Bring Mexico City’s Street Foods, Markets & Fondas into Your Kitchen with ‘Eat Mexico’
By Joanna Prisco
Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week is Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas by Lesley Tellez, author of the widely acclaimed food blog The Mija Chronicles.
Born in California and raised within a Mexican-American home, Tellez rediscovered her culinary roots when she moved to Mexico City in 2009, finding herself uncontrollably drawn to the various sidewalk vendors preparing meals from ingredients and vegetables she had never seen before.
“On almost every other street corner, a trompo, or roasting spit, lay stacked with orangey red marinated pork, cooked until juicy and blackened in spots,” Tellez writes in the introduction to Eat Mexico. “Men in aprons and triangular hats worked fast, slicing meat off the cylinder of pork and catching it in cupped hands lined with tortillas. “Con todo?” Yes, please. On went pineapple and a pinch of cilantro and onion. Underneath went the gray paper and plastic plate.”
Carrot Tacos
So began Tellez’ exploration into her culture’s rich culinary history. After years of documenting her adventures on her blog, Eat Mexico arrives as an authentic collection of more than 100 recipes, and on-location photography, that brings her sidewalk travels to life in the kitchens of home cooks anywhere.
“This cookbook is an earnest attempt to capture Mexico City’s informal food scene, which has continued to fascinate me since those early days in 2009 when I arrived,” Tellez explains. “What this book is not is a definitive guide to all of Mexico City’s food.”
But she will whet your appetite with dishes such as Carrot Tacos, Chicken Enchiladas, Tomato Milpa Pie and an exciting, emerald-tinted Chorizo Verde.
Impatient foodies, be ye forewarned: the preparation should be savored as much as the resulting dish, Tellez advises.
“Many of the recipes in this cookbook require some patience to prepare,” she acknowledges. “There are very few shortcuts in Mexican cooking, which is one of the things I like about it! … When preparing Mexican food, it’s not about speed or how perfect the plate looks in the end — it’s about the steps themselves, and taking pleasure in both the process and the result.”
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