When this assignment was announced and Dr. Alvarez said he had something special in mind for fellow classmate Ruth and I, I did get slightly worried. That statement isn’t usually followed by something I’ll enjoy. Luckily I was wrong, it was the opposite. I was going to get to interview my mother, Araceli Caloca. I was very excited since I get super nervous when talking to people I meet for the first time. So I wrote up some questions and doubled checked that my phone would record and I was ready.
Finding a quiet spot proved harder than I thought. Also getting away from my ever curious father and dog. We were finally able to sit down in the kitchen and get started. The drops of rain outside being the main background noise with the slightly quite melody of my brother playing Pokémon somewhere in the living room. While my clothes scream that I have given up on the day – sweatpants that are too long and an overs-sized t-shirt, my mother is more nicely dressed in a pink shirt and blue jeans. She also has on tennis shoes because she can’t stand to go around anywhere barefoot. Her hair is tied back into a tiny pony tail with multiple clips attempting to hold down her curly ends. She adjusts her small round thin glasses and places her hands on her lap. I try to sit up straight and attempt some semblance of being professional but then I remember that it will all be audio and let my shoulders relax. Deep breath.
I began simple.
¿Para ti que es la comida mexicana? [What is Mexican food for you?]
Es algo que nos caracteriza a los mexicanos porque condimentamos con muchas cosas. Y es un sabor especial tanto como para nosotros los mexicanos como para todos los extranjeros (Caloca).
[It is something that characterizes Mexicans because we condiment with many things. And it is a special taste as much as it is for us Mexicans like it is for all foreigners.]
She said it with such conviction that I know she holds a deep pride in her identity as a Mexican as well as the food that comes with it. The tastes are special and they play a part into what it means to be a Mexican. It is deeply engrained in the culture. She elaborated on this concept on another of my questions.
¿Cómo describes la comida de tu región? [How would you describe the food of your region?]
La comida de mi región es sencillamente fabulosa. Muy rica. Yo soy del estado de Puebla. Muy famoso el mole poblano. Me lo enseno elabora mi madre. Y tiene un sabor muy especial que hasta hora es uno de los mejores moles que yo he comido. Y lo hago. Y elaborado de nuestros antepasados con todos sus condimentos, lleva 16 especies. Combinado con chile, son 5 chiles.
[The food from my region is simply fabulous. Very yummy. I am from the state of Puebla. Very famous for their mole poblano. My mother taught me how to prepare it. And it has a very special flavor that to this day is one of the best moles I that have eaten. And I make it. And prepared from our ancestors with all their ingredients, it contains 16 spices. Combined with peppers, they are 5 peppers.]
Map of Puebla
There is a softness in her voice as she tells me all this. She often gets that tone when she remembers things about my grandparents. I think she is remembering. Mrs. Caloca usually gets compliments on her cooking but people try her mole it’s something else entirely. She used my grandmother’s recipe to enter a contest. It won first place! Not to brag but it is pretty great and I’ll include the article from the newspaper as proof. The newspaper is known as La Voz and is bilingual . But even after all that she claims that her mother, my grandmother, Lucila Zamora-Moreno made it even better. Even though it is the same recipe the taste differs from mother to daughter.
Newspaper article about mole contest
Pilcher writes that
Mexicans perceive infinite variety in a dish such as mole de guajolote. Every town and village boasted a different version, and every individual cook added her unique sazon, or taste. (81)
This is also something I have referred to before. Sometimes the individual cook can affect the taste of the recipe. Everyone has something that they bring into their cooking that is almost subconscious. At least that is what I think because even when I cook with my mother over my shoulder I can taste the difference. I know what she made. The difference is subtle but there. Pilcher expands on that writing
These opinions vary among regions, social classes, families and even with the particular sazon, or taste of an individual cook. One woman’s secret ingredient ruins the entire dish of another. (16)
What works for one person does not carry to another. I notice this sometimes with the panaderia down the street. I think the recipe remains pretty consistent but I can tell when different bakers make a batch.
Mrs. Caloca also hints at this after I ask, que crees de la comida Mexicana en los estados unidos? [What do you think of the Mexican food in the United States?]
She replied that “Los restaurantes de aquí de los estados unidos se caracterizan porque hay mucha diversidad. Vienen de muchos estados, y cada estado tiene su propio condimento, su propio sazón” (Caloca).
[The restaurants here in the United States are characterized by their diversity. They come from many states, and each one has their own ingredients, their own taste.]
Although sazon translates to taste it is something more than that. It is that something extra, or secret ingredient that cooks can sometimes refer to. It is a word that refers more to a concept than a direct translation that makes it harder to explain. And maybe it should be that way because it is a little difficult to explain the reason that sometimes the flavor of dishes prepared with the same recipe taste a little different. It can partially has to do with the ingredients that are available here in the United States and just how fresh they can be. Arellano talks about a woman Zarela Martinez, that I think puts it nicely, “It’s not so much a matter of compromise as it is each chef making the cuisine his or her own.’” (165)
The funny thing is when I asked that previous question, in my head, I was thinking of places more like Taco Bell. So I had to take a different approach and try again.
Que piensas de restaurantes como Taco Bell? [What do you think of restaurants like Taco Bell?]
I was surprised with her answer. Although she though that they were highly commercial and an Americanized version of Mexican food she defended them. She explained that many times in the United States people are busy and in a hurry to get places so they need a quick meal which it difficult with Mexican food. She stated that “Que se cosan bien las cosas.” [To allow that food to cook properly.] It is all in the prep work. The meal can be quickly served but it is the steps before that make a difference. Pilcher compares his experience of getting an item from a truck in Mexico and another at a restaurant, he writes
So which was the fast food, the carne asada from Hermosillo or the grilled steak from Taco Bell? Both deliver a quick meal for about the same price. Yet the labor that produced them – not to mention the experience of dining – could hardly be more different. (4)
I think the example is perfect. Although they can both appear as fast they couldn’t be more different. The carne must be seasoned properly and the right cut selected to provide the taste buds the best experience. However it is one thing to be in Mexico and another in the United States. Mrs. Caloca and I both recalled that when we first arrived it was difficult to find ingredients that we were familiar with. But with the ever increasing population of Latinos in Kentucky that selection has greatly increased. Arellano writes that “Anything and everything Mexican…. And those mercados aren’t the only markets in town that stock Mexican food” (176)
Here in Mexington it is very nice to have different mercados, markets, that are stocked full of items that are familiar. But it has expanded past them. The big supermarkets now have entire sections that are dedicated to international foods, including Mexican food. They acknowledge the growing population and are now carrying more items that were difficult to find a few years ago. That is the reason I can now purchase a cow tongue over in the meat section at Wal-Mart, at least the one off of New Circle Road. Mrs. Caloca also had comments on the topic when I asked about the Latino population here in Lexington. She talks about Supermercado Aguascalientes and how they have contributed greatly to what she is able to prepare. The owner is very nice and if they do not have something you can approach her and she will do her best to locate it and get it to you. This is especially true around the holidays when most are preparing more traditional dishes.
Bovine tongue
This brings me to the last point I want to bring up from the interview with Mrs. Caloca: that people adapt. Mrs. Caloca, as well as others, mix the two cultures into something new, “tienen el sazón que combina lo americano con la comida Mexicana” (Caloca). [They have a taste that combines American with Mexican food.] And although that food lies somewhere in the middle of the two cultures it does not make it any less Mexican. Arellano states that
Those who decried Tex-Mex and America’s other regional Mexican foods as somehow less legit than what existed down south never bothered to consider that the lambasted food was created by Mexicans here for Mexicans here, who consider it Mexican food. (162)
The creations that arose from the Americanization of Mexican dishes does not make them less, just different. And different is not bad. Still there is room for both Tex-Mex and “authentic” Mexican dishes in the United States. The more traditional foods are making an impact and slowly refining what most think of Mexican food not only in the United States but also the world. So be on the lookout. Like Arelleno claims “if your neighborhood still suffers under the tyranny of Taco Bell and combo plates? Fear not – Mexican food is coming to wow you, to save you from a bland life” (160)
caLOCA's Taco Talk 