photo essay

A photo tribute to Mexican corn

July 31, 2013 by Lesley Tellez

Criollo corn in Milpa Alta, Mexico City.

There’s a saying in Mexico: sin maíz, no hay país. It means without corn, there is no country.

This isn’t really an overstatement — corn has been domesticated in Mexico since at least 2,500 B.C., and it’s still the most important ingredient in the Mexican diet. Corn is used in everything from tortillas to soups and beverages, and the husks (and occasionally fresh corn leaves, when in season) are used to wrap tamales. I’ve even had charred cornsilk in certain types of atole.

Mexico is connected to corn in a way that I can’t fathom as an American who grew up in California. But living in Mexico for four years, I developed a deep appreciation for corn and its history, and its array of colors and textures. Taking pictures of Mexican corn seemed like a natural thing, in my eyes. How else do you capture a thing of beauty?

Here’s a small selection of corn photos from my archives. Feel free to share your favorite corn dish in the comments!

Shedding the papery skins of dried blue corn, to prepare it for nixtamal

Sopa de milpa — corn, squash, and squash blossoms — at a restaurant in Puebla.

Elote cacahuazintle, a variety of corn that’s often dried and used in pozole.

Nixtamalized corn — that’s dried corn treated with calcium hydroxide — in Hidalgo, Mexico.

Purple corn husks!

Elote desgranado, or fresh shucked corn, at the Tuesday market in Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México.

Fresh huitlacoche, still on the cob, also at the Tuesday Santiago Tianguistenco market.

Blue corn esquites with epazote in San Pedro Atocpan, Mexico City.

Fresh, shucked criollo corn in Milpa Alta, Mexico City.

Salting elote near the Alameda Central, Mexico City.

A huitlacoche quesadilla, mixed with corn, at a street stand in Mexico City.

Corn husks drying under the sun, in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca.

Corn drying in the sun in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca.

Reyna Mendoza toasts corn on a comal, in Teotiitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

Grilled elotes at a street stand in Mexico City.

A mural depicting corn stalks in Cacaxtla, a Mesoamerican city in Tlaxcala that flourished between the 7th and 10th centuries.

A mural depicting corn stalks (with human heads for the ears!) in Cacaxtla, an archaeological site in Tlaxcala that flourished between the 7th and 10th centuries.

Honoring the Virgin of Mercy at Mercado de la Merced

October 12, 2012 by Lesley Tellez

One day a year, the vendors at Mexico City’s Mercado de la Merced throw a crazy, wild party to honor the Virgin of Mercy, known in Spanish as the Virgen de la Merced.

Her saint’s day is Sept. 24. On that day and a few days after, the vendors host musical groups inside the market and mount large, gorgeous altars dripping with flowers. The day also coincides with the market’s anniversary, the 55th this year.

I was lucky enough to visit the market with a group of photographers, part of an expedition organized by Luisa Cortés, a neighborhood resident. Cortés said the vendors save money throughout the year to pay for the altars and live music, which can cost as much as $300,00 pesos (roughly $30,000 USD) per aisle inside the market.

The altars lent an eerie beauty to what’s usually one of the most chaotic places in the city. Mostly the vibe was festive and fun. Vendors dished out enchiladas de mole and carnitas, and bands played ballads, cumbia, rancheras.

It was a spectacular day to be there. If you’re in the city on the same day next year, I highly recommend going.

Some photos of the day:

Racheras and squash!

A prayer to the Virgen de la Merced, asking for her to bless the market

Rio de Janeiro – A photoset

December 5, 2011 by Lesley Tellez

The beach in Leblon, where we stayed

They sell bags of these on the beaches -- they're fluffy, donut-shaped snacks that come in salty and sweet flavors.

Sunset overlooking Leblon beach

One of the views from the Christ the Redeemer mountain

A samba band boarded the little tram that took us up the mountain.

Jack fruit dangled from the trees, outside the windows of the tram near Christ the Redeemer.

Rio has agaves too! These are outside one of the subway stations.

The Escadaria Selarón, a famous set of mosaic steps in Rio's Lapa neighborhood

The colors and flavors of Mexico’s Xochimilco market

April 23, 2010 by Lesley Tellez

My friend Ruth leads culinary tours in Mexico City. Last week, after months of hearing her fabulous stories about the Xochimilco market — where one woman peddles frog-leg tamales, and ladies sell fresh blue-corn tortillas, and green, spicy chile atole sits in a big olla, just waiting to be tasted (this kinda blew my mind… there are savory atole flavors, too?) — I finally booked one of Ruth’s Xochimilco tours, since my mom was in town. And my mom loves food as much as I do, especially if said food is a Mexican gelatina.

A group of us went down in Ruth’s car. Xochimilco lies about 17 miles south of the city center; driving is definitely the easiest way to get there. Public transportation does exist, but there isn’t a direct route. You have to take the metro and then transfer to the Tren Ligero, and then get a cab.

It was a beautiful day, so we parked just a few blocks from Xochimilco’s main church and the market. In front of the car, a man sold embroidered Mexican blouses. (This is when my mom’s eyes started to sparkle. She loves shopping as much as gelatinas.) We bought a few things and then wandered inside the San Bernardino de Siena church, which dates to 1535. It was lovely. Here and there you could see patches of 16th-century murals, which had recently been uncovered in a restoration project.

We bought little cards with the face of the Niñopan, Xochimilco’s patron saint. The Niñopan is another story in himself — he’s a wooden figure of the baby Jesus who’s treated as a living God throughout the city. Different families care for him each year, and they dress him in different outfits. He has parades in his honor. You can even go down to Xochimilco and visit him, just by knocking on the caretakers’ doors. It’s fascinating.

Anyway. The best was yet to come, because then we hit the market.

Now, I’ve seen some markets in my day. But this one. THIS ONE. I think it might be my favorite yet. Yes, even beating out the Central de Abastos.

There were mounds of quelites, stacked on tables. Corn cobs speckled with black kernels. Rows of women selling tortillas and tlacoyos. (At my tianguis, there is just one tortilla stand.) A group of vendors sat outside the market building, displaying the most beautiful produce I’ve ever seen in Mexico City, all of it extremely cheap. And then inside the building: antojitos sizzled on hot comals, and you had to squeeze past them on this narrow aisle, so close to the grill you could feel the warmth of it on your hips. So close to the lady spooning oil onto a gordita, you could have reached out and swiped some with your finger.

In the barbacoa aisle, goat meat with glistening, crispy skin sat inside glass display cases, and goat-head skulls rested on countertops. Vendors yelled, “Take this!” and offered me chunks of soft, greasy goat meat on squares of gray paper. A tortilla maquina churned out corn tortillas, one after the other after the other, so you could have something to eat with your barbacoa sample. An old woman with gray braids sold the tamales de rana, and when I expressed interested, she opened up the husk to show me a meaty, froggy thigh…

All of it was kind of unbelievable. Made me again realize how lucky I am to live in Mexico.

Pictures — a lot of them — below.
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