El aprendizaje del paladar De niño, fui muy complicado para comer. Era usuario frecuente de las largas sentadas a la mesa, con larga mirada de mi madre, para que terminara “todo lo que hay en el plato”. Y no era que no me comiera las zanahorias o el hígado o cualquier otro
December Traditions from Around the World This year I started working at an international school in Vancouver. In September the Mexican students celebrated Mexican Independence day. At around the same time, students from China celebrated the Harvest Festival. The holiday celebrations
“Pa’ todo mal mezcal, pa’ todo bien también” It’s Friday night and our daughter has fallen asleep at dinnertime. She’s had a really persistent flu since Monday and she’s too tired to eat. My wife and I sit down to dinner and she pours us each
Street food with a story to tell Itanoní is a restaurant in Oaxaca City’s Colonia Reforma neighbourhood (less than 30 minute walk from the zocalo) that sells street-style food using criollo (what we would call heirloom) corn. When you enter the open air eatery the first thing th
Two leaves that give Oaxacan food its unique taste Hierba Santa Hierba santa also known as hoja santa in other parts of Mexico means sacred herb or leaf and is an essential ingredient in the typical Oaxacan dish mole verde (green mole sauce). The leaf is large and heart-shaped (up to
So Much More than Llamas! I first visited Peru on a backpacking trip in 2006. I was lucky to travel with a Peruvian who had family around the country which meant we got to see things that others don’t. I was even luckier to land a dream job in Peru seven years later and live the
The ‘Three Sisters’ in Oaxacan food The Three Sisters – maize (corn), beans and squash are three food crops that have been planted together all over the Americas since the advent of agriculture. These three plants work symbiotically – the corn gives the beans s
Three foods that start with the letter ‘e’ whose names come from Nahuatl I love etymology. I realize now that when I started this Oaxacan Food from A to Z project I should have written about the use of nahuatlismos – words that are commonly used today whose origin is
The final spicy instalment of the letter C/Ch I debated whether or not to do a third blog on the letter C, but I realized that I cannot talk about Oaxacan cuisine without at least mentioning one chile. Chile de Agua – A Oaxacan Chilli Pepper In the streets of Oaxaca city you wil
Traditional Oaxacan Drinks: Chocolate and Agua de Chilacayota As I mentioned in my last post about Oaxacan food, there are many traditional Oaxacan foods that begin with the letters c and ch (che), so here is part four of Oaxacan Food from A to Z where we will explore two Oaxacan drin
