Gastronomic Tour of Veracruz, Mexico- Day 2

The schedule for day 2 was just as packed as that of the day of our arrival and I realized that I would have to make some adjustments or either Jan or me, or both of us, were going to fall sick or burn out.But it would have to wait because the arrangements had already been made.  Besides,  the tianguis, a sort of roving farmers’ market that Raquel wanted us to visit is held on Tuesdays in her neighborhood and we needed to get ingredients for Jan’s Afro-Mestizo cooking class that afternoon   It was very important for me that he visit  the superb  Museum of Anthropology so he’d be able to situate not just the food but the experiences we were about to have in a cultural context.

We go up early and headed to Raquel’s family restaurant La Parroquia (Not to be confused with  Gran Cafe La Parroquia of the day before in the port.) I ate some good scrambled eggs in a thin spicy tomato sauce with pieces queso blanco.)

We went off to the tianguis but had to stop at the flower market to feast our eyes on the riot of color of the flowers for  the dead–cempasuchil (marigolds) and cockscombs.(The name sounds better than the Spanish moco de pavo–if you don’t  understand it,  you probably don’t want to!)

At the tianguis Jan seemed like he was in another world and I guess he was. I hired some musicians and sang while he inched slowly through dirt aisle after dirt aisle, eating just-roasted peanuts in the shell, picking this up and that, marveling at hows perfectly ripe everything was especially the Roma tomatoes.There were guajes ( the seeds of an acacia tree that people eat as snacks or to make guaxmole, a type of mole, ) chayotes in several colors— white, green and black (go here for a great chayote recipe>),  quelites of all sorts (greens that can be prepared like this wilted spinach recipe), homemade brown sugar cones and the calabaza needed for the traditional Day of the Dead dessert, calabaza en tacha. The long deep salmon colored melon squash was new to me.  We bought avocado leaf powder for seasoning beans, tiny fresh chiltepin chiles, squash blossoms. One of Jan’s interests in charcuterie and there was much to choose from. The longaniza was especially delicious. We even bought passion fruit and guanabana pulp and stupidly left in the car and  my mouth is watering as I write this just to imagine how it would taste. My only regret is that I did not take enough photos of the goods. I’ve been to so many of these markets  that I take them for granted . Hopefully Jan will be able to share some with me to share with you.

Guajes, radishes,  beets,  and quelites .

Chayotes verdes (green), negros (black)and blancos (white)

Calabaza and brown sugar cone for calabaza en tacha

Calabaza Melon

Then off to the museum to see the Olmec heads and much more of the culture of this fascinating, incredibly diverse state. I’ll post the cooking class part when I get the recipes and translate them.