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| Romerillo, 2014 |
Like most holidays, Day of the Dead is
food-oriented. It actually has two purposes though: 1) traditional foods
and favorites for the living; 2) favorites of the ancestors. One of my
first experiences of seeing people cater to the dead was at the
Romerillo Cemetery, just outside San Cristóbal de las Casas for the Day
of the Dead ceremony in 2014.
Families served Coca-Cola, water, Pox
(the local liquor), and beer to the spirits while cleaning the graves
and communing with them and others. We’ll talk more about Romerillo in
an upcoming post.
Coca-Cola … Coke is big in
Mexico … Mexican Coke. I’ve been told that Mexican Coke is made from the
original recipe that contained cocaine. Nothing seems to confirm that
theory, but there is a difference and Mexican Coca-Cola has a loyal
following both in the United States and across Europe. When New York
Magazine did a taste test between the standard American Coca Cola and
it's popular Mexican cousin, it's trained taste testers said Mexican
Coke has "a more complex flavor with an ineffable spicy and herbal
note", and that it contained something "that darkly hinted at root beer
or old-fashioned sarsaparilla candies".
One source says the difference "comes
down to the different ways in which Coca Cola is sweetened. The
sweetness in modern day soft drinks comes from a very common ingredient
called high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, is
made by breaking down the carbohydrates in corn maize and adding special
enzymes to encourage the starch to turn into sugars. Then after some
purification and filtering you are left with the thick and sweet syrup
known as high fructose corn syrup.
Mexican Coke is the only Coca Cola in the world that uses natural cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup! Unfortunately, it is becoming so popular in Mexico that obesity is on the rise.
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| Hacienda Blancaflor in Campeche |
One of the women I talked to about this post was Chef Linda Harley, affectionately known to most of us as AbueLinda who
is passionate about sharing the diversity of Mexico through its unique
culinary culture. I wanted to hear about something beyond mole so she
told me about her time refurbishing Hacienda Blancaflor and a dish she
calls Pibi Pollo which is a Mayan dish of chicken, beef and pork baked
in a masa crust underground.
The dish traditionally represents the entire cycle of life and death and is described as: salty and acidic flavor, its texture is
crunchy on the outside but very soft on the inside, the sensations it
causes are part of a homemade meal. You can accompany it with a garnish of green salad, which part of balancing your food, will bring color to your plate. Recipe here (in Spanish).
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| Mole |
Mole ... I had mole in the US
once ... yuck!! Never again I said to myself ... until chef AbueLinda
pointed out what she said were the best carnitas tacos in the area.
Since they were right there at the Wednesday mercado where I go every
week, I decided it was time. Mole was one of the sauces available so I
decided to try it. OMG! I don't even know how to say how good it is.
The legend of mole
The origin of mole symbolizes Mexico’s
blend of European and indigenous Aztecan culture after the Spanish
conquest. Legend has it that mole began 300 years ago in Puebla, Mexico
in the poor convent of Santa Rosa. The nuns were scrambling to
prepare a special dinner for the visit of the archbishop. They killed an
old turkey and
threw together scraps of chili peppers, spices, stale bread, nuts, and
chocolate to season the meat. (In some versions, the chocolate or spices
were accidentally knocked into the dish, but the nuns had no time to
fix it.)
Delighted and curious after the meal, the archbishop asked for the
name of the dish. The nun said, “I made a mole,” – a Spanish
pronunciation of the Aztecan word molli or mulli, meaning sauce/mix – the first international dish created in the Americas.
Mole is a complex dish that requires
many ingredients which are toasted and ground together. It is
traditionally reserved for special occasions, because of the labor and
time-intensive preparation (although you can purchase prepared pastes
that simplify the process a great deal). Read more about Oaxacan mole and mole poblano.
Who eats the altar food?
Mole and many of the other traditional
dishes are complex and made in big batches. Food to honor the ancestors
is often made in a small container and left on the altar on November
2nd. Who eats the food is a common question. And, one answer is that
after the ancestors have sucked the essence from the food, the rest is
tasteless and can be discarded.
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| Sugar skull cookies |
Sugar Skulls … Skulls were a
frequently-used design element in ancient Mesoamerica. The human skull
was a symbol of life and death, and skulls were sometimes displayed on
racks, or walls called tzompantli. The significance of these skull racks
is not completely known; it's been postulated that they may have been
altars and venues for ritual, or used to demonstrate military prowess.
Sugar was introduced to the Americas in the 17th Century. In ancient
times it's possible that skulls were shaped out of amaranth. You may
come across amaranth skulls and chocolate skulls nowadays, as well as
other figures associated with Day of the Dead, including coffins,
skeletons and crosses. Sugar skulls are not usually eaten, but placed on
the altar. (Sugar Skull cookies: http://cookieconnection.juliausher.com/clip/sugar-skull-cookies)
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| Pan de muerto |
Pan de muerto … bread that is designated pan de muerto
varies regionally, most commonly it is a round, sweet bread with shapes
on top which are suggestive of bones, often either sprinkled with sugar
or sesame seeds. Wheat was introduced by the Europeans, it was not
present in ancient Mesoamerica.
The significance of bread in the Catholic religion as symbolizing the
body of Christ may be a factor in the importance of bread for this
holiday. The bread is said to represent the deceased.
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| Candied Pumpkin cooked over open fire |
Calabaza en Dulce - Candied Pumpkin Although the Halloween jack-o-lantern is becoming
more pervasive, it's not the usual presentation for squash during Day
of the Dead. A pale orange-yellow squash with a hard shell called calabaza de castilla
is much more common than the dark orange pumpkin, and it is usually
cooked until it's soft with brown sugar and cinnamon, rather than cut
into a jack-o-lantern or used in pies.
Hot Chocolate - Chocolate is
native to Mesoamerica. The beans were ground and consumed in prehispanic
times as a hot drink, but unlike today the ancients drank their
chocolate spicy, not sweet. In the past the cacao was ground on a metate
(grinding stone), but nowadays it's usually ground in a special mill.
The Day of the Dead season is when the weather starts to get colder, and
hot drinks are favored at this time of year. Besides hot chocolate,
atole and champurrado are also popular Day of the Dead drinks.
Fruit - There are a few different
types of fruit that are associated with Day of the Dead. Nisperos (or
loquats) are a fruit that originated in Asia but have become popular in
Mexico and are in season right around Day of the Dead. They are enjoyed
at this time of year and are frequently used to ornament Day of the Dead
altars. Some other fruits that are often present on Day of the Dead
altars include oranges, bananas and tejocotes (hawthorn).
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