Mexico to Brazil

We had a fantastic morning taking a cooking class.

We started with a visit to the market to buy our produce. Our host, Anita, told us about the variety of produce available. For example, there are many varieties of banana, mango, avocado etc whereas at home we only have one. And they all have quite different tastes and textures.

It was interesting listening to Anita talk about her culture. She describes herself as a rebel. Her culture is clearly very important to her but she has broken the mould of what is normal - it is unusual for a women to work in tourism. It has taken time for her to gain the respect of her community but she has clearly done so. It was quite inspiring/challenging hear her explain that, whilst bartering at the market was normal, she never did so as she was blessed earning a good income from her cooking classes and wanted to share this with her community.

Anyway, back to the food. Armed with an amazing array of fresh produce - all harvested locally (or slaughtered, in the case of the chicken) that morning - we stared to prepare our meal.

Today our menu was:
Snacks - guacamole, radish salad, tortilla chips.

Joćon de pollo - a thick, spicy green stew with lots of herbs, veg and chicken. Traditionally families make this dish once a year, when they harvest the corn. They then share it with their neighbours (to share their blessing).
This was served with Guatemalan rice, Tomalito de Chipilin These are a smaller version of tamales, made with a corn dough. In this case the dough is mixed with a plant called chipilin which is a bit like spinach, wrapped in a leaf and steamed.

Rellenitos de Plátano - mashed plantains, filled with a chocolate mix then fried.

A real feast and interesting insight into the local Mayan culture.Läs mer