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Published: August 12th 2010
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Mexico..
Land of historical ruins, deepset traditions, fascinating indigienous cultures, and amazing beaches.
Do I sound like a tourist advert? To be honest with you, all of these things were great. But for me, the real Mexico was about food. A self confessed 'foodie' the first thing I do in a new town or new place is find out where to get the best eats. The cheaper, the tastier the better!
My first ever taste of Mexico was more than a year ago. I was travelling through the states, riding the greyhound from city to city, sadly mostly living on the fast food joints that dot the American highways. I had made it to El Paso Texas, a sleepy town with not much to it apart from the fact that is was a border town, right beside Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico. So on advice from the hotel manager, ignoring its reputation as a dangerous 'kidnapping' town, I decided to see the sites in Mexico for the day. From the moment you walk across the border, it is clear ..this ain't Kansas no more. The music..the colours and of course the food everywhere on every street corner was a feast for the
senses! I managed to somehow order my first ever taco with my clumsy gringofied Spanish and what a taco it was! This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship, I thought as the juices from the taco ran down my chin. That day ended up being a street feast. I found creamy and delicious cheap strawberry ice-cream from a local vendor and went to sit in the square and watch a local dance of masked children in what looked like to me to be halloween costumes, but i think in reality was some reference to the 'The Day of the Dead' , an important festival in Mexico. Before heading back across the border I bought a fruit cup with some of the best watermelon and mango I have ever tasted. There is something great about juicy fruit on a hot day. Especially when you know it is organic..real fruit, unlike the fruit we find in supermarkets at home.
My relationship with the humble taco was rekindled when I returned to Mexico this year, this time for longer than one day. My Spanish had slightly improved, but was still amusing to the taco man when I tried to order one taco ..chicken only. Apparantly you don't just order one chicken taco. The fatty yet delicious meat seems to be obligatory...and about four is usually the minumum. Also, lime and chilli comes with everything.. I mean EVERYTHING. They even have beer with lime and chilli here.
Next stop Oaxaca, where food is the essence of many of the traditions and practises of the region. In Oaxaca you can find so many different types of fresh foods in the markets. While the smell of raw meat can be slightly nauseating, you just have to drink everything in. In this colonial town I tasted fresh Mexican stringy cheese, and chapulines..the Mexican name for grasshopper! Cringe you may, but they were surprisingly tasty, mixed with salt and spices. Oaxaca is also home of mole, a chocolate based sauce served with chicken or other dishes. The chocolate produced here is not only for mole, but used for hot chocolate, iced chocolate, chocolate chocolate! Being the chocolate aficionado that I am, I had to sample all forms of this Oxacacan chocolate. Its a hard job but somebody's got to do it. But what about the tacos, I hear you ask. Yes on top of all the fresh market food and chocolate shops, there was time to fit in a few sneaky tacos at the local taco stand with the winning combination of chilli, salsa, guacamole, lime and coriander.
Travelling on I tasted more local cuisine, always accompanied by a tortilla or ten. In a small lakeside cafe I ate a kind of a cheese based dish, served with beans and wrapped in a banana leaf, delicious! In the middle of the jungle I was served the most amazing and cheapest quesidillas I have ever eaten and by Agua Azul, a famous waterfall in Mexico I ate a simple but very tasty serving of guacamole, followed by a mango on a stick. The fresh fruit carts are almost as good as the taco stands! I tried more tacos in San Cristobel, getting a bit more adventurous with my choices I decided to try one with tripe. I can't say that the tripe was my favourite, but at four tacos for less than a dollar how can you go wrong?
Finally, my wanderings took me north, to the coast on the Gulf of Mexico. I stopped in a small town called Tulum and ate wonderful fresh fish and licuados de mango. It was on a small corner side street one day as I road my bike past that I found it. It was the taco stand that beat all taco stands. I was hungry and ordered five tacos. The first bite I took made my tastebuds smile. The taco was mixed with some kind of marinated pulled pork and a pickled onion sauce like I had never tasted before. I told the chef that it was the best taco I had ever tasted in my life. It definately made my day, maybe it made his as well.
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