Mexican Food: Changed the World
Nov 11 • Categorized as Travel in MexicoJUST A FEW PESOS’ CAN BUY YOU LOVE ANYWHERE IN MEXICO
IT AIN’T ALL BOUT TACOS YALL
Let us be clear right from the beginning “All Mexican Food is Created Equal” this means that a lot of tender loving care and great thought about spices and food groups seems to be connected to amazing taste buds…and that is what all Mexican world class Chefs, short order cooks, Mamacita’s and Papacito’s that cook for a living must have in common. What else enables them all to do what they do to create the perfect tasting food they prepare?
It does not seem to matter whether it is MEXICAN FOOD that is served in a Gourmet Expensive Restaurant in Mexico City that is touted to be one of Mexico’s Best Restaurants or from a local taco stand on a side street under a shade tree in the border town of San Luis Rio Colorado…it’s all a genius art form for sure. In fact I think these great culinary artists are born to do what they do and that is to cook great food with a lot of love and then sell their works of love to us at great prices. I am surely not the first Gringo nor will I be the last Gringo to say “just a few pesos can buy you love anywhere in Mexico”!
WHERE’S THE BEEF? “AQUI ESTA SU CARNE”
ABRIENDO UNA LATA CON GUSANOS
Mexicans are arguably “the best meat cooks in the world”, now I know those could be fighting words in some places north of the border, but not where there are Mexicans who cook meat and there are people other than Mexicans there to eat that meat. MEXICAN FOOD has many different styles of cooking beef, pork, lamb, goat, deer, chicken, duck, turkey, goose and all things that fly swim crawl or walk. As long as we are going to be “abriendo una lata con gusanos” (opening a can of worms) let us not forget to throw some camarones (shrimp) on the grill along with a variety of fish, fish eggs, octopus, squid and muscles, turtles and the Aztecs even ate insects such as grasshoppers, ants, maggots, flies, larvae, and worms were caught then prepared in ways that you can not imagine and eaten.
The pride of the Mexican people is a factor that is evident in all things that Mexicans do from boxing to cooking, soccer, auto racing, dancing, singing …everything they do is a flat-out 100% effort and it is mixed with a strong dose of national pride. In most cases we are the lucky recipients of that inherent passion when eating MEXICAN FOOD… but maybe not so lucky if you are a boxer in the ring with a Mexican.
BLOOD IS NOT THICKER THAN HOT CHOCOLATE
MEXICANS GAVE THEIR HEARTS & SOUL
The endless variety of MEXICAN FOOD and the different ways that Mexicans prepare their dishes comes from regional traditions and they can even differ from town to town and in most cases the recipe is passed down from generation to generation.
Speaking of generations and family traditions many people are not aware that MEXICAN FOOD includes introducing CHOCOLATE to the entire world. Aztec and Mayan’s are responsible for the Conquistadors taking chocolate back to Spain and all of Europe, who are now able to do what they do with chocolate because of MEXICAN FOOD. That’s right MEXICAN FOOD from the ancient indigenous Mexicans the Aztec and Mayans used chocolate in many ways even using coco beans as money. They also made chocolate candy with nuts, vanilla, cinnamon and honey, they absolutely for sure invented hot chocolate and that is still a MEXICAN FOOD specialty enjoyed around the world to this day.
Theobroma is the botanical name for chocolate which means “food of the gods” I’ll bet those Aztec’s enjoyed a good ole cup of hot chocolate just before and probably just after they sent the unlucky heart donors to meet their gods. I wonder if after the donors reached the hereafter if they asked their gods “GOT THEOBROMA”. Now after hundreds of years the blood ritual heart donor programs have long been abandoned, but hot chocolate still flows around the world proving that “BLOOD IS NOT THICKER THAN HOT CHOCOLATE”!
HOLIDAY CHOCOLATE COCKTAILS
To make it easier to mix drinks the Aztecs would grind cocoa and corn into a fine powder to make it easier to mix into drinks like Beer and Atole. To make Atole the Aztecs cooked cornmeal and water with cane sugar when finished it is called piloncillo. This makes a soup like drink that you can make thinner or thicker depending on the recipe. Chocolate, cinnamon and fresh ingredients like fruits are added to make your own unique Atole.
After blending the atole, it is then heated so I guess you could compare it to a spiked hot smoothie. When you do use chocolate it is called champurrado that happens to be the most common version. Chocolate atole is especially enjoyed during the Christmas season. Chocolate and fruit atole are also very popular drinks on the DAY of the DEAD, the first of November. Atole can also be eaten or drunk by itself as a breakfast meal Kathy Lee and Hoda are going to love this for their Today Show cooking segment.
MEXICAN CAPRESSE SALAD
The main stay food source for MEXICAN FOOD has been corn for thousands of years. This staple that they ground to flour to make things like tortillas, tacos, tamales, candy and even drinks was a solid foundation for the large communities they lived in. These early Mexicans mastered cultivating large amounts of land to grow corn and other crops that lead them to design and build very complex and ingenious irrigation systems.
MEXICAN FOOD has always had a great variety of vegetables and fruits like tomatoes, (yet another MEXICAN FOOD introduced to Europe from Mexico), peppers, squash, pineapples, lemons, limes, pears, mangoes, potatoes and cactus were common place in the early Mexican diet and remains so to this very day. The Spanish explorer Cortes may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Spain and the rest of Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City, in 1521.
Christopher Columbus an Italian, who was also employed by the Spanish monarchy, may have taken Tomatoes back to Spain as early as 1493 though it is not clear other than MEXICAN FOOD changed the world for the betterment of mankind. The earliest mention of the tomato in European literature appeared in 1544 in a book by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, who was an Italian physician and botanist, who named the yellow tomatoes Pomo d’oro, or “golden apple”.
Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking as tomatoes were first cultivated in Mexico in the southern region and then to other areas by 500 BC. Tomatoes are also indigenous to South America and they were taken to Europe from there as well as from Mexico. These facts beg for the question to be asked “where in the hell would the Italians be without MEXICAN FOOD like tomatoes for their tomato sauces”. For that matter the Chinese gave The Italians their pasta, so I guess you have to say the Italian Chefs got a big head start from the Mexicans and Chinese.
DAY OF THE DEAD “SWEET MEMORIES OF YOUR LOVED ONES”
DAY OF THE DEAD SUGARHEADS
Now we get to a really sweet MEXICAN FOOD cultural tradition Día de Los Muertos that ties food to the memory of loved ones that have departed this life but are celebrated on November 2nd as a National event. In many cultures the human skull is a negative symbol and it brings fear into the hearts of children and adults but not in Mexico. Sugar skulls and bones are endeared and looked upon as a happy reminder of their loved ones.
This ritual is considered to be a transition of life as many agricultural civilizations around the world believe, to them it like the seasons and crops rotating where death is a part of life and in death it becomes a different state of existence. Mexican culture believes their loved ones travel back in spirit every year so great care and preparation is made every November 2nd to greet the dearly departed upon their arrival. Many people think it is a kin to a Mexican Halloween but it is not even remotely related.
Baking a special bread “pan de muerto” for Día de Los Muertos is an extraordinarily big pay day for bakers all over Mexico. People order many loaves of bread some are round in shape with sugar on top and some are in the profiles of different animals however the rabbit is very popular while some loaves have the shapes of bones on them. Tamales and moles are also big menu items on Día de Los Muertos, these particular dishes are special due to the time and effort it takes to prepare them so they are mostly made for very special occasions including Christmas and Easter.
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Every month Escape To Mexico Magazine will have an article about MEXICAN FOOD or a special recipe or restaurants in different cities and even the “way out of the way places”, where ever there is great MEXICAN FOOD to be found Escape To Mexico Magazine will take you there. If you have a favorite taco stand, restaurant or story about MEXICAN FOOD you want to share contact Escape Artist Mexico to get your story about MEXICAN FOOD published we want to see your photos too.
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Deadly accuarte answer. You’ve hit the bullseye!