Diana Kennedy - Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy

OAXACA AL GUSTO

AN INFINITE GASTRONOMY

DIANA KENNEDY

Cover photo by Diana Kennedy

Copyright 2010 by Diana Kennedy
All rights reserved
Printed in Singapore
First edition, 2010

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Originally published in Spanish as Oaxaca al gusto: el mundo infinito de su gastronoma, by la Universidad Metropolitana de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Len, Mexico, 2008.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Kennedy, Diana.

[Oaxaca al gusto, el mundo infinito de su gastronoma. English]

Oaxaca al gusto, an infinite gastronomy / by Diana Kennedy. 1st ed.

p. cm. (The William and Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the Western Hemisphere)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-292-72266-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Cookery, Mexican. 2. CookeryMexicoOaxaca.3. Oaxaca (Mexico)Social life and customs. I. Title.

TX716.M4K46813 2010

641.5972dc22 2010000260

LOCAL AVOCADOS, TAMAZULAPAN MARKET, MIXTECA ALTA/DIANA KENNEDY

This book could never have been written without the generous help of so many people throughout the years 19942005. First, I would like to thank all the wonderful Oaxacan cooks who welcomed me into their kitchens and shared their knowledge so generously and patiently, and without whose cooperation this book would never have come to fruition. They have been named along with their recipes.

I would like to thank Seora Graciela Cervantes and Arquitecta Claudina Lpez for their generous help, both moral and financial, at different stages of the research. I am so grateful to all those friends who have given me such generous hospitality, either in my constant journeys to and from Oaxaca, in the city itself, or elsewhere around the state, including Licenciado Carlos and the late Virginia Barrios in Metepec, Seores Alejandro and Renata Danon in Tepoztln, Licenciado Frederic and Wendy Laffan in Cuernavaca. In the City of Oaxaca: Seora Pina Hamilton de Crdova, Seora Beatriz Hamilton de Garca, Licenciada Amelia Lara, Seores Rodolfo and Norma Ogarrio, Licenciadas Mara Teresa and Rosalba Vargas. In Cuicatln: Licenciado Didoro Carrasco Altamirano and la Maestra Gloria Odriozola Pacheco. In Huautla de Jimnez: Seora Blanca Vda. de Garca and the Seoritas Tern Carrera. In La Esperanza: Seor Eusebio Lpez and his wife. In La Merced de Potrero: Seora Agustina Santiago Ramrez. In Tehuantepec: Arquitecto Gerardo Garca of the Hotel Calli. In Tezoatln: Seores Josu and Aldegunda Andrade. In Tuxtepec: Seora Eva Sacr de Cu. In Zicatela: Seores Rodolfo and Norma Ogarrio and the late Seorita Josie Smith.

There were so many people that I would constantly telephone to confirm the details of an ingredient, a recipe, or a tradition, and among them I am especially grateful to Seora Blanca Vda. de Seor Renato Garca and Seores Valente and Aurora Paraguirre in Huautla de Jimnez; Seora Clementina Baos in Tamazulapan; Seor Alfonso Garca Villagmez from Yododee; Seor Manuel Garca Isidro and his sister Seora Irma Garca in Tuxtepec; and in the City of Oaxaca, Seora Kelly Bolaos and Seora Emilia Arroyo, among many, many others.

I would also like to thank Dr. Marcus Winter and Fray Eugenio M. Torres for their invaluable contributions to the book. Botanists Bob Bye and his wife, Edelmira Linares, of the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (UNAM), Mexicos National University, have always been on hand to answer my queries; to them, and especially to ethnobotanist Gary Martin, who opened the door to what became my particular interest in the wild foods of the Sierra Jurez and La Chinantla Alta, my sincere thanks for their unfailing help and friendship. My thanks also to Pesach Lubinsky, of the University of California at Davis, who enlightened me on the vanilla of Usila, and a very special thank-you to Seora Pina Hamilton de Crdova for her constant help through the many years of research for this book.

DIANA SOUTHWOOD KENNEDYAUGUST 26, 2008

QUESO FRESCO (FRESH CHEESE)/DIANA KENNEDY

It was about 1994 that I was first asked to write a book for the governor of Oaxaca on the traditional foods of that state, but for various reasons, politics among them, the project was never realized. Two more frustrating attempts were abandoned, and it did not get written until about 2003, when I received a definite commitment from a Mexican publisher for a joint project with a U.S. publisher. However, when it was apparent that the style and content of the book were being severely compromised, I broke off negotiations and retrieved my material. Another prolonged delay ensued before I was able to find a publisher that was willing to include the text and recipes from the indigenous areas and not just the more familiar material illustrated with the usual predictably glamorous photographs.

Trying to record the ethnic foods as well as the more sophisticated recipes from the urban centers presented an enormous challenge and responsibility. Oaxaca is the most mountainous and diverse state of Mexico, with many different cultural and linguistic groups, often living in areas difficult to access, and with an incredible biodiversity. Like many authors before me, I am sure that if I had known what it would entail to travel almost constantly through the year, and often uncomfortably, to research, record, photograph, and then cook and eat over three hundred recipes, I might never have had the courage to start the project in the first place.

I am not an academic, historian, anthropologist, or botanist, but just an adventurous cook and a lover of the natural world who delights in the experience of traveling to discover and taste foods, some of which I had only heard about, but many that I was yet to discover in this infinite world of Oaxacan gastronomy. It was an enormous challenge to try to record in words and images these little-knownfoods, both wild and cultivated, the way they were prepared, and the part they play in the daily or festive life of the communities I visited.

Of course, it would take various volumes and many years to do full justice to this fascinating subject, as well as contributions from anthropologists, archaeologists, botanists, and linguists (a pity that local gastronomy does not play a part in their professional training). Nevertheless, in these pages I have attempted to relate something of what I found in my many years of wandering throughout the state of Oaxaca. I realize that there are notable omissions of the specific foods of the Mixe, Zoque, and Amuzgo areas, for example. I only hope that the many wonderful cooks whose recipes I have not been able to include will forgive me. They may not agree with my choices (there are always disagreements and rivalries among cooks about ingredients, quantities, and methods), but I have tried to include the most representative recipes for the foods that I have eaten and cooked in Oaxaca since my first visit there in 1965.