Food in Puerto

By the time of Columbus, there were at least 150 plants domesticated in the New World. It's hard to conceive of a world without corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chilis, peppers, potatoes, peanuts, pineapples, avocados, papaya, not to mention chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, chewing gum, rubber and cochineal.

These are just some of the wonders that Europeans found in America which changed their world. This month we offer you a modest buffet of local culinary delights.

WHILE MEXICAN COOKING varies from one region of the country to another, no state compares with Oaxaca in the variety of cuisines found within its borders, just as Oaxaca boasts the greatest diversity of flora and fauna, of indigenous cultures, music and artistic expression.

Many of the dishes you will encounter will be familiar; others may cause consternation to those unaccustomed to eating insects or cacti. Dried grasshoppers (chapulines) are a favorite Oaxacan snack and the huge flying ants known as chicatanes which swarm the area at beginning of the rainy season, are enthusiastically scooped up by the hundreds to be cooked in a spicy sauce, a dish that is considered a great delicacy.

The pricky pear cactus (genus opuntia) provides nopalitos, the tender pads that are used in scores of recipes, from soups to stews. In flavor and texture, they are similar to green beans. The same cactus provides the tuna and pitaya, fruits mostly used in drinks and desserts and chayote squash.

But don't be afraid to try something new, you might find it delicious.

Getting Fresh

Papaya, oranges, bananas (at least a half-dozen varieties), tangerines, pineapples and limes are always available. But there are special seasons that are anxiously awaited. The summer months mark the onset of Mango-mania. This juicy fruit has been described as tasting like a resiny peach, or an apricot crossed with a pineapple.

Then there is the whole gamut of tropical exotica: guayabas, chirimoyas, mameys, zapotes, anonas, ciruelas, tejocotes, tunas, to name just a few. Some are used solely in juices and deserts, others are delicious eaten as is.

Bounty of the Sea

Tuna, dorado, snapper, grouper, shrimp, oysters are permanent features on local menus and fish markets.

Just about every local restaurant offers fish in one form or another: a simple caldo de pescado (fish soup); filete (fish filet); or pescado entero (whole fish).

You can order your fish empanizado (breaded and fried); al mojo de ajo (garlic butter), a la veracruzana (Veracruz-style with tomatoes, onions garlic, and peppers ), a la diabla ("devil-style," in a fiery pepper sauce) or en salsa verde (green chili sauce), to name just a few variations,

The more upscale restaurants catering to visitors offer sumptuous dishes such as the Pacific spiny lobster and, a local specialty, pescado empapelado (parchment-wrapped fish -- although it is just as likely to be wrapped in banana leaf or foil) stuffed with shrimp and other seafood.

How Corny!

The essential tortilla begins as corn kernels briefly cooked in a solution of slaked lime and water, are then left to soak until they are soft enough to be ground into a smooth dough, or masa.

The tortilla is formed by hand, press or machine and cooked on a hot, ungreased griddle, comal, until slightly speckled with brown, but still soft and pliable. At this point it is eaten as a bread, or used as an edible spoon.

Wrapped around small pieces of meat, vegetables, or cheese, it becomes a taco in its simplest form. Slightly stale, cut into triangles and fried crisp it becomes a scoop - totópo or tostadita - for guacamole or fried beans.

Stale and dried, cut into pieces and lightly fried, tossed into a sauce and garnished lavishly, it becomes chilaquiles. Whole tortillas can be fried flat and covered with a paste of fried beans, topped with meat and salad to become an edible plate - a tostada.

Even when the tortilla is dried out to a crisp, it can be ground to a rough textured meal and moistened to form a dough for little round, fat cakes - gordas, sopes or chalupas, or savory balls - bollitos - to drop into soup. Raw corn dough can be used alone, or mixed with cheese, potatoes or chiles, and transformed to produce any of these antojitos ("little fancies" or snacks).

Oaxaca is justly renowned for its antojitos. You will see these snacks almost everywhere. They are almost invariably made of masa (corn dough) stuffed or topped with cheese, beans, salsas, meat, potatoes, etc. Unlike the greasy antojitos of other parts of Mexico, a majority of those made in Oaxaca are cooked on an ungreased griddle, a comal, not fried.

The most traditionally Oaxaqueñan, and one of the most popular, of these delicious snacks is called a tlayuda. This is a giant tortilla prepared like a "Mexican pizza", others are sopes, chalupas, picadas, molotes and empanadas.

Taquerías "taco shops" have a variety of tacos with fanciful names such as alambre "wire", sincronizadas "synchronized", gringas, mula terca "stubborn mule" among others.

Many typical restaurants also serve pozole, a hearty pork or sometimes chicken based soup with tender hominy corn. It comes fairly bland with a plate of seasonings that you add according to your taste: onions, oregano, lime, chili, chili powder.

Holy Mole!

There are seven moles that originated in Oaxaca:

• mole negro
• mole colorado
• mole coloradito
• mole amarillo
• mole verde
• chíchilo negro
• mancha manteles

Mole is usually a rather complex concoction so they are often prepared in large batches and sold in paste form at the markets.

The word mole comes from molli, which means sauce or stew in the Azrec language, Nahuatl. Although some moles have a small amount of chocolate, mole is not a chocolate sauce as many North Americans think. Aside from their smooth consistency, one thing all moles have in common is chili peppers, some as many as five different varieties. The rest of the ingredients include red and green tomatoes, garlic, onion, sesame, squash seeds, almonds, pecans, anise, peanuts, and bread crumbs among many others, and vary depending on the type of mole.

All of these dishes are virtual throwbacks to the complex (and to our palates unusual) combinations of ingredients that were common in this part of the country before the arrival of the Spaniards.

None of the dishes is particularly hot, but they have a complex, haunting flavor that speaks of cultures long gone, but not entirely forgotten.

Other Flavors

On many menus you will find dishes like enfrijolada, entomatadas, enmoladas and enchiladas, these are sautéd tortillas soaked in bean, tomato or mole sauce and dressed with white cheese, raw onions and parsley. You will also find dishes such as salsa de queso, salsa de huevo, salsa de chicharron these are cheese, egg or pork cracklings cooked in a tomato-based chilie sauce.

Many of the sauces you'll see on menus are named for one of the many different kinds of chilies used, chipotle, poblana, pasilla or guajillo, for example.

The unique smoky flavor typical of many of the dishes comes from roasting the chilies and tomatoes over a flame before they're blended into the sauce. Herbs provide other distinctive Oaxacan flavors: Hoja santa, epazote, chepil and pitonia are among the staples used by Oaxacan cooks.

About beverages

Atole is a refreshing drink made from rice. The aguas sold by the street vendors are made from fresh fruits, sugar and purified water and are a staple here. Among the favorites are jamaica, a kind of hibiscus, sandia - watermelon and coco, coconut milk. Some vendors also offer tepache, slightly fermented cane juice.

For me, one of the great pleasures of Mexico is the juguería, the fresh juice bar. Most have on hand a score or more of fruits and vegetables that they will juice to your order. Papaya, piña, mango, mandarin, delicious!

They can also fix you a pick-me-up for whatever ails you. Throw in some beets, celery and mint . . . well, you get the idea. Want to lose weight? Try a shake with nopalitos.

And then, of course, there's the famous mezcal, a highly potent spirit distilled from the agave.

Special Diets

Vegetarian food is available, as is vegan (Santa Fe, Tabachin & Arco Iris e.g.. Many of our advertisers will try to accommodate your special needs. Atkins? No problem just ask them to hold the rice, potatoes, bread and tortillas. Cholesterol concerns? If you want a white omelette, ask for it: sin yema.