Traditional Mexican cuisine - ancestral, ongoing community… (Mexico)
Nomination: Representative List 2010
EN: MILPA - Milpa or maize plantation, is conformed by various crops grown together and around corn, and is the favorite form of farming in Mexico. For the native understanding the milpa is the representation of the universe in miniature that provides a fundamental source of sustenance.
EN: MILPA - All year round numerous kinds of produce are grown in the milpa. According to the different farming cycle seasons various products add lavishness and abundance to the traditional Mexican cuisine. This traditional system of farming is not just a place of production, but also a distinctive feature of the Mexican culture / Selecting the best flowers and spices for cooking. Angahuan
EN: PRODUCTS OF MILPA- Among the plants grown in the milpa during the corn vegetation period there are beans, pumpkin, chilies, quelites, tomatoes, among others. Most of them are cultivated, but during the year many others grow spontaneously and are harvested / Corn, beans, squash and chiles, the basic elements of the prehispanic diet, at home of the Bautista family. Paracho
EN: NIXTAMAL - "Nixtamalización" is a process of the pre-Columbian origin where dry corn is boiled in water with limestone or another caustic substance. This process modifies the corn and tums it into a nutritious and easy-to-digest dish, the invention that Mexico offers the world / Grinding two types of corn in order to make dough for tones tortillas. Angahuan
EN: TOOLS AND UTENSILS - Many of the tools and cooking utensils used in the traditional Mexican cuisine nowadays come from pre-Columbian cultures. "Metate" used for grinding toasted chilies, pumpkin seeds, peanuts or cocoa beans, is one example.
EN: REGIONAL CULINARY DIVERSITY- The cultural and natural diversity of each region is reflected in every Mexican kitchen. These culinary practices with their peculiarities and techniques developed for centuries giving the Mexican cuisine its distinctive and unique character / The Purepecha diet is not only flavorful, it's eyepopping and aromatic as well. Capacuaro
EN: THE KITCHEN, PLACE FOR SOCIALISING - One can observe family and social relationships in the Mexican kitchen and around the dining table. These represent cultural implications of food in everyday life as well as festivities and rituals / Unwrap the korundas (corn meal tamales) one by one to serve with food
EN: PASSING OVER THE KNOWLEDGE - The transmission of knowledge and values guarantees the cultural continuity of each Mexican family, community and region. Thus, cuisine and its traditions are closely connected to this phenomenon / Mrs. Apolonia Mateo from Tacuro, teaches her granddaughter the way to make tzirita.
EN: FOOD AS A PART OF FESTIVALS AND RITUALS - In Mexico, meals are a social act present in multiple aspects of life, including festivities and rituals. They constitute an integral part of the cultural identity of any community and help strengthening the ties between the people that forrn it / "Because I'm the groom's cousin, I give the bride a loaf of bread in the shape of a doll, so she has many children". Zacan
EN: TRADITIONAL CUISINE, CULTURAL HERITAGE - There are certain patterns in the Mexican cuisine that identify this tradition and characterize a Iifestyle. Among them one can mention the types of food, the time when it is consumed, people it is shared with, its presentation and ceremonial use / Kitchens get families together, we talk of important things when we gather in the kitchen with our children and grandchildren. Acachuen
