A few weeks ago I stumbled across a neat little pamphlet put out by SAGARPA, Mexico’s agriculture ministry. Transparency around food isn’t exactly common here, so I was surprised to see a neat, organized chart listing the seasonal availability of some of Mexico’s most popular ingredients.

I checked out the accompanying website when I [...]

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I finally brought them home from cooking school. On the upper-left corner of the metate, you can still see the stains from the cacao beans from the time we made chocolate from scratch.

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Red taquería-style salsa

On December 19, 2011 By

For awhile now, I’ve liked green salsa more than red. Green was always brighter, more acidic. A drizzle on my taco set off sparks on my tongue. And when the salsa had avocado, as green taquería salsas often do here, I wanted to curl up and take a nap in its creaminess.

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On graduating from cooking school

On December 12, 2011 By

A year and a half later, it’s come to an end. I’m now the owner of a diploma in Especialización de Gastronomía Mexicana from the Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana in Mexico City.

I should’ve been excited at graduation last week. Instead I was nervous. What if I wouldn’t get my diploma after [...]

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Rio de Janeiro – A photoset

On December 5, 2011 By

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On my second day in town I booked a tour with Around SP, a small company in São Paulo that offers tours of the city’s cultural sites. I told my guide, Luis, that I wanted a culinary tour, so we zoomed off in his car one morning with plans to hit some of the [...]

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A few thoughts on São Paulo

On December 1, 2011 By

I didn’t know anything about São Paulo when I arrived there last week.

Crayton had told me it was big, but I didn’t expect how big: skyscrapers and high-rise apartment towers, a solid chain of them, squeezed together end-to-end on the horizon like a mountain range. Multi-story buildings loomed against the highways. More [...]

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Feasting on birria in Jalisco

On November 24, 2011 By

My story for Spenser magazine on where to eat birria in Guadalajara and Jalisco is finally up. Check it out — here’s a link to the article — and let me know what you think!

Spenser is a new food magazine based in LA. You can follow them on Twitter [...]

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