the stage in the plaza, the band tunes up for the Himno Nacional (the national anthem), the crowd waves its flags and hushes its jostling. The mayor steps out onto the balcony of the government building or onto the stage built just outside the building's front door to sing the emotional verses.

Dressed in his finest and backed up by a military or police guard, the mayor clears his throat and loudly begins an Independence Day proclamation. He pulls a heavy rope to ring the Independence bell, then he waves a huge Mexican flag. Back and forth, back and forth! In every Mexican town, the proclamation ends with Hidalgo's 201-year-old exhortations: "Long live religion! Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Long live the Americas and death to the corrupt government!"

Father Hidalgo's 1810 banner. He carried this banner as his standard as a leader in the fight for Mexico's independence from Spain.

The mayor and the crowd shout as one voice: "Viva México! Qué viva! Qué viva!" The mayor grins and waves as the fireworks begin, bursting huge green, white, and red chrysanthemums over the heads of the attendees.

Later there will be dancing and more music, pozole, tostadas, mezcal, tequila and beer, and, in larger towns and cities, all-night revelry in the plaza, in private homes, and in hotels, restaurants, and events halls.

About five years ago my friend Lupita Jiménez invited me to a Gran Noche Mexicana where she was performing. The event was scheduled to start at 9.30, but custom dictates late arrival. By ten o'clock I was on my way. At the salón de eventos (events hall) the parking lot was already full, but a man was parking cars on the street just a block away. As I left my car, he said, "Could you pay me now for watching your car? It's 20 pesos. I'll be leaving a little early, probably before the event is over."

"How long will you be here?" I asked, a bit anxious about leaving the car alone on this night of prodigious revelry.

Lupita Jiménez in performance at a Gran Noche Mexicana in Guadalajara.

"Till six." My jaw dropped and I handed him the 20 pesos. Six in the morning! Surely we wouldn't party quite so long as that!

The sad truth is that I didn't. I couldn't. My stamina flagged at about 3:00 AM, after dinner had been served at 10.30, a city politician had proclaimed the Grito, the Himno Nacional had been sung, and fireworks (I swear to you) had been set off on the indoor stage of the salón de eventos (events hall). Then the show started, a brief recapitulation in dance of Mexican history starting with concheros (loincloth-clad Aztec dancers) whirling around a belching volcano, and ending with the glorious jarabe tapatía–the Guadalajara regional dance that English-speakers know as the Mexican hat dance.

After innumerable trios, duets, and solo singers, the show paused for intermission at close to two in the morning. Several of my table-mates slipped away, but I thought I could make it to the end. The first half of the Gran Noche Mexicana had been invigorating and exciting and I loved it. During intermission, a wonderful Mexican comedian poked fun at politics, functionaries, and Mexican life in general. We were all roaring with laughter. When the comic left the stage, I realized that I was exhausted and needed to go home to bed. Just as the performers stepped onto the stage to begin the next round of song, I sneaked away.

When I called Lupita the next afternoon to congratulate her on the success of the event, she asked if I'd stayed for the last few costume changes. "Mija, I had to go home early. I lasted till three, but then I just couldn't stay awake. I'm so sorry I missed the end."

Lupita laughed. "I'm glad you lasted that long, but next time you have to stay for the whole night! You missed the best part!"

The Zócalo (main city plaza) in Mexico City, dressed up for the Fiestas Patrias.

Viva México! Qué viva!

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

Disclaimer: Marca País-Imágen de México is a joint public and private sector initiative designed to help promote Mexico as a global business partner and an unrivaled tourist destination. This program is designed to shine a light on the Mexico that its people experience every day. Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content for the Mexico Today program. All stories, opinions, and passions for all things Mexico that I write on Mexico Cooks! are completely my own.

17 de September de 2011
Una Muestra de Gastronomía in Michoacán: A Food Fair in Michoacán

The Purhépecha woman in the foreground pats out tortillas while her companion sorts through a plate of golden, freshly cut flor de calabaza (squash blossoms).

The first two mornings of the huge annual artisans' crafts fair in Michoacán begin with a food fair: una muestra de gastronomía. Fifteen or so outdoor kitchens, set up around a charming plaza just a block from the crafts booths, offer cooking demonstrations and inexpensive meals of representative Purhépecha dishes. The food, rustic and rarely seen outside a Purhépecha home kitchen, is, in a word, heavenly. The Mexico Cooks! group trooped into the food fair just in time for Saturday breakfast. They could have known who we were by the way our mouths were watering with anticipation.

Corn is the basis for the indigenous Mexican kitchen, and the tortilla is the lowest common denominator. On the table in front of this woman, you can see the metate (three-legged rectangular grinding stone) and the mano (similar to a rolling pin) resting on it, along with the prepared masa from which tortillas are made. Both the metate and the mano are hand-carved from volcanic rock.

To your left of the table is the clay comal (similar to a griddle) that in this instance rests loosely on top of a metal drum in which the wood cook fire is built. Prior to use, the comal is cured with cal (builders' lime). The cal serves two purposes: it gives the comal a non-stick surface and it adds nutrients to the masa as it toasts.

In the past, all of Mexico's women prepared dried corn for masa by soaking and simmering it in a solution of water and cal. The name of the prepared corn is nixtamal. Once it's processed, it's ready to be ground into masa for tortillas, tamales, and other corn-dough preparations. Some rural women still grind nixtamal-ized corn by hand using the metate and mano. Some take the prepared corn to their neighborhood tortillería (tortilla vendor's shop) for grinding, and some prepare their masa using commercial dried corn flour. In urban areas, the majority of Mexican families buy tortillas hot off the tortilla baker at the tortillería and carry them home, wrapped in a special hand-embroidered towel, just in time for a meal.

This woman prepares her stove, made of part of a metal drum with an opening cut away for firewood. She's spreading a paste made of wood ash and cal on and around the top of the the drum to hold the comal in place. The white streaks on the red clay comal are cal. The volcanic rock metate and mano are on the bench in the background. Her well-used clay cooking pot is visible to your left.

This joyous woman is patting out blue corn tortillas. The masa and mano are on the metate in front of her. She's toasting the tortillas and roasting tomatoes and chiles on her clay comal. The comal is set into a clay stove fired by wood. The haze that you see is woodsmoke.

The Purhépecha kitchen repertoire includes numerous atápakuas (literally, a type of thick, soup-like salsa served plentifully over prepared food). The Purhépecha word atápakua has meaning deeper than its simple definition. Its connotation is food that is picante (spicy), nutritious, and life-sustaining in a spiritual sense. Mexican culinary historians agree that the preparation of atápakuas dates from as long as 400 years before the Spanish Conquest, around 1100 AD, when the Purhépecha were strong rulers in the area of Mexico that is now Michoacán.

An atápakua can be made from the ingredients that are easily found in the region. The specialty of one tiny village of the Meseta Purhépecha is atápakua del talpanal (wasp larvae). Another town's specialty is xururi atápakua, the principal ingredient of which is cotton seeds. More commonly, indigenous cooks prepare their atápakuas of seasonal and readily available vegetables, wild herbs and greens, and a bit of meat, poultry, or fish.

We of Mexico Cooks! didn't eat wasp larvae or cotton seeds. We inhaled bowls of atápakua de flor de calabaza (thick, soupy salsa served over squash flowers, fresh corn kernels, and chunks of corundas de ceniza (unfilled tamales made with masa and wood ash).

In the closeup of the atápakua you can clearly see the corn kernels (closest to the bowl of the spoon), small pieces of calabacita (similar to zucchini), orange squash flowers, and a piece of white corunda. For flavor and color, chiles serrano and cilantro are blended into the cooking liquid. The thin, soupy salsa is then thickened by blending a small ball of masa into the hot liquid. This atápakua is deliciously spicy and tastes as fresh as the garden. I finished my portion and wanted another bowl.

Here are Susan, Steve, and Gayla, all part of the Mexico Cooks! breakfast crew. We had already gobbled our atápakua (witness the empty bowls) and had moved on to snarfing down the jahuácatas we're holding. Jahuácatas are similar to gorditas. Purhépecha women prepare the jahuácatas by folding freshly patted tortillas and refried beans into multiple thin layers, then toasting the finished product on the comal.

Churipo, shown above, is one of my favorite Purhépecha specialties. Churipo is a hearty soup, the delicious broth flavored by long cooking with beef, cabbage, calabacitas, xoconostle (the sour fruit of a specific nopal cactus), onion, chile, and other ingredients. Served with a squeeze of limón (Mexican lime), a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, tortillas hot off the comal and corundas de ceniza broken up in the bowl, it's a wonderful meal in one dish. If your palate will take the heat, eat some raw chiles serrano along with your bowl of churipo. Remember that the tip of any chile is less picante than the stem end, where most of the seeds are. Photo courtesy Steve Sando, www.ranchogordo.com

Late in the afternoon, after we'd investigated as many of the crafts booths as we could, we were all in need of something very light and fresh for our comida (middday meal). We ordered a fruit plate and a plate of guacamole with totopos (triangular fried tortilla chips) at a local restaurant.

For dessert we found limones, with the pulp scraped away, candied and stuffed with cocada (coconut candy). Half of one of these is plenty!

This was such a sweet finish to a fascinating day in Michoacán. If you'd like to travel to this event in 2012, be sure to email Mexico Cooks! in time to save your place for adventure.

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

23 de April de 2011
Viva la Vida: Mexico Cooks! Looks Back at 2010

Fruit stand with mango and papaya, Paracho, Michoacán. A large cup of fruit, served with fresh-squeezed limón, salt, and chile if you like, costs 10 pesos (about 80 cents US at today's exchange rate). The bees are always free.

Artisans from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, prepared papel picado (cut paper) banners for a Semana Santa (Holy Week) exhibition of antique religious art in Morelia.

Menta (in this case, apple mint–menta sauveolens) growing against old bricks at the Colegio Culinario de Morelia. It was planted several years ago by Guillermo Lara Góngora, the English-language teacher at the CCM.

Devil dance mask, Tocuaro, Michoacán.

Caldo de pollo (Mexican-style chicken soup), on the hoof. The butcher will use his machete to cut off all the claws for you; the well-washed feet add color and flavor to your chicken broth.

Flowers float in a Morelia fountain at twilight.

Detail of hand-embroidered rebozo (long rectangular shawl) from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Creating a basket from huinumo (pine needles), Opopeo, Michoacán.

Two colors of masa (corn dough), one metate (grinding stone). Uruapan, Michoacán.

Two beautiful young women from Paracho, Michoacán show off the hand-cross stitched guanengos (blouses) they created for a wedding.

Michoacán, for the joy of life.

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22 de January de 2011
Betsy Pecanins! Betsy Pecanins! Betsy Pecanins!

The delicious Betsy Pecanins captured Morelia's heart in October 2010.

Betsy Pecanins opened her recent Morelia concert with a song that frankly states, "I am my voice." This tiny woman's songs filled Morelia's 1200-seat Teatro Morelos with her heart, her warmth, and her personal charisma, giving the large audience exactly what they wanted: Betsy! Betsy! and more Betsy! Fresh from an open-air concert in Monterrey, Nuevo León, she sang her trademark gutsy blues, some contemporary Mexican songs–and, in her particular and much-loved style, bluesy interpretations of Mexican ranchera favorites–to an enamored crowd of Michoacanos.

Betsy belts one, accompanied by her drummer, Héctor Aguilar and the extraordinary harmonica player, Jorge Follado.

Like several of Mexico's other adored women singers (Rocío Dúrcal, Tania Libertad, and Chavela Vargas, to name just three), Betsy Pecanins is not originally from Mexico. Born in Yuma, Arizona, she says, "I'm embarrassed to say that I come from there, given the current situation in Arizona." Child of an American father and a Spanish mother, Betsy grew up in that hotter-than-hell border town. In her teens, she moved to Mexico City to live with her father and his family. "It was really hard in a lot of ways," she admitted. "I didn't speak Spanish, and I didn't like the food. It took me a while to get accustomed to life here, but as you can see, I did." Pecanins now considers Mexico to be her home of choice, and, after more than 30 years here, she speaks fluently colloquial Spanish.

Cellist Mónica del Águila and bassist Alfonso Rosas deepened and enriched the evening's music. Notice the electric cello!

Pecanins is touring in Mexico to promote her latest recording, titled Sones y Pasones. "It was really difficult to choose which songs from the CD to bring to the concert. Of course I love them all, but finally we chose 16 to offer on stage." Unless you know her style, you might find it hard to reconcile Mexico's sones and huastecos with the down-and-dirty blues of Willie Dixon. The two Mexican musical styles, which incorporate indigenous, gypsy, Spanish, and African rhythms, combine like magic with Pecanins-style blues.

Betsy happily applauds her fans, who spent the evening cheering in appreciation for her concert.

The evening before the concert, Betsy chatted with Mexico Cooks! about her long tenure in Mexico. "Like everyone else, I'm worried about the violent troubles we're living through right now. Like everyone else, I don't really see an immediate solution. But I also believe that we just have to go about our daily business and not live in fear. What good would it do, what would it serve, to hide and forget to live our lives? That would mean that organized crime wins, and that the good people of this country lose. Obviously we all have to be careful, but we can't forget the joy of living. So yes, I'm touring. It was important to me to sing in Monterrey, where the people have lived through so much sorrow. And it's important to me to sing in Morelia."

La Pecanins, shouting the low-down blues: Willie Dixon's "29 Ways (To Get to My Baby's Door)". Listen here to another interpretation: 29 Ways.

Betsy is a true original, combining musical roots of several cultures and eras to create a unique sound. She's been a bright light in the Mexico City musical scene for more than 30 years; during that time, she has recorded sixteen very well received CDs. She brings her sense of place, her sense of time, and her sense of humor to the stage along with her voice. Before singing "Aquí Me Ves", she offered the story of an old love, a flame that burned for two years when she was 20. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, the old flame found her again online. And she got nervous: "I'm not the same as I was when I was twenty," she said, gesturing from her shoulders to her knees. "Certain things fall–for women, and for men, too! But my friend Rafael Mendoza wrote this song for me, a song that says, 'I may not be the same person I was back then, but I'm much more of a woman.' It's so true!" Nevertheless, she laughed, "Unfortunately, things didn't work out between me and him–but I still have the song!"

Betsy and harmonicist Jorge Follado cue up a solo by the band's acoustic guitarist, Jorge García.

The concert was presented as part of the October celebrations of the anniversary of the founding of Morelia's Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH). In addition to Betsy's concert, the university also presented a three-week repertoire of other cultural activities.

Betsy with her pink kazoo. Hearing the buzz of that kazoo took me back to my own roots in folk music, more years ago than I care to confess.

Betsy is currently undergoing treatment for vocal difficulties that affect her ability to speak much more than her ability to sing. Her vibrant new CD, Sones y Pasones, is terrific evidence that her quest for meaningful fusion between musical styles is a huge success. If she's appearing anywhere near your city or town, go hear her. You'll fall under her spell, just as we did here in Morelia.

The band takes a final bow after its concert in Morelia. Left to right: Héctor Águilar, Mónica del Águila, Alfonso Rosas, Betsy, Jorge Follado, and Jorge García. After Betsy congratulated each of the band members by name at the concert's end, the entire band leaped up and down shouting, "Betsy Pecanins! Betsy Pecanins! Betsy Pecanins!"

All photos and written material copyright Mexico Cooks!.

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18 de December de 2010
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: MEXICO’S CUISINE
Chiles chilacas, cultivated in Queréndaro, Michoacán, are spread on traditional petates (woven reed mats)to dry in the late summer sun. All photos and their captions are copyright Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

At its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on November 16, 2010, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) announced that Mexico, and particularly the state of Michoacán, had been officially inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

According to UNESCO, "The term ‘cultural heritage’ has changed content considerably in recent decades, partially owing to the instruments developed by UNESCO. Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe, or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

Dra. Gloria López Morales, director of the Mexico City-based Conservatorio de la Cultura Gastronómica Mexicana, spearheaded the latest drive for Mexico to achieve the UNESCO award. Many, many people worked with her to make the dream a reality.

"While fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.

"The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. The social and economic value of this transmission of knowledge is relevant for minority groups and for mainstream social groups within a State, and is as important for developing States as for developed ones.

In Uruapan, Michoacán, blue corn tortillas, tomatoes, and chiles serranos toast on a traditional clay comal (griddle).

"Intangible cultural heritage is:
- Traditional, contemporary and living at the same time: intangible cultural heritage does not only represent inherited traditions from the past but also contemporary rural and urban practices in which diverse cultural groups take part;
- Inclusive: we may share expressions of intangible cultural heritage that are similar to those practised by others. Whether they are from the neighbouring village, from a city on the opposite side of the world, or have been adapted by peoples who have migrated and settled in a different region, they all are intangible cultural heritage: they have been passed from one generation to another, have evolved in response to their environments and they contribute to giving us a sense of identity and continuity, providing a link from our past, through the present, and into our future. Intangible cultural heritage does not give rise to questions of whether or not certain practices are specific to a culture. It contributes to social cohesion, encouraging a sense of identity and responsibility which helps individuals to feel part of one or different communities and to feel part of society at large;
- Representative: intangible cultural heritage is not merely valued as a cultural good, on a comparative basis, for its exclusivity or its exceptional value. It thrives on its basis in communities and depends on those whose knowledge of traditions, skills and customs are passed on to the rest of the community, from generation to generation, or to other communities;
- Community-based: intangible cultural heritage can only be heritage when it is recognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintain and transmit it – without their recognition, nobody else can decide for them that a given expression or practice is their heritage."
Sra. Chef Alicia Gironella de'Angeli headed the group of high-level chefs, culinary professionals and food aficionados in Mexico which, in 2000, began to organize the 2005 application for the UNESCO designation. For the next five years, Sra. Gironella continued to work toward the goal that Mexico finally achieved in 2010.

Cristina Palacio, Mexico City-based food historian and indefatigable promoter of Mexico's culinary heritage.

Text from the UNESCO documents as they relate to Mexico:

"Traditional Mexican cuisine is a comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral community customs and manners. It is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting and harvesting to cooking and eating.

In Cherán, Michoacán, a Purhépecha woman waits to sell delicious flor de calabaza (squash flowers). Photo courtesy Roset Claes.

Outdoor kitchen, San José de la Torre, Michoacán.

"The basis of the system is founded on corn, beans and chile; unique farming methods such as milpas (rotating swidden fields of corn and other crops) and chinampas (man-made farming islets in lake areas); cooking processes such as nixtamal-ization (lime-hulling maize, which increases its nutritional value); and singular utensils including grinding stones and stone mortars. Native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla augment the basic staples. Mexican cuisine is elaborate and symbol-laden, with everyday tortillas and tamales, both made of corn, forming an integral part of Day of the Dead offerings.

Late-summer corn shocks mark the end of harvest in Cuanajo, Michoacán.

Ears of red and blue corn, hung to dry from a wooden garabato (hook) in a traditional Michoacán kitchen.

Preparing blue corn masa (dough) on a volcanic stone metate (grinding stone). This masa, used to make tortillas, is made from freshly ground nixtamal-ized blue corn, moistened as needed with water. It has no other ingredients.

Atole de grano (corn soup prepared with fresh anise) dates to the milenia before Mexico's Spanish conquest. All ingredients for this delicious soup are original to the New World, as are the copper that is hand-hammered to make this cazo (cooking pot) and the pine that's hand-carved to form the cuchara (spoon).

"Collectives of female cooks and other practitioners devoted to raising crops and traditional cuisine are found in the State of Michoacán and across Mexico. Their knowledge and techniques express community identity, reinforce social bonds, and build stronger local, regional and national identities. Those efforts in Michoacán also underline the importance of traditional cuisine as a means of sustainable development."

Charales (tiny fish), used in Mexico's cuisine for thousands of years, are still abundant in our lakes. These fish are eaten whole in many different preparations. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Pale light filters through the high window of a traditional Michoacán kitchen. Many 21st Century rural Mexican homes do not have refrigerators.

The UNESCO decision as it relates to Mexico:

"The Committee decides that [this element] satisfies the criteria for inscription on the Representative List, as follows:
- R1: Traditional Mexican cuisine is central to the cultural identity of the communities that practise and transmit it from generation to generation;
- R2: Its inscription on the Representative List could enhance the visibility of intangible cultural heritage and promote respect for cultural diversity and human creativity;
- R3: Current and planned safeguarding measures include consultations and research projects as well as practical training, with the support of the State and the communities concerned;
- R4: Practitioners participated actively in the nomination process and provided their free, prior and informed consent;
- R5: Traditional Mexican cuisine is included in the Inventory of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mexico maintained by the National Council for Culture and Arts."
On November 16, 2010, Michoacán governor Leonel Godoy Rangel (right) and Dr. Genovevo Figueroa (Michoacán Secretary of Tourism, left) made the official announcement of the UNESCO designation.

All of us who have been involved in this enormous effort, all of the hundreds of traditional cooks who keep the flame of Mexico's ancient culinary excellence alive, all of those who believe in the sanctity of Mexico's trinity of corn, beans, and chile, and all who simply crave a meal of truly Mexican cuisines celebrate UNESCO's recognition of Mexico's cooks, villages, culinary heritage and her tremendous worth. We who are from Michoacán invite you to get to know what UNESCO calls 'the Michoacán paradigm'. We simply call it home cooking.

The wild mirasol, symbol of Michoacán's splendid autumn, invites you to celebrate with us.

Special thanks to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization for the use of excerpts from its public documents.

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20 de November de 2010
52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part Two

Gorgeous young men and women, great polka music, and inexhaustable dancing: the evening opened with a fantastically exciting estampa norteña (dance from northern Mexico).

These young men danced El Baile de los Machetes, a traditional dance from Mexico's western state of Nayarit. The dance includes precision maneuvers with flashing, clashing machetes and wild high kicks.

This Purhépecha folk dance shows off the beauty of traditional embroidery as well as the dancers' skill. The apron is cross-stitched by hand, as are the woman's blouse and the man's pants. This dance is in part a courtship ritual, ending with the men's fishnets catching the women.

19th Century dress from the northern part of Mexico included long suede coats for the men.

These handsome young men brought down the house–they might as well have been Chippendale dancers! The screaming, swooning young women in the audience adored the fellows' provocative moves.

It was the constant-motion rear view of these vaqueros (cowboys) that really got the crowd going.

A few minutes later, the guys were joined onstage by equally beautiful young women.

Frequent costume changes, exciting music, and beautiful choreography made the night intensely satisfying. The setting, in the Patio del Quijote at the Casa de Cultura, created the perfect ambiance.

The dancers never slowed down!

As darkness fell, another group took the stage for more estampa norteña.

Another traditional Purhépecha dance, performed by four men wearing carved wood pink-painted, blue-eyed masks representing Europeans in the New World. Each costume includes long white hair, a gourd at the back, a silvery fish at the side, and a cane with a horse head.

The costumes in this dance are similar to those in the photo above, but the masks are very different. From left to right, the masks represent a yellow man, an owl, a blue man, a black man, and a European man. Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

A closer view of the dancer wearing the owl mask.

This male dancer in this Purhépecha dance wears a yellow mask. By turn, the woman dances with each of the masked men.

After one last number, a dance from Apatzingán in Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), Mexico Cooks! needed to head for home.

Thanks to the Secretaría de Cultura for its wonderful dance presentations during this celebration. Won't you come with Mexico Cooks! next year, for the 53rd anniversary of Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán?

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19 de June de 2010
52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part One

Estampa norteña (folk dance from the north of Mexico).

The Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán recently celebrated its 52nd anniversary. The three-evening event, in honor of founder Roberto García Marín, was filled with joy, color, and music that completely filled the hearts and minds of everyone present. To commemorate Sr. García Marín's legacy, eight dance troupes, various government officials, and several hundred of the general public gathered in the Patio del Quijote of Morelia's Casa de Cultura.

Grupo Coyucan.

Danza de los Pescadores (Dance of the Fishermen) from Michoacán's Lake Zirahuén.

The first night of the festival, Silvia Zavala Tzitzún from the office of the Secretaría de Cultura and current ballet director Luis Antonio Sánchez unveiled a commemorative plaque in the founder's name. Sr. Sánchez commented, "We want to recognize Professor Marín for his entire legacy. Right up until today, our groups of folk dancers continue to execute the choreography that Profesor Marín created more than 50 years ago. This is the oldest ballet folklórico in Michoacán, and we believe that thanks to Professor Marín, it's still the best."

Grupo Pindekua.

Traditional Purhépecha (Michoacán's indigenous community) dances form an important and stately part of the states folk heritage. Dances commemorate traditional work: the Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), los Pescadores (fishermen), and los Leñadores (wood choppers) were part of the weekend's festive activities. Other dances memorialize other aspects of Purhépecha life.

La Danza de los Kúrpites (the Dance of the Butterflies, otherwise known as 'the dance of those who find themselves') is one of the Michoacán Purhépecha community's most revered folk dances. This figure represents T'arepiti, the bride. Her costume can easily cost more than $12,000 pesos. Each role in the dance–which can include as many as 40 dancers–is traditionally performed by young single men.

The butterfly dancers performing La Danza de los Kúrpites. In their home communities, the young male dancers perform for a few minutes in the home of each of their girlfriends. The dancers then move to the town plaza, where the dancing continues according to the neighborhood where each group lives.

Tassels, lace, and hundreds of small bells are parts of the costume of Los Kúrpites butterfly dancers.

La Danza de los Panaderos (Bakers), as performed by Grupo Pindekua.

Norteño dances from the north of Mexico frequently have an accordion-driven polka beat. The polka came to Mexico in the 1830s and 40s, brought by the Germans who settled south Texas.

Another norteño! These wildly lively, upbeat and swirling dances are always tremendous crowd-pleasers. Colorful costumes and foot-tapping rhythms are the order of the day.

One last fling. Just watching the dancing exhausted Mexico Cooks!, but we had to head back to the dance festival for its final night. Come back to Mexico Cooks! next week and we'll take you dancing again!

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12 de June de 2010
In Honor of La Morenita: Morelia’s Annual Fiestas for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe, lovingly nicknamed La Morenita [the little brown woman]), caña (sugar cane), and fresh-roasted cacahuates (peanuts) are an annual combination in Morelia during the weeks from November 19 until the last minutes of the night of December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day. The Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is one of the most important religious festivals in all of Mexico, celebrated in every home and every town, in every church and every heart.

Hundreds of tons of caña (sugar cane) are hand-peeled with flashing steel machetes for your eating pleasure. Every year, more than 400 vendors set up food stands, trinket stands, and booths filled with religious articles in Morelia's Jardín Morelos, on Avenida Tata Vasco, and along the Calzada Fray Antonio de San Miguel leading to the Santuario de Guadalupe. Brightly colored children's rides and games illuminate the evening hours in the park; the fragrance of grilling meat competes with the deep smell of roasting peanuts, and the whir of the cotton candy machine pairs up with the rhythmic whack-whack-whack of the caña-cutting knife.

Long sugar canes are fibrous and tough, but hand-chopped with a huge knife into bite-size pieces, caña is easy to chew. Munch a piece until the sweet juice is gone, then discard the mouthful of straw-like fibers that are left. Munch another, it's addictive.

A bed of freshly sliced oranges and a pile of sliced caña con chamoy make a mouth-puckering, refreshing snack. Chamoy is a sour fruit brine that's popular for its flavor combination of vinegar, salt, and sweet fruit.

This roaster toasts about seven kilos (15 pounds) of raw cacahuates (peanuts) at a time. The family that operates this stand had the roaster made from an oil drum, along with a metal box on legs to hold the fuel. One of the family members turns the handle (to the left in the photo) to make sure the peanuts toast evenly, without burning.

The heat for the peanut roaster comes from carbón, Mexico's real-wood charcoal–they're not "briquets" from commercial bags!

Raw habas (fava beans) are toasted by the same method. Roasted habas and cacahuates are sold unsalted.

Here's a juice extractor to make you a glass of super-fresh and sweetly delicious jugo de caña (sugar cane juice). One operator inserts the long sugar canes through the back of the dark metal rollers while another turns the handle on the wheel at the left of the photo.

The juice pours onto the slanted tray, down the spout, and into your waiting plastic cup. A 12-ounce cup of hand-squeezed juice costs ten pesos–less than one United States dollar.

Do you need some real food? Try made-to-order tacos at one of the stands in Plaza Morelos. The bottom pair are b
istec (chopped grilled beef), the top two are carne de cerdo al pastor (marinated pork cooked on a vertical spit). A squeeze of lime, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of minced cilantro and onion (and of course a spoonful of the hottest salsa you can tolerate) make these tacos delicious.

Maybe pambazos, enchiladas placeras, or taquitos are more to your taste. Everything at this stand is cooked to order on an anafre (brazier). Mexico Cooks! is partial to a good pambazo: it's a sandwich made from an individual-sized loaf of dense white bread, sliced open and dipped in enchilada sauce, filled with picadillo (meat/potato/carrot hash), fried till the bread is just slightly crisp on the outside, and topped with shredded lettuce, diced fresh tomatoes, minced onions, grated Mexican cheese, and a salsa muy picante (really spicy salsa).

The sign asks, "What blankety-blank crisis?" The bags of caña that this dealer offered continued at last year's price: 10 pesos. The world economic situation has deeply affected Mexico, but nothing stops a party!

Mexico has a real 'thing' for corn dogs. Here in Mexico, they're fair (as in county fair!) food, just like they are in the United States. They make quite a switch from a traditional pambazo, no?

For dessert, local strawberries flash frozen in Zamora, Michoacán, are partially thawed and served with cream. You can see that the cartons are labeled both 'fresas' and 'strawberries' (for the English-language market; strawberry export is an enormous business in Michoacán. Duero is the name of the strawberry packing company, as well as the name of the Michoacán river that runs through Zamora.

Take home a bag of candies. Pick the candy you prefer–tiny mint chocolate eggs, crisp-coated lunetas of chocolate, sweet and tart buttons, gummy worms or bears or frogs, and a dozen more choices– and buy as little or as much as you like.

It's traditional for both adults and children to dress in 16th Century indigenous clothing during these December fiestas. This beautiful baby wears painted bigotes (moustache), a tiny poncho, a sombrero de paja (straw hat), and a bright pañuelo (handkerchief scarf), all in honor of San Juan Diego, who first saw and talked with Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the chilly mid-December of 1531. Read here to learn the rest of her miraculous story.

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6 de February de 2010
Mexico Cooks!: A Backward Glance at 2009

Mexico Cooks! started 2009 with a bang, offering tamales and rosca de reyes to celebrate the New Year.

In February, we purchased this gorgeous cazuela (large clay cooking vessel) at Tzintzuntzan's annual fiestas patronales (patron saint's festivities).

We ate delicious capirotada (bread pudding), a Lenten specialty unique to Mexico, in March.

The kitchen at Pátzcuaro's Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Popular Arts Museum) is one of our all-time favorite displays.

The spring arrival of the infamous AH1N1 influenza virus shocked Mexico and the world. Suddenly, everyone on the street was wearing a protective tapaboca (surgical-style mask).

June took Mexico Cooks! to Rancho Casa Luna in San Miguel de Allende for a marvelous weekend of cooking with friends.

Our culinary research assignment for July: Morelia's homage to Guadalajara's signature snack, the famously spicy torta ahogada (drowned sandwich).

Mexico Cooks! met the delightful Doña Felícitas and her family at Morelia's Mercado Nicolás Bravo in August.

In September, Restaurante LU, part of Morelia's Hotel Best Western Casino, offered Mexico Cooks! a chance to try the new menú bicentenario (bicentennial menu). Mexico celebrates its 200th anniversary during all of 2010.

Lila Downs captivated Mexico Cooks! and all of Morelia in October.

Noche de Muertos in Tzintzuntzan's cemetery. We dedicated the entire month of November to information about and photos of the Day of the Dead.

Frijolitos refritos (refried beans) and how to prepare them–along with some traditional Michoacán recipes for your kitchen–highlighted December.

Come along with Mexico Cooks! for the year 2010! You'll discover as many new caminos de México (pathways of Mexico) as we can fit into every month. We look forward to having you with us.

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2 de January de 2010