Mexican cooking has intrigued the world, from Great Britain to India to Argentina and Singapore. And no wonder. With its indigenous charm and European overlay, it is romantic, fascinating, and so delicious that it has become one of only two cuisines singled out by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The other is that of France.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, I've eaten Mexican food since the age of 4, when my parents took me to a neighborhood restaurant where even the beans and rice were extraordinary. Living in this city is like being in Mexico, not a stretch when you consider that until the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Alta California was part of Mexico.
While writing for the Los Angeles Times, I started a phenomenally popular column called Border Line, which presented the first (and possibly only) recipe in Spanish ever to appear in that newspaper.
Later I wrote "Mexican Cookery" (HP Books). The enormous success of that book indicated the great appetite for Mexican cookery in the United States and elsewhere--I once saw a copy in a sidewalk book display in Mumbai.
After that, I wrote a segment of Time-Life Books' "Great Meals in Minutes: Mexican Menus." Rick Bayless also contributed to that book. And in 2004 my article on mezcal in Oaxaca won a James Beard award.
In 2006, I started the blog www.tableconversation.com, which includes Mexican recipes along with those from other cuisines. But Mexican food is so popular and vast in scope that it deserves its own blog.
What is Mexican cooking? Anything from earthy "guisados" handed down over generations to sophisticated interpretations by contemporary chefs.
Mexican women today may cook with canned chiles, powdered stock bases, prepared mole pastes and other ingredients that purists would scoff at. But their dishes are authentic too, because they know the taste.
And so you will find a little of everything in EatMx.com, but all of it will be totally Mexican.
--Barbara Hansen
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