The Most Famous Mexican Food Traditions
Posted on 11. Nov, 2009 by Ken Kudra in Diet & Nutrition
Each country has its own unique food traditions. Mexico is certainly no exception in this regard, with many fascinating (and delicious) Mexican food traditions which are all its own. Some of these Mexican food customs include preparing and serving special recipes for holidays and other important events. Some of these holiday dishes are world famous, while others are lesser known, being rarely seen outside of Mexico.
Mexican Holidays And Recipes
One of the best known of Mexico’s unique holidays is Cinco de Mayo. Falling on the fifth of May each year (the name simply means May 5th in Spanish), Cinco de Mayo is often mistakenly thought to be Mexico’s Independence Day, a common misconception in the United States. In fact, the holiday commemorates Mexico’s victory over the French army at Puebla in’62.
It is in the state of Puebla that this holiday is celebrated with special Cinco de Mayo recipes. In the rest of the country, it is regarded as a minor holiday, despite how popular this commemoration is in the United States. Puebla’s Cinco de Mayo dishes often include mole, a traditional Mexican recipe which hails from this state.
One traditional Cinco de Mayo recipe often made in Puebla for this holiday is turkey cooked in a mole sauce. This would be mole poblano in particular (the name means “Puebla-style mole”), a rich, nutty and spicy sauce which is worth every bit of the considerable time and effort needed to make it. Turkey is a popular food in Puebla and in fact, in much of the country. Turkey shows up not only here, but also in many Mexican recipes, even some of Mexico’s other special holiday dishes.
Christmas And Other Religious Holidays
Mexico is a predominantly Catholic country, which celebrates Christmas (of course) as well as the feast days of many saints and other religious holidays. No country celebrates like Mexico, especially when it comes to holiday food! Christmas Mexican food traditions include the traditional Christmas morning “posada,” a sort of morning dinner party.
The traditional posada meal might include dishes like turkey soup, codfish with gravy, punch with marshmallows, and mashed potatoes served with a spicy cranberry sauce. Making this already festive holiday meal even more so is the presence of a piata, something which adds a fun Mexican flair to the holiday.
The feast of Epiphany is another holiday with its own special Mexican food traditions. The traditional Spanish ring cake has been enthusiastically adopted into Mexican Epiphany celebrations, along with the new world treat of hot chocolate as an addition.
Naturally, we cannot talk about Mexican food culture without a few words about Dia de los Muertos. This is how Mexico celebrates All Saints Day. On “the day of the dead,” there are special holiday sweets which are eaten. These include dulce de calabasa, a candy made from pumpkin and pan de muerto. Pan de muerto is a bread, which is glazed and decorated with colored sugar, and smaller pieces of bread shaped like bones.
One of the Mexican food traditions, which is known around the world, is the practice of making sugar skulls for Dia de los Muertos. These are skull shaped candies, which are made by pressing sugar into skull shapes using a mold. The skulls are then decorated, sometimes with very elaborate hand-crafted designs. Many of these candies are so beautifully made that it seems like a shame to eat them!
The food traditions of every nation reflect their unique culture, something which Mexican food traditions certainly do. The country’s amalgam of new world and old world ingredients, recipes and cooking methods have resulted in a culture – and a set of traditional foods which are an integral part of Mexican life and culture.
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