Friday, June 02, 2006

Eating High and Low

MMmm. I was in Cuernavaca awhile ago and I went to a restaurant that serves food from the Yucatan Peninsula. In case you don't know where that is, it's the jungly southern protrusion into the Caribbean where the hurricanes hit this year and where Cancun is located. I've never been there but by all appearances the people there eat well at least.



These are little chalupitas done in the style of the yucatan with a red salsa and pork.



This is chiken with a kind of sauce maybe a little like a mole which my friend ate. It was spicy and delicious.



Now you'd be looking at three Yucutan style tamales wrapped in banana leaf and just sitting there waiting to be eaten my me as the case was. If you like Tamales, you'll like these kind. Yucutan food is enjoyed by many Mexicans as it is usually hot and has unique flavors not found elsewhere. Yup eating is fun still. I just hope I'm not eating too much.



This was the lime soup served with tortilla strips that is always good. Down here limes are eaten with just about everything if you want. Lemons however are rarer. Also Limes in Spanish are called "limon" whereas lemons are "Lima". Interesting huh? Well, I've got more material coming up for the blog so don't worry if this post wasn't interesting enough for you. Also don't get the impression that just because I'm posting all this exotic food means I'm eating like this all the time. I mean, this is exciting stuff for me as always. Most of the time it's something cheaper and faster like a tamale torta or a taco and yes, yes, sadly, instant noodles failing that. Sometimes I wonder, while eating instant noodles, how many other people in the world are also eating instant noodles at the same moment. If you think about it the popularity of Instant Noodles its phenomenal. They are hugely popular in Mexico. I've seen Ad's for the local variety of styro noodle cups during prime time football games. Actually, I have to admit. Instant noodles are a little better here. They are usually hotter and you can get flavors with shrimp things inside and chilies too and none of those weird "curry" flavors. I wonder if the "I'm gonna eat at Mc'Donald's for a month and video it" guy had eaten Ichibans for a month and recorded his health. He'd have probably gone through time or something; just dissolved into another dimension. Let's face it though here it's generally a question of cost. I mean, when I see that the local corner store has a whole shelf devoted to styro noodles It's not because people relish them. I see the local masons (construction workers) go in there and buy those for lunch with an imitation coke and a kraft slice ham on white. Mexico City is being built on Ichibans.