Exploring the connection between life and food in Mexico City. Words and images by Omo & Eulanda Osagiede

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1 Viva Exploring the connection between life and food in Mexico City. Words and images by Omo & Eulanda Osagiede piece of white cloth A fluttered in the light afternoon breeze. On it, someone had scribbled, NO FOTO! RESPETO A LAS VICTIMAS. GRA- CIAS MÉXICO, encouraging people to be respectful around one of the sites where lives were lost in the September 19, 2017 earthquake. A group of children played nearby, running circles around each other, laughing as they kicked up some of the dust that had settled from the destruction. Across the street, a dog walker emerged from a local park, texting on her phone in one hand and with the other, restraining a pack of finely-groomed and excited dogs eager to escape their leashes. In Mexico, death and life are two sides of the same coin. Speaking to CNN Food, Enrique Olvera, owner of Mexico s top restaurant, Pujol, summarised it perfectly when he said, In Mexico, we believe that death is part of life. In La Condesa and La Roma, both trendy neighbourhoods lying west of the historic centre of Mexico City, we saw a few more signs of the aftermath of the earthquake. Yellow police tape marked off a few buildings as unsafe while others showed cracks in their external structure; their inhabitants long gone. However, for the most part, these neighbourhoods appeared to have survived the earthquake without significant destruction to many of the beautiful Art Deco and Art Nouveau buildings on either side of their wide, tree-lined streets. Restaurants invited visitors to dine al fresco and hipster cafés promised Mexico-sourced coffee and free Wi-Fi. From all indications, Mexico City (Cuidad de México) appears to have landed on her feet and was open again for business. Mexico City: A rich cultural tapestry Flying into Mexico City, the view from the sky is of a sprawling and densely packed metropolis surrounded by mountain ranges extending south from the US border. Indeed, Mexico City sits in the Valley of Mexico and 88 House of Coco

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3 is built on an ancient lake bed (Lake Texcoco). This geographical fact is accountable in part for the seismic activity for which the region has a reputation. Pre-Hispanic Mexico City was first recorded sometime in the 1300s as part of the ancient Aztec empire. The centuries that followed saw the city face Spanish conquest, decimation by plagues, rebranding under Catholicism, turbulence from revolutions and wars of liberation, and overpopulation arising from the growth of industry. These successive events and influences have contributed towards creating a rich cultural tapestry and have enhanced Mexico City s status as one of the world s most appealing travel destinations for culture travel. Much of the pre-colonial history is still available to see, either in expertly curated exhibitions in museums like the Museo Nacional de Antropologia (National Museum of Anthropology) or on day trips to nearby archaeological sites like Teotihuacan, a name which means The City of the Gods. It had been a long-time travel ambition of ours to visit Mexico City. We could barely contain our excitement as we began a long weekend vacation with an Pre-Hispanic Mexico City was first recorded sometime in the 1300s as part of the ancient Aztec empire. ambitious plan to see a number of key attractions and sample as much of the local cuisine as our stomachs and time would allow. Buzzing with curiosity and armed with our limited but expanding Spanish vocabulary, we felt confident to explore the city. It also helped that we were easily able to obtain a SIM card (offering 100MB for about 5) from a street vendor to power our Google maps, Uber app (taxis are surprisingly cheap in Mexico City) and browse for travel advice. Getting to know Mexico City through its food culture Visiting a huge metropolis like Mexico City for the first time can be a simultaneously thrilling and jarring experience. Navigating things like the local language and currency conversion is often compounded by more subtle challenges such as understanding local cultural norms, gaining security awareness and getting to grips with the local transportation network. When visiting a city for the first time, we find that food tours are an excellent way to acclimatise ourselves to our surroundings while at the same time experiencing its food culture. Therefore, after checking into the beautifully bohemian Red Tree House in La Condesa, we entrusted ourselves to the knowledge and guidance of Canadian expat and Mexico City local, Robert Hoogeveen who runs Tasty Bites Food Tours. 90 House of Coco

4 We met up with Rob in the adjoining, mostly residential neighbourhood of La Roma (or simply Roma), Mexico City s answer to London s Shoreditch. This trendy, hipster enclave is the place to start your visit to Mexico City, especially if you like your restaurants, cafés, bars, art galleries and architecture within walking distance. Although not famous for its greenery, Mexico City neighbourhoods like Condesa and Roma were designed by the city s intelligentsia seeking beautiful green spaces and quiet tree-lined boulevards to escape the bustle of the city centre. Leafy pedestrian thoroughfares like Avenida Álvaro Obregón, now serve as vital lungs for a city coming to grips with its pollution problems. They also provide much needed leisure and recreation space for the locals. Rob introduced us to our first taste of authentic Mexican cuisine at Fonda Fina where a team led by local chef Jorge Vallejo apply fine dining techniques to regional Mexican dishes. A chitamal starter, stuffed with cheese and chillies and served on a bed of fresh tomato sauce, provided a combination of sweet and sour flavours which were new and exciting to the taste. Mexico City s gastronomy is as diverse as the country itself and its cuisine is made up of a mind-blowing array of traditional ingredients. Chefs like Enrique Olvera are championing a movement to preserve Mexico s culinary traditions in which local varieties of maize play an important part (Mexico has 59 varieties!). Other stops on our food tour included a bakery, street food vendors, and taquerias, all serving different versions of maizebased dishes including sweet breads, tortillas, tacos, and tostadas. However, the recent earthquake was never far from us as we ate our way through local neighbourhoods. A resident of Condesa, Rob shared his own personal experience of the recent earthquake and how the local community immediately sprung into action in its aftermath. After the tremors subsided, precision soon replaced panic, with rescue efforts coordinated between locals and the emergency services to find survivors and retrieve bodies. Food played a central role in helping the community heal in those difficult days. On a residential building, Rob pointed out a sign which read, Comida! Para los brigadistas, policias y personas que esten ayudando ; a message informing rescue workers and volunteers that food was available at that location. We heard moving stories of a res- House of Coco 91

5 taurant owner whose house was damaged but who opened his kitchen and cooked food for the neighbourhood for six days. Our food tour ended with a visit to an ice cream parlour which served a colourful variety of desserts all made from local ingredients. In Mexico, food is never ordinary, not even the ice-cream. Exploring the unconventional life of Frida Kahlo The borough of Coyoacán in central Mexico City is home to Museo Frida Kahlo. This museum is a highlight in a city with an overwhelming number (over one hundred and fifty) of them to choose from. Being one of the most popular museums in the city means that visitors can expect long queues to get in. However, we got tipped off by a local to purchase our tickets online the day before we planned to visit in order to bypass the queues. That tip worked like a charm and soon we were through the gates of La Casa Azul (The Blue House), now a museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo. This is where the enigmatic artist herself lived and worked. As we walked through the rooms on the property, we imagined Frida and her husband, Diego Rivera, walking through the tiny corridors of the house, enjoying afternoon tea in their garden and debating with fugitive Soviet politician Leon Trotsky. Her striking monobrow in her 1939 self-portrait, The Two Fridas, demanded our attention as we entered the section of the house where she and Diego lived. Through images and artefacts, we saw evidence of her traumatic life. Never one to shy away from difficult subjects, Frida s work depicted everything from her physical frailty to her personal tragedies, including her problems with childbirth; a condition arising from a punctured uterus which she suffered in an accident. By using her life as a recurring subject in her paintings, Frida challenged public perceptions of disability, female bodies and sexuality. 92 House of Coco

6 Coco lorem Coco travel ipsum Watching the sunset over Mexico City With our Frida Kahlo curiosity satiated, another Uber ride got us through the crazy Mexico City traffic and into Centro Histórico, the city s historic district. Centro Histórico is reputed to be the largest historical city centre in Latin America, with over 1,000 buildings listed as having historical, cultural, artistic or architectural significance. This part of our travel itinerary required that we set aside at least a whole day if we were to have any chance of seeing a number of attractions in the city centre. However, with the morning already spent, we were content instead to enjoy a late afternoon lunch at Los Girasoles, a restaurant serving modern and pre-hispanic Mexican cuisine, overlooking the grand Plaza Manuel Tolsa. From our vantage point, we watched a group of artisans selling everything from traditional medicine to celebration masks for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). A music trolley soon showed up and began dishing out Mariachi tunes while one member of the band stuck out his sombrero, hoping for handouts. Two disheveled little girls roamed among the crowds unsupervised, looking for nothing in particular. They were a reminder of Mexico s economic divide between the rich and the poor. Just before sunset, we wandered across the plaza towards Palacio de Bellas Artes, intending to get a view of this iconic cultural centre. When it comes to historical architecture in Mexico City, opulence is the word and the Palacio de Bellas Artes is one of the key symbols of that philosophy. With no time to explore the interior of the building itself, we headed to a cafe on the eighth floor of the shopping mall across the street. From there we watched the golden rays of the sun reflecting off the main dome of this stunning Art Nouveau/ Neoclassical masterpiece. We needed no further convincing of Mexico City s cultural heritage...it was sitting right there before us. Travellers to Mexico may be more familiar with coastal destinations like Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cancun. However, for those seeking a sensory cultural experience, Mexico City has enough to both ignite and satisfy curiosity. WHERE TO STAY The Red Tree House, part art gallery/part guest house. Meet other guests over drinks at their nightly happy hour. WHAT TO DO Explore art, architecture and history in some of Mexico City most dynamic neighbourhoods while tasting some of Mexico's most iconic foods with Tasty Bites Food Tours. Private tours available. House of Coco 93