Oaxaquita my love
This unit’s material was very special to me, I smiled and I cried. Chef Olvera’s Netflix episode made me feel proud to be Mexican. He made me proud and grateful to be born in Oaxaca. After the episode, I watched Rigoberta Menchu’s film, I got frustrated and sad about the injustices she had to experience. The reading about Brocolli (Benson & Fischer, 2007) made me think about the word desire differently.
When Chef Olvera says ” I want to retire to Oaxaca” or “If it were for me, I would have moved to Oaxaca already”. I got goosebumps. I realized how much I miss my family, my food and my culture. The fact that it was Día de Muertos did not help with my nostalgia.
I miss sharing a dish of chapulines (picture 1), I miss drinking a cup of hot chocolate with pan de Muertos, I miss visiting my grandma and eating her frijoles de olla. I miss sharing food with my family. I miss my Sunday enmoladas, and having mezcalinis with my friends.
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, in my home city we have endless issues. Social inequality, poverty, educational backwardness, gender violence, and corruption do not surprise anyone anymore. As citizens, we are always disagreeing. However, no matter your social status, your political view, or your religion, we can all bond over food.
To be honest, I just want more people to know about Oaxaca.
If you are thinking about a trip post-quarantine to Mexico, you should definitely consider visiting Oaxaca. I can assure you, you won’t regret it, and your palate would thank you.
Picture 1: Chapulines, Los Pacos, Oaxaca 2019
Picture 2: Mi maleta antes de volver a Vancouver, Oaxaca 2019
Picture 3: Gusanitos de Maguey, Mercado 20 de Noviembre, Oaxaca 2019
References
Benson, P., & Fischer, E. F. (2007). Broccoli and desire. Antipode, 39(5), 800-820.
Your post is moving, I strongly admire the rich culinary background that different landscapes are housing and how that pulls on our hearts the longer we spend time away from the house of that food.
It is such an emotional story, hearing Enrique ponder relocating to Oaxaca, and knowing that he can do that and the customers will follow, its a lot of existential pressure. Enrique made it look easy.
Hi Sophia-Joe,
Yes, I know he made it sound easy. I am not sure if you know, but he actually did open a restaurant in Oaxaca call Criollo. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/travel/criollo-oaxaca-elrique-olvera-restaurant-review.html
The restaurant is expensive for locals, but it attracts many tourists. I have heard mixed opinions about it. However, I really want to go and try it to build my own mind about it.
Hola Fernanda! Me encanta tu refección! I am very grateful that you shared with us a little part of your life it made me very happy. I am not from Mexico but I can definitely relate to missing the food of the country you are from and missing the people and traditions too. I know how hard can in be to be far from home. One thing that helps me a lot is trying to new recipes that come from my country and learning how to make them to preserve my culture or just from time to time show my friends or just do the tradition that we do back home with me. Maybe you could try making all your favourite food that you made? If you do so, please let me know I would love to see the food that is very dear to your heart! Kat 🙂
Hola Kata,
Podemos hablar en Español si prefieres. I will definitely want to improve my cooking skills. To be honest, I love eating, but my cooking is not great. I am going home for Christmas, and I will try my best to learn at least a couple of recipes that I can make here in Vancouver. I can take pictures and share them in the post! Thank you for your comment on my post!
Hi Fernanda! I could relate to your blog post a lot. My family and I have been blessed in being able to go back to El Salvador each year for Christmas. When we are in El Salvador we eat pupusas to our heart’s content. Due to Covid, we will not be able to spend Christmas with our extended family in El Salvador this year, and as Christmas approaches I am feeling nostalgic.
Also, seeing the picture of your suitcase made me smile, mine also looks like that when I come back to Vancouver!
Hola Fernanda! I loved your reflection, it reminded me of how much I miss my family and all those everyday traditions. This course has evoked so many emotions and so many nostalgic afternoons. Although my life story is scattered around the world, I can agree with you that seeing pieces of my life in the material we learn makes me so proud of where I am from and my life story. Hopefully, in the near future, we can all go back home and spend time with those we love. I also hope that one day I get to visit Oaxaca!