Category Archives: August 2014
Editor’s Letter
“Ethics is about the basic choices we ought to make in our lives and one of those choices is how do we spend our money?” Peter Singer
Welcome to our 3rd annual food issue! We generally think of what we eat as a very personal matter, but what about how we are getting our food? Continue reading Editor’s Letter
Flor de Calabaza or “The Boys of Summer”
By Leigh Morrow
These delicate flowers with their brightly yellow colored trumpet shaped blooms and slightly zucchini-like flavor, can be battered and fried, stuffed and baked, torn in strips to decorate pasta and summer salads, stirred into soups or make a superb filler for your quesadillas with my favorite stringy Oaxaca cheese. Continue reading Flor de Calabaza or “The Boys of Summer”
The Empire Strikes Back…
By Ramiro Vasquez
Since ancient times, agaves have been used for multiple purposes. They provided honey water that allowed long migrations through the desert, honey vinegar and alcoholic beverages were obtained from it; it’s cooked hearts are a delicious meal, it is used as medicine, the spines as surgical and ritual instruments, its fibers for clothing, the leafs for roofing, the quiote for musical instruments, tools and as building material. Just like corn, agaves provided resources for different nomad tribes to settle communities and then develop complex civilized societies. Continue reading The Empire Strikes Back…
Mexican Cheese
By Julie Etra
Mexico does not usually come to mind when I am thinking of what particular awesome cheese I want to serve as an hors d’oeuvres. When was the last time you were in Whole Foods or some other trendy store where fine Mexican cheese was featured? Continue reading Mexican Cheese
From $ to $$$: Cheap Eats to Haute Cuisine in the Gastronomic Capital of Latin America
By Carole Reedy
Rituals, tradition, enjoyment, and family: these are the elements that make dining in Mexico City an integral part of your visit. Wherever and whenever you roam the city, food is offered; from kiosks selling sweets to informal outdoor cafes and coffee shops to formal dining rooms. Pay 50 pesos or 500 for a meal in Mexico City. Whatever your taste or budget, savory restaurants with fresh food abound, and fruits and vegetables are available year round. Continue reading From $ to $$$: Cheap Eats to Haute Cuisine in the Gastronomic Capital of Latin America
Oaxaca’s Traditional Mole Verde
By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D.
The seven moles of Oaxaca is a fiction, but it is an effective means of marketing Oaxacan cuisine and gastronomic tradition. While mole verde is indeed one of the purported Group of Seven, the fact that there are so many different recipes for Oaxacan green mole, each with vastly divergent ingredients and tastes, lays testament to the myth as fallacy. Continue reading Oaxaca’s Traditional Mole Verde
Conafe School Update
By Susanne Jarnryd, Bacaanda Foundation & Britt Jarnryd, El Sueño Zapoteco
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Adopt a Rural School Program,
On behalf of the Bacaanda Foundation and El Sueño Zapoteco, we would like to thank you for your support of the Adopt a Rural School program. We sincerely appreciate your commitment to help people of need in rural Mexico. Each year the foundation continues to advance its mission to alleviate poverty through community, education and health initiatives. Through our dental, literacy, recreation and vocational programs we have seen many lives change for the better. Continue reading Conafe School Update
Exotic Seasonal Fruits
By Brooke Gazer
Sampling the fabulous fresh fruit found in this region is one of the many pleasures Huatulco offers. While some are available year round others are referred to as “fruta de la temporada” or seasonal fruit. Visitors and residents of Huatulco are fortunate to have access to almost 80 varieties of fruit from the extensive orchards of Hagia Sofia. Some are local to Oaxaca but Armando Canavati has introduced a number of interesting new crops from around the world. Three exotic examples are: Mata Sabor, Mangosteen and Rambutan. Continue reading Exotic Seasonal Fruits
Mexican Vegetables: How about huauzontle?
By Deborah Van Hoewyk
This green—which has multiple names and spellings, from huauthili to guaunsoncle—is actually the unopened flowering shoots of Chenopodium berlandieri, a “goosefoot” related to amaranth and quinoa. Traditionally, it’s served at Christmas and Lent in a pretty complicated dish that involves combining sprigs of the vegetable with cheese, beaten egg white, and batter, then frying each wand and “stripping” the results through your teeth so you don’t have to eat little sharp twigs. Not to mention the fact that it’s usually served in a salsa or mole, so it’s a messy undertaking. Continue reading Mexican Vegetables: How about huauzontle?
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