FoodMad NoMad

I started this food journal of sorts on the 7th of February, 2020 having been in Mexico for a couple of weeks ay the beginning of 'phase 2' of our journey. Phase 1 was the prior eighteen months that I spent travelling with my partner, Jen, primarily in South America. We had sold our previous van that we drove around Chile and Argentina for nine months, and made our way back up towards the US where we planned to get our flight home to the UK with intention to continue travelling in Europe or Asia.

On our way back North, we realised that we felt we still had too much to see in the parts of Mexico, Central America and South America that we had missed, so we cancelled our flight home and bought another van in Seattle, beginning the next phase: a mission to drive to Chile.

Whilst I documented the journey from the start, in journals, and later, in a book, I had limited coverage of my food exploits. Given food has been such a passion of mine since an early age, that disappointed me a little, so increasing my long-standing engagement with food, and combining that with a new-found love of writing became an important change that I wanted to make as we headed South into Mexico and the beginning of a new chapter. Rather than just amend my other outlets of writing to include more about food, I wanted to do something distinct in style and a separate entity to allow me to explore the subject in a more focused manner, and in an open forum.

The idea is that I have a better record of things to help with future ideas for building a life in food, and that in doing so, I push myself to be more adventurous with what I eat; pursue learning more recipes for cooking myself and sharing and, perhaps most importantly, talk to local people more about them, their relationship with food and the history. In these parts of the world, the connection between the food itself, the act and rituals of eating, the history, and community is much more prevalent than at home in the UK, so I want to bring these ideas to the surface to pay them the respect they deserve, and enjoy the experience that it brings. If it so happens that it offers an interesting read for people, then that's a nice ancillary benefit I suppose.

I'll likely eventually turn it into a properly written story of food, places and people, interspersed with recipes. For now, a journal is right for me. I will need to up my camera skills, that's for sure.

As for the changes I need to make to pay the subject the respect it deserves, I'm still building my confidence in how much I talk in detail with people, but I'm getting there. I don't find it easy to strike up a conversation with someone serving me tacos at a stand, when my Spanish has limits and it's an intricate topic with much of the real depth being in the subtlety of language which I may not get all of. I even feel nervous just taking photos of food being made in front of me. But I must persist and experience discomfort to do this right. On other fronts, I'm being much bolder with my ordering of food, and I've started to learn more about cooking some of the things I've been enjoying eating, so it's already changing my journey for the better, as I hoped it would.

This development in purpose around writing isn't without its difficulties over and above nerves of trying to talk to people more. The fact that it's involving eating meat is perhaps the primary conflict for me. I was vegetarian, with a few notable exceptions, for a year before leaving the UK. I found it hard to keep to veggie when travelling, as choice can be an issue, especially in Southern Chile and Argentina. Whilst I could have made this about finding joy in vegetarian food along the way, I felt that wouldn't be the real story of food and the people here. For the most part, vegetarianism just isn't in the vocabulary in Latin America. So, I've made the choice to try to put my guilt about it to the side for now, but to always seek out authentic veggie food, and try to develop vegetarian versions of meat dishes we love from our journey. I'm sure that, as was the case in the first phase of our journey, we'll refrain from using meat when cooking in our van, with very few exceptions- it keeps us balanced and still contributing a bit towards something we care about, and it also pushes me to get creative on the veggie front.

Another difficulty is that I know this will be a pain in the ass for my partner, Jen, who already has to deal with me obsessing about food on a daily basis. Now she's going to have to endure me writing about it and talking about it more, and wanting to go on all kinds of forays. It's all part of the adventure.

Lastly, and maybe the biggest hurdle on my nerves, is following through with my intent to work in some kitchens along the way- for free if necessary- as I'll get so much more from that, and the opportunity for that to change my course in life is so massively increased that it would be stupid not to, just out of fear.

I sometimes daydream about what this could turn into, not so much in terms of the writing itself, but in what it will bring in the way of intrigue, connections, opportunity and adventure. I realised about a year ago, whilst eating a lovely meal in the town of Futaleufu in Southern Chile, that really, I need to be working in food. I don't know in exactly what form, and I also don't know when- by travelling, we're currently spending all the money we would need to put towards any business. As things stand, we likely have about 2-3 years of travel left, which will hopefully include some time in Asia, so that's a long time for things to develop.

My primary focus as a cook at home was more in fine dining/precision dishes. I occasionally worked in the kitchen in Glasgow's best restaurant (in my opinion) to learn more about high end cookery. Whilst I still see that as my true passion, I'm clearly absorbing influence from all these other cuisines along the way, most notably so far, in Peru where the food was outstanding.

So I wonder what all of it will add up to. All these stories, all these flavours, all these connections. All these ideas, really. Right now, I can imagine opening a place back home in the UK that serves up Latin American food done proper- something I feel is lacking somewhat. But who knows, it could be anything from that to running a seasonal street-food stall on a tourist beach in Mexico (a current idea). Right now, all I can do is invest my energy and enjoy the adventure by being more bold and curious, and then just see where it takes me.

So, here goes.

Episode 1.

21st Jan- 6th Feb. 2 weeks in and around Ensenada during mechanical work.

I didn't document much in this phase- it was all about getting work done on our truck and dealing with some of the surrounding issues that required attention. We were pretty much stuck; marooned in out mechanic's garage out of town. So, primarily, we lived off tacos pastor (think spicy marinated and grilled meat) from the place next door- tasty, and at $5 for 10, an absolute steal. Some days, we ate breakfast at the other place next door, sitting next to truckers. Usually that was scrambled eggs with machaca- shredded beef.

In town, before leaving, we had some interesting ceviche- tasty, but not a patch on Peru. And we had Baja style fish tacos- the Baja bit is that they're done in crispy batter.

The thing which I used to find a bit depressing about Mexican food was that, in terms of street eats, at least, it's all about the same set of ingredients, just rearranged differently- tortillas of some kind; meat; chillies; onions; cilantro; lime; tomatoes (red and green); tomatillos; fresh cheese etc etc. I always say that I'm sure the Mexicans have exhausted the mathematical possibilities for different ways to assemble these things. But now, I like that. I feel like it means that I'll always be able to find what I need to make authentic food and try to replicate what I'm eating and learning- our first foray into the supermarket in Ensenada was a treat- just the size of the Chilli section was enough to make me feel emotional.

I know that home cookery in Mexico is about a lot more than tacos and the rest- soups, stews, moles etc, and that it will vary by region as we start to move, so I'm excited about the variety that will come, but looking forward to trying to really nail some of the street eats as that works well for us living in a van, and I'm sure it'll bring a lot of pleasure to those who we feed. Read more