Mex-Appeal
January 27, 2009
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.
By Zarela Martinez
When I visited Veracruz on the Gulf coast of Mexico for the first time nearly 15 years ago, I ate several memorable meals, [...]
La Candelaria Oaxaca and Sunset Park, New York style (Spanish version follows)
January 27, 2009
When I was doing research for my book the Food and Life of Oaxaca, I happened to make a trip there in the winter and immediately went to the market. My first stop was my favorite counter where they sell all types of seasonal decorations. I’m greeted by the vision of my friend Dona [...]
Tomatillos
January 22, 2009
Tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa) is known in Mexico as tomate verde (green tomato), tomate de cascara (husk tomato), and miltomate, though it is not a tomato at all. In actuality it is related to the Cape gooseberry and American ground cherry. In all three of these the fruit (a small to medium berry) is encased [...]
Puebla de los Angeles
January 22, 2009
The Mexico Tourism Board has just put out a series of videos on different states and, while the images are beautiful, the text doesn’t really capture the essence of some of the places that I know, and the narration makes them seem more like advertisements. So, with all due respect, I’ve written an alternate text [...]
Where my friends and I eat in Mexico City
January 19, 2009
I’m constantly being asked where I eat in Mexico City and I’m often embarrassed to say that I tend to go to the same places. So last time I was in the City, I asked my friends to let me take them where they like to go and I found some extraordinary restaurants. [...]
The African Face Of Veracruz
January 19, 2009
In honor of Barak Obama’s Inauguration tomorrow we will feature specials of African-inspired Mexican dishes. You did not know that there were Africans in Mexico? Read this article I wrote for the Los Angeles Times in 2001. Special Menu is shown at the end.
When Hernan Cortes first landed in Mexico in 1519, he brought with [...]
The Acid Treatment: Escabeches and Ceviches
January 13, 2009
ESCABECHES AND CEVICHES
by Zarela Martínez for the Los Angeles Times
June 27, 1996
The first time I ate escabeche is engraved forever in my mind. I was 8 and visiting my grandmother at Santa Anita, her ranch in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, during the cattle roundup. This is the bittersweet time of the year when calves [...]
Tamales by Zarela Martinez for the Slowfood Guide for New York
January 13, 2009
Tamales by Zarela Martinez
It makes me inordinately happy to pick up the phone at Zarela and hear somebody ask, “What’s the tamale of the day?” It wouldn’t have happened when we opened fifteen years ago, because people thought all Mexican tamales were the same thing, blobs of some kind of wrapped-up cornmeal mush with a [...]
Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado, singer, and Frida Kahlo’s Doctor
January 10, 2009
“Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Festival, Alamos, Sonora
Since 1984 this festival has been held in honor of Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (singer of popular music and physician to Frida Kahlo). This 9 day celebration hosts a variety of exhibitions, dance performances, workshops, lectures, musical events, youth education concerts, as well as the sale of regional [...]
Chocolate, Cacao Beans, more Chocolate
January 9, 2009
I get more questions about traditional Mexican techniques and ingredients such as corn, corn masa and chocolate than any others so I’m posting a few of the most interesting Ask Zarela questions and answers regarding the “drink of the gods.”
