Mexican cuisine is in renaissance

Monday, 16 December 2013 00:10 
THE NEWS

Mexico’s traditional food has attracted more domestic and international interest since it was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2010, Catherine Good, a researcher with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), said on Sunday.

Good’s comments were made at the “Sabores de Nuestro Saber” (“Flavors of Our Knowledge”) contest in Bogotá, which awards research into the culinary traditions of Latin America.

“The impact has been very big,” she said. “Now the whole world wants to know more about traditional culinary experiences at the personal, family and community level.”

According to Good, since its 2010 recognition by UNESCO, there is now a renewed interest in traditional food among Mexico’s urban population, who increasingly want to learn about how the ingredients they use every day are produced.

“There’s a great appreciation for the sophistication of cooking in rural areas, because it’s part of a pre-Hispanic cultural relationship that also incorporates elements from the colonial period,” she said. “Traditional cooking is a creative process in Mexican culture.”

She went on to say that there has been a rise in the number of students at culinary schools who specialize in Mexican food, including professionals in the tourism and communication sectors, which she added shows sufficient interest to deepen research in the country’s culinary traditions.

“In Mexico, chef training is traditionally designed to teach Italian, French, Chinese or Japanese cuisine, without showing interest in traditional Mexican food. This has changed,” she said, adding that Mexican cuisine is valued by all social sectors of the country, without political, ideological and religious distinctions.

Beyond an increase in domestic interest in Mexico’s culinary traditions, Good said that there is also increased interest abroad in the country’s food, which is usually misrepresented by Tex-Mex cooking instead of authentic Mexican food.

“The entire world has had a great interest since the UNESCO declaration,” she said, adding, “The UNESCO declaration has also driven other countries to value their own culinary traditions, to examine what they create in their own kitchens.”

Good said that the 2010 UNESCO declaration has boosted a movement across Latin America to recover the traditional cuisines of each country.

“We have a continental movement, and it’s therefore important for all of the countries of Latin America to work more closely together to understand and exchange experiences relating to each of our traditional cuisines.”