No burritos in Mexico

A couple of people have been asking me about the food. Yes, it’s awesome. Well, I love Mexican food, so it’s awesome for me. It is an adjustment at first. Pretty much everyone gets “tourista,” or traveler’s diarrhea. (The word literally means “tourist.” I thought that was funny.)

The eating schedule takes a while to get used to as well. Breakfast is early in the morning before school, and usually includes a small plate of fruit and a glass of juice at the minimum. My host mom also makes eggs and pancakes sometimes, and there’s always cereal.

The school has a small kitchen, so students often buy snacks during our 11 a.m. break. They’ll make quesadillas, sandwiches or soup for about $1 to $2. It’s so tempting, especially because it’s so reasonable and so tasty. But I’m trying hard to not eat too much in the morning so I don’t end up having four meals a day. I stock up on granola bars instead.

After classes you go home for the big meal of the day, which is between 2:30 and 4 p.m. It’s not the burritos and chimichangas you’ll find in the states. (In fact, if you ask for a burrito at a restaurant, they might give you a “burrita” which is apparently a ham and cheese quesadilla.) My host mom almost always starts with a soup, then there’s a main course served with tortillas. We’ve had chicken, steak, breaded vegetable patties, squash filled with cheese and garlic salmon. There’s usually a vegetable, rice or beans to go along with that. I haven’t had anything yet that I didn’t like, except for maybe one soup and a cactus salad.

Dinner is more like a snack between 8 and 10 p.m. A lot of times, Sra. Abigail serves quesadillas or tostadas (beans and cheese melted on top of a flat corn tortilla). She also buys some “American” foods like turkey hot dogs or turkey breast for subs. She doesn’t really serve much dessert, maybe canned fruit every so often. So that, plus the scheduled eating, makes me feel like I’m eating healthier. But I think I’m gaining weight from so many starches and breads. I definitely miss all the exercise from dancing that I got in the states, but I’ll also miss this food when I go back home!

Some interesting foods I’ve tried:

Chiles rellenos – Literally, chiles filled with cheese or meat. They’re prepared in such a way that they’re not spicy (unless, of course, you smother them in salsa.)

Tamales – Let me just say that it feels really authentic to eat something right out of a corn husk. Basically, tamales are a portion of corn meal, sometimes mixed with a meat and salsa, wrapped in a corn husk and heated directly in a fire. They can be kind of bland if there’s no meat or sauce in the filling.

Atole – A thick hot drink made with, surprise, cornmeal. It tastes better than it sounds. Sometimes they mix in different flavors, like fruits or caramel.

Ate candy – A Michuacan specialty, this is made by mushing various fruits and heating the pulp with sugar. You can cool the mixture into a block or a decorative mold. It tasted kind of like super sweet applesauce when we tried a fresh batch that hadn’t yet solidified.

Mole – A thick sauce made by grinding up all kinds of peppers. Mole poblano, from Puebla, has cacao in it, which helps cut the spice and gives it a sweet-n-spicy blend. Mole takes a long time to make, so a lot of people just buy it from the supermarket.

Chilaquiles – Tortillas, fried and then cut in pieces and soaked in a red salsa. You can eat them with cheese and sour cream. They’re usually really spicy and have the texture of eggplant.

Gordas – Essentially a ball of dough with beans in the middle, fried and then topped with whatever meat or condiments you want. The word gorda/o is also used to say that someone’s fat – ie: Ella es gorda.

Huevos Mexicanos – Mmmm. Mmmm. Eggs with tomato and onion and sometimes cheese. I think they usually have a kick to them, but my host mom leaves the salsa off since she knows I can’t eat things that are too spicy. Of course, I was surprised when I ordered them at a restaurant and found out they were hot! I’ve also had eggs with a type of shredded beef from Monterrey that’s really good. You eat it on top of a tostada or tortilla.

Sopes – A thicker, usually handmade tortilla that you top with meat or beans or whatever else you like.

Frijoles – I added this not because beans themselves are exotic, but because they way they eat them here is, at least to me. I’ve had beans in eggs, beans on bread, beans in sandwiches, beans in soups, beans in everything! I now crave beans if I don’t eat them every couple of days. I’ll also confess that I recently smothered refried beans onto an otherwise perfectly normal turkey sandwich. You’d do it too if you moved here, I swear. 🙂