Back from Mexico City

Earlier last month, I got an email from Ben Gritzewsky congratulating me for Food is Art, the culinary program my daughter Marissa and I are curating for the Mexican Cultural Institute.  The conversation turned to the launching of my new website and what he,  a great lover and promoter of Mexico, thinks should be on zarela.com (Ben is in charge of the hugely successful Mexico Program for Frosch, a  agency specialized in luxury travel for executive and leisure  travelers.

He made the following comments:

“I would love to see more markets and village food….also more inside Mexican kitchens and homes of any social level (please send any photos of your home that you’d like to share and, if your photo is chosen,  I will contact you for the story of the house and write about it Z). I have been preaching to the Mexico Tourism Board and others about personal interchange with Mexicans of similar interests, backgrounds, professions, religions, etc…..even politics(!) could lead the way to changing the misconceptions north of the border. We Mexicans do love to entertain!”

I’ve just written an article for Saveur on my favorite markets in Mexico and cannot touch the subject for six months so buy the just released Market issue –it is fabulous and you can take a look at my article.

In the coming months I will bring you both village and fancy Mexican home cooking, stories of people I have met on my travels while doing research for my three books, Food from my Heart (out-of-print but easily found on the internet, The Food and Life of Oaxaca (Macmillan now Wiley, 1997), and  Zarela’s Veracruz (Houghton Mifflin 2001.)

I can and will take you into my home, my daughter’s former apartment, and some friends’ houses.

Write to me please and tell me what YOU think and would like to see on www.zarela.com: info@zarela.com.

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Two or three days later he called to tell me that I had been invited along with many top tour operators from around the world to  SECTUR and www.visitmexico‘s  launch of the Rutas de Mexico program, an ambitious program with great possibilities. President Calderon and Gloria Guevara, the new secretary of tourism were there and I  got to meet them both. They are charming.  I wish them both luck.

It was a  very formal presentation at Los Pinos, the presidential residence with its lush gardens where a big tent had been set up with gorgeous flower and vegetable centerpieces. Though the ingredients were the best and the food was perfectly cooked, the  menu was disappointing and, in my mind, ill-conceived, in light of the fact that the whole point of the program is to introduce people to the richness and variety of our cuisine.  They served a continental meal.

It was almost as big an affront as the Obamas choosing a non-Mexican to prepare the State Dinner the night before.  Perhaps  that is why the planning committee chose that path! I forgave them when the President gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek  as he walked out!

The cocktail party that night was held at the spectacular Castillo de Chapultepec where Emperor Maximiliano and Empress Carlota lived, where los Niños Héroes (“Boy Heroes”) died defending the castle while it was taken by United States forces during the Battle of Chapultepec of the Mexican-American War. They are honored with a large mural on the ceiling above the main entrance to the castle www.wikepedia.com

The presentation was similar to the earlier one with the addition of  a short speech in Spanish by a person I greatly admire and respect, renowned chef ,  Patricia Quintana, mentioning but not describing the food the tour operators  would supposedly taste  along the way.  (I later learned that those who took the different tours had very little Mexican food.)

However, they did not speak about the people and I wanted to grab the microphone for 5 minutes and tell some of my favorite anecdotes from the different areas.  It is our people with their innate good manners, respect and and dignity and their boundless hospitality that are our true treasures.  Mexico is blessed with gorgeous scenery every where you go but my heart melts when I ask someone to tell me their story and give me a recipe and they not only share that but at the end always say to me “gracias por tomarme en cuenta.”  (Thank you for taking me into account.)

Over the next few weeks or months. I will describe the food of  each ruta and  tell you about the traditions and cultures of the people you might meet.

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