Food of Sahuayo

Food is one of the most distinguishing aspects of culture. Even in the age of globalization, countries and people still define themselves by the food they cook. I've included a selection of some of the food I've encountered. Of course, you can still find McDonald's, breakfast cereals, candy, and packaged food at Wal Mart (Bodega Aurrera) or the pharmacies.

Not everything is exotic. I was already familiar with avocados, jicama, cucumbers, and most of the produce. However, there is some fruit, and some desserts that I have never seen. This list is not comprehensive. There are dozens of other foods that Mexicans prepare. I will try to take photos of every new food I find in the next few weeks.

I've sampled all the food shown here. The only foods I've added to my diet on a regular basis are the chayotes and the guavas. Otherwise, I subsist on the cheap fruits and vegetables, some cereal and pasta, protein powder (available at most pharmacies) and fish.

Sahuayans have a sweet tooth. Here are some photos of the sweets they sell. A grotesque man sits on the corner next to the post office and sells coco in various shapes. I'm not sure what coco is but it's incredibly sweet.

Pilloncillo is nothing more than sugar cones. Just like the coco, it's very sweet. It's sweeter than a date or a fig.

After week at the Tianguis, or the weekly street market, a vendor sells what looks like coagulated cereal. It looks like Rice Krispie treats, excepts it's made with Bran cereal (by the way, Frosted Flakes are Zucaritas in Mexico).

Honey (miel) is also popular. Indigenous people sell it on the street. Bees land on the comb while the vendor scoops it into a jar. Just like coco, it's molded into various forms.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, corn, maize, is a staple of the Mexican diet. It makes tortillas, which form the basis of quesadillas, chalupas, tacos, burritos, and almost everything else. But I had never seen pink corn. It tastes the same to me.

This is more maze that's sold on the corner next to my apartment. It's bland, but it's the principal component of so many dishes here.

The same vendor sells corn paste, or masa. It looks and feels like scrambled eggs.

Mexicans still incorporate squash, calabaza, into their diets, just like the indigenous tribes did for hundreds of years before the arrival of the Europeans. As far as I know, Mexicans don't distinguish between butternut squash, spaghetti squash, or pumpkin. Everything is calabaza.

These are nopalis leaves. The nopalis is a cactus tree. Its fruit, the tuna, is delicious. Ricardo and I made a recipe with Nopalis. You shred the top layer, chop the leave, and then boil it.

You can eat either very unhealthy in Sahuayo (tortillas, helado, coca, miel, or the junk food at the pharmacies), or you can eat very healthy for very cheap. This is a picture of the colorful abundance of fruit in the store of the vendor I visit every week, Aurora. We see grapes (uvas), bananas (platinos), apples (manzanas), peaches (duraznos), oranges (naranjas), and plums (ciruelas).

What you see here is an assortment of vegetables. You can find just about any vegetable you want in Sahuayo (I haven't seen yellow squash, however). Here you can see (from left to right), limes (limons), zuchinni (calabaza verde), chayotes (same word in Spanish, serrano peppers (chilies serrano), and carrots (zanahorias).

Avocados (aguacates), are everywhere. My room mate made some guacamole with serrano peppers. There's an old refran (idiom) in Mexico that goes:

Aguacate maduro, pelo seguro.

Since it's bathroom humor, I'll let the reader figure out the meaning.

Other than corn, I can't think of anything more quintessentially Mexican than beans (frijoles). These are garbanzos. The vendors heat them in a large metal skillit and the smell emanates throughout the street. They're kind of bland, but I see a lot of people munching on them.







One of my favorites, jicama. I calculated the cost. Whereas on the east coast of the United States, it can cost up to $2.00 per pound, here in Sahuayo it costs 15 cents per pound. Transportation and demand are the answers for the difference. Jicama is grown in Michoacan, and it arrives at the market fresh every day. Vendors slice jicama, pour chili sauce, and sprinkle sea salt on top. It's a refreshing snack.

These are chayotes sin espinas. I buy these every day. Unfortunately, they're expensive. Chayotes are hard and have to be cooked. These have already been baked, which is why they're expensive. The flesh is soft, and with a little salt and chili sauce, they're delectable.







Just as with jicama, street vendors peel and chop cucumbers (pepinos), and pour chili sauce and sea salt on top to make a great snack. To the left of the cucumbers are a kind of plum (ciruela). They have a seed in the middle. They're sour and sweet at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed this brief culinary tour of Sahuayo. I will have more photos soon.

Kevin