When we think of fruits and snacks with chamoy, tacos al pastor, churros, flan, inevitably, many of us are drawn to an imaginary that makes us consider these foods as part of Mexican identity.
However, learning the history of certain preparations tells us not only about the multiplicity of origins of the foods we consider part of our gastronomic repertoire; it also speaks to the historical processes that triggered their adaptation and presence in what is now considered Mexican.
For example, we have the case of tacos al pastor. 'Pastor' is pork meat with various marinades placed on a kind of spit that rotates so the meat roasts evenly, and is sliced as it cooks. The method of cooking meat on a spit is said to date back to the splendor of ancient Greece. The idea of placing marinated meats with various spices on a spit, according to some, comes from the Ottoman Empire. The democratic döner kebab filled with shawarma represents a variation of this cooking method, originally made with lamb. Today, it is possible to find kebab shops all over urban Europe, one of the most affordable snacks for most people. In Mexico, it is said, tacos al pastor arrived with the large wave of Lebanese immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. Clearly, the marinade made from dried chilies and the addition of tortillas and salsas are local contributions to the döner kebab, transforming it into tacos al pastor, whose combination of ingredients gives it a distinctive flavor compared to its ancestor.
There is also the case of chamoy, which comes from a type of salted and dehydrated peach called see mui in China and umeboshi in Japan. The name in Chinese is pronounced 'si-moi,' phonetically similar to chamoy. It is difficult to establish when it was brought to Mexico, since waves of Chinese immigrants date back to the colonial period, when spices and silk were traded from the East. In Mexico, chamoy was reinvented as a sauce, and, according to historian Rachel Laudan, chamoy brings together the full range of flavors that many Mexicans are fond of: sour, salty, and sweet, all at once.
Reviewing waves of immigration and trade is to delve into culinary history. There are migratory waves that have even territorially marked places anchored to a particular gastronomy. For example, the neighborhood of La Chinesca in Mexicali is a vestige of a whole culture of high-quality Cantonese food. The delicious stuffed cheese, now part of Yucatecan gastronomy, has its origin in export cheeses like edam and gouda produced in the Netherlands. Churros with chocolate, flan, rice pudding, buñuelos are some of the most 'typical' desserts in our country. Besides their Spanish origin, it is relatively easy to trace their Arab roots, due to the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. It is undeniable that this influence marked a turning point not only in cuisine, but also in daily life, arts, and science.
When we review what Mexican gastronomy is, it is pertinent to question what we conceive as such. Not only in the history of the origin of the dish, as shown here, but also in the social and historical processes that make an ingredient, a technique, a way of eating, or a dish anchor itself in the nationalist imaginary. In the end, the national culinary culture of any region is a collection of reinventions, adaptations, reappropriations, and reconfigurations made over time, sometimes over many centuries, other times in relatively short timelines.
— This article was originally published in Spanish by Liliana Martínez Lomelí. Translation generated with AI from the original text.