The Culinary Meteor of Mexico

There is a new star of North American cuisine - Gabriela Camara.She is not only known for her amazing restaurants but also her amazing treatment of her staff. People will be knowing more of her story thanks to a new documentary about her along with a new cookbook.

Julia Moskin wrote about Chef Camara in today's New York Times Food section. The chef is becoming something of a luminary , thanks to an extensive article in this month's Vogue by Bob Haskell.   Her twenty year old eatery, Contramar,  became the Union  Square Cafe of Mexico City.It was the place to be both seen and enjoy delicious dishes. Her restaurant in San Francisco has garnered long lines and filled dining rooms. Now she is moving back to her native Mexico City where she will also be a member to a new Council of Cultural Diplomacy, composed of people who bring global prestige to Mexican culture. The groups includes artists and academics of all sorts, such as the architect Enrique Norten along with other luminaries such as the renown ballerina Elsa Carillo Cabrera and the first female president of the Colegio de Mexico. She also will advise Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a lifelong family friend, on food policy. He has also appointed her to oversee the country's tourism board which she has whittled down tremendously.

That aside, Chef Camara is an excellent chef , with absolutely no cooking school background . For her restaurants she has recreated her favorite dishes from the Mexican west coast. She spent her childhood at beach side restaurants , enjoying the combination of seafood and local spices and produce.There will be tostadas - a kind of crispy pancake topped with raw fish and avocado slivers and hints of chipotle. Her restaurant features butterflied grilled fish painted with red and green salsas and aguachiles - bright citrus-y ceviches. All the elements shine. There is a taco recipe with the article - but not the typical one served in Taco Bell or Chipotle. It is tacos al pastor , the filling is pork tenderloin thinly sliced into slices and shreds. it's marinated in a mix of tangy juices such as orange and lime, zinged up with slew of chiles, from  cascabel to anchos. For the traditional Mexican heat one or two chiles de arbol which offer a bright clean heat. Tomatoes and white onions are added to this as are two staples of the cuisine - oregano and cumin. The peppers are simmered in water and then allowed to soak. Later they're pureed with the other ingredients and then poured over the tenderloin . Marinate overnight and then cook  pineapple with sugar.This will go over the tostada for a sweet and savory festival of taste.

The world is about to experience the best Mexican dishes, thanks to Gabriela Camara. She brings a new spin on old traditions, using ancient ingredients on a new generations of  North Americans. She is more than a representative of her country. She is the bright star of Mexican cuisine.

Food Treks

Foodies love to try all sorts of different food. They travel the globe enjoying the flavors of a country. It may be pasta in Tuscany or sushi in Osaka. Travel companies and guides have  up picked up on this and now offering food based trips. It goes far and wide, from walrus meat in Siberia to blackeyed pea stew in Ghana.

New York Times restaurant critic ,Ligaya Mishan, took a break from writing reviews to explore the new trend in foodie traveling. We have Anthony Bourdain to thank for this adventurous spirit. He gave Americans the courage and curiosity to go off the beaten path while on vacation and sample street fare and trying tasting menus in private homes. Attempts to follow Chef Bourdain's itinerary are typically orchestrated by by small, indy tour operators. They also have roots in the place so they know to bring visitors to home chefs selling pho from their kitchens or small business owners that also make sandwiches or kabobs on  a small stove at the back of their shops.Now international tour  companies are taking notice and planning their own culinary treks. One of the highest profile  contenders, the Monacan based Silversea, who has just partnered with cruise giant Royal Caribbean has planned a new 596 (!) passenger ship built expressly for culinary voyages.It will have a test kitchen that doubles as a clubhouse. However that launches a year from now in 2020.

Gastro-pilgrims, as they're sometimes called, won't wait. There are so many different tours right now, catering to the whopping ninety-three percent (!)food travelers.These are people who are not satisfied with local buffets. They want cooking  classes in Oaxaca, and even trips to floating markets like the one in Kashmir. More and more tour operators are  also trying to give these travelers a sense of substance of the lives of their chefs and servers.Mexico City food tour coordinator, Rocio Vazquez Landeta of Eat Like A Local is conscious of the class discrepancy between her tourists and the food vendors they visit. She makes a point of paying vendors full price for their goods and time spent making the foods instead of demanding discounts like other tour guides do. She has also hired an English tutor for the vendors' kids who at eight and eleven, are already working with their parents.She tips them for weekend tours they conduct.Then there is Mona Boyd, the Arkansas born founder of Landtours in Accra, Ghana. She arranged for small tour groups to not only dine with local home chefs but also to cook with them. An informal setting like this can foster a more candid cultural exchange. However , all homes and situations have to be vetted. Tourists can't get sick drinking unpurified water or freak out when they see the home chef accidentally drop the main course on a dirty floor.

It's now possible for foodies to travel the world looking for their wildest culinary adventures.The world is their oyster. Literally.

Patti Jinich's Chalupa Moment

Would it surprise anyone that famed Mexican chef, Patti Jinich , has never been to a Taco Bell, She hasn't - and with good reason. Why settle for mediocre fast food when you can create the authentic , tastier version at home.Yet, as the intrepid food authority she is , she went

Kim Severson wrote about Ms. Jinich's first trip ever to the Taco Bell near her home in Chevy Chase,Maryland.It did not go well. She, Ms. Severson and two of her three sons made  a visit to this staple of American fast food.Like Chinese- American and Italian -American dishes, Taco Bell's offering are a pale version of what is actually cooked in Mexico.It's kind of like how we overly  celebrate Cinco de Mayo,which is  just a small holiday there. Ms. Jinich ordered nineteen (!) items to try,all suggestions from her fans. The first was a  ground beef taco in a soft tortilla.Maybe it needed salsa. She tried all four of Taco Bell's salsas  on it and that didn't help.Then there was the chicken chalupa which Ms Jinich declared to be only marginally better. She could see being super hungry and eating it then. The one that finally got her approval was the Dorito Locos Taco Supreme. You have to wonder if she got the Mexican pizza sauce and red strips - the last questionable. (it could be dyed red taco strips). She briefly wondered why is it would called supreme which  is nothing more than an upgrade of sour cream and chopped tomatoes. In the end , her youngest son, Julian or Juju got sick from the food.

It's no wonder. As he told Ms. Severson. he has the best Mexican food at home. Why should he go to Taco Bell. He is right. His mom was beneficial in bringing , true Mexican food from the many different regions to American kitchens. Cooking is in her blood, thanks to her family, especially from her father who ran two restaurants in Mexico City. It did take her a while to grow into it, being a serious and studious child who grew up to receive her master's in Latin American studies at Georgetown University. She wrote policy papers for Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. From there she realized she was more interested in food research than policies.Ms. Jinich enrolled at  night school the L'Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda Maryland and  new career opened up for her.After creating a culinary program on Mexican cuisine at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington DC. After conquering crippling stage fright it was onto TV. She went first to the Food Channel, which was not for her and switched over to the more serious PBS station. There she could not only introduce Americans to true Mexican cuisine but also the history of such classics as flan and dulce de leche. Her cookbooks, a must for any cooking enthusiast, show the real side. rich with chorizo and native chiles.It is certainly not the garishly colored, intensely flavored Taco Bell offerings.

Ms. Jinich hopes Americans discover real Mexican cooking. It is one flled with ancho chiles and mole sauce. It's not one loaded with cheese and strange ingredients.

The Other Mexican Food

People are probably downing fajitas and margaritas like crazy today , thanks to it being Cinco de Mayo. Yet there's a side of Mexican food that hasn't been turned into American fast food.It's the true cuisine, both indigenous and European influenced, and equally as delicious as its' more popularized sibling dishes.

Mexican cuisine is one of the oldest in the world. The ancient Mayans lived in an agricultural society where they cultivated corn but also foods seen on the modern table such as tomatoes , squash, sweet potatoes and even turkey. Like the US, a variety of different nationalities arrived, mostly, the Spanish but also French ,German, Chinese,African and Lebanese. They left their mark on various dishes and influenced many a recipe. Also like the US, true Mexican cuisine is also swayed by the regions or states. A popular dish in Mexico City is the torta, a kind of hero chock full of shredded chicken or beef along with avocados and, beans.It's drowned in queso or cheese sauce and chili sauce. Some bolder Mexican City foodies hang out at  restaurants featuring pre-Columbian cuisine such as insects.Barbacoa, taken from the Taino tribes of the Caribbean is also popular. This is slow cooked beef or sheep highly flavored with onions and cilantro.This is also popular in northern Mexico where most of the dishes are meat dominated. Northern Mexicans can enjoy arrechara or skirt steak along with cabrito, roasted goat. A favorite meal is machaca, spiced shredded brisket served in flautas or smaller tortillas.

Central Mexico also has its' own cuisine. The state of Oaxaca, located on the Pacific coast and was the first area to have different cuisines mix and fuse.Still western Mexican cuisine is also influenced by the indigenous groups of  Mixtecs and Zapotecs.Its' cooking is mostly pork and chicken , highlighted with their adaptation of mozzarella cheese (brought in by the Spanish) also called Oaxaca cheese. Mole is big here and there are seven variations of this tasty chocolate infused sauce. Cocoa is big here and it's also made into a hot drink spiked with almonds and cinnamon. The state of Veracruz is perched on Mexico's Caribbean coast and the area's influence is clearly seen in the food. Papayas and other tropical fruits are turned into milkshakes called licuados. Seafood is also big here, especially shrimp along with Spanish influenced fish dishes.One of the most distinct cuisines of the country is from the Yucatan peninsula.  There is a strong French and Middle Eastern sway here although the Mayan culture is present in many dishes. More so  than any other cuisine, fruit figures prominently in many recipes. Spanish bitter oranges and tamarinds plums are popular ingredients.

Mexican food isn't just overstuffed tacos and cheese soaked nachos. Like any country's cuisine, it is full of complex flavors and textures. There are native and foreign influences marrying together to create interesting food and drink. This is Mexican food.