Y…Algo Mas

The African Face of Veracruz

Los Angeles Times
September 12, 2001
The African Face of Veracruz
By Zarela Martinez
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
When Hernan Cortes first landed in Mexico in 1519, he brought with him an African slave he’d bought in Cuba. Thousands more would follow in the coming centuries, forever changing the face, the rhythms and the flavor of Mexico.

Mex Appeal
This article originally appeared in “Food & Wine” and can also be viewed at: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/mex-appeal

With jungles, waterfalls and one of Mexico’s best regional cuisines, little-known Veracruz is a great adventure.
When I visited Veracruz on the Gulf coast of Mexico for the first time nearly 15 years ago, I ate several memorable meals, met some very friendly people–and somehow wasn’t eager to return. I suspect now that my mixed feelings about the Spanish Conquest may have prejudiced me against the place where the invasion started in 1519.

My Mother’s Pantry
Glistening by the light of a single bare bulb are jars of canned snails from France, saffron and baby eels from Spain, bamboo shoots and plum sauce from China, and grape leaves in brine from the Middle East. Picture these delicacies in the pantry of a ranch-house in the northern Mexican desert some 40 years ago and some five hours, on bumpy dirt roads, from the nearest store.It is the summer of 1960.

My Reagan Legacy

The flood of tributes to Ronald Reagan in these last days filled me with sadness but also gratitude. Though I did not know him personally, I had the privilege of watching him effortlessly charm and dominate a table full of world leaders at a long-ago World Economic Summit Conference at Williamsburg, Virginia. My glimpse of the man was brief, but he conveyed more of himself at a glimpse than most people do in half a lifetime. Perhaps that’s one definition of “star quality.”

Praise the lard
Restoring a Fat’s Splattered Reputation
This article appeared in The Los Angeles Times on April 28, 1994
As a Mexican chef and restaurateur, I’m always being asked, “Do you cook with lard? My answer is always, “Yes, yes!”

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