To be considered part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a few basic requirements had to be accounted for. In the case of traditional Mexican cuisine, it is a comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques, and ancestral community customs and manners.
Traditional Mexican cuisine is not only made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting and harvesting to cooking and eating. The basis of the system is founded on corn, beans and peppers; unique farming methods such as milpas (rotating fields of corn and other crops) and chinampas (man-made farming islets in lake areas).
Cooking processes such as nixtamalization (lime-hulling maize, which increases its nutritional value); and singular utensils including grinding stones and stone mortars are also considered. The use of native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla augment the basic staples.
Mexican cuisine is elaborate and symbol-laden, with everyday tortillas and tamales, both made of corn, forming an integral part of Day of the Dead offerings to name just one.
Added to all that, Mexico is a vast country, and every corner offers a varied take on many traditional dishes, according to the individual characteristics of the land. From north to south and from coast to coast. The blend of local ingredients together with those brought over from Europe make our culinary offer one of the most rich and popular cuisines in the world.
To be considered by UNESCO, efforts to preserve ancestral practices and the communities that continue to participate in the production and creation of Mexican food are of great importance since it is meant to promote cultural diversity and human creativity.
Every time a bowl of pozole is offered, a tamal is produced and our humble corn tortillas are made, we are all part of a rich and important part of our culinary history.
