Congrats Mexico!!
UNESCO will meet next week to accept Traditional Mexican Cuisine on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It is the first cuisine to receive this distinctive honor!
Here's what the committee had to say:
"Traditional Mexican cuisine is a comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral community customs and manners.
It is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting
and harvesting to cooking and eating. The basis of the system is founded on corn, beans and
chili; unique farming methods such as milpas (rotating swidden fields of corn and other crops)
and chinampas (man-made farming islets in lake areas); cooking processes such as
nixtamalization (lime-hulling maize, which increases its nutritional value); and singular utensils
including grinding stones and stone mortars. Native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes,
squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla augment the basic staples. Mexican cuisine is
elaborate and symbol-laden, with everyday tortillas and tamales, both made of corn, forming
an integral part of Day of the Dead offerings. Collectives of female cooks and other
practitioners devoted to raising crops and traditional cuisine are found in the State of
Michoacán and across Mexico. Their knowledge and techniques express community identity,
reinforce social bonds, and build stronger local, regional and national identities. Those efforts
in Michoacán also underline the importance of traditional cuisine as a means of sustainable
development."
It is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting
and harvesting to cooking and eating. The basis of the system is founded on corn, beans and
chili; unique farming methods such as milpas (rotating swidden fields of corn and other crops)
and chinampas (man-made farming islets in lake areas); cooking processes such as
nixtamalization (lime-hulling maize, which increases its nutritional value); and singular utensils
including grinding stones and stone mortars. Native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes,
squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla augment the basic staples. Mexican cuisine is
elaborate and symbol-laden, with everyday tortillas and tamales, both made of corn, forming
an integral part of Day of the Dead offerings. Collectives of female cooks and other
practitioners devoted to raising crops and traditional cuisine are found in the State of
Michoacán and across Mexico. Their knowledge and techniques express community identity,
reinforce social bonds, and build stronger local, regional and national identities. Those efforts
in Michoacán also underline the importance of traditional cuisine as a means of sustainable
development."
For those of you who haven't enjoyed the traditional cuisine, highlighted in Michoacán, it is spectacular and not something to be missed! I think I could move to Michoacán to enjoy corundas and atole! Michoacán is truly a trip of a lifetime: the food, scenery, folk art, and people are truly incredible.
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Amber Pierce-Schulz is the Broker/Owner of Mayan Riviera Properties, specializing in Puerto Morelos Real Estate and Puerto Morelos Vacation Rentals. We are members of AMPI and Federally Certified Realtors.
