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/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE: Mexican Food Vying for World Cultural Heritage
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Oct (IPS) - Mexican cuisine is such an integral part of
the country's centuries-old cultural traditions that the government
believes it should be included on UNESCO's list of Masterpieces of the
Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
With the enthusiastic endorsement of cultural authorities, tourism
representatives, food experts and social activists, Mexico submitted the
country's traditional cuisine for the consideration of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),
based on the conviction that it is a unique cultural tradition that
should be preserved and shared with the rest of the world.
UNESCO will make its third proclamation of intangible heritage
masterpieces on Nov. 25, after a panel of 19 experts has evaluated the
candidacies submitted by Mexico and other countries.
A total of 47 masterpieces were designated in the first two
proclamations, made in 2001 and 2003.
While those promoting Mexico's candidacy expressed optimism, they
recognised that they are facing a challenge, since this is the first
time that a country has nominated its national cuisine as an example of
intangible cultural heritage.
"I think it's an excellent initiative, and I hope it is successful, so
that people will become more aware of the importance of our ancient and
traditional cuisine and its indigenous heritage," said Fortino Rojas,
the chef at Don Chon, a Mexico City restaurant specialising in pre-
Hispanic dishes.
Mexico's application to UNESCO stresses that in addition to the foods
themselves, the recipes to prepare them and food-related customs, Mexico
is home to "a complex cultural system of agricultural practices,
traditions and symbolisms imbued with religious meaning and steeped in
ritual."
It notes that corn, which is native to the area now occupied by Mexico
and is a staple of the local diet, "is linked to the creation myths of
Mesoamerica, the harmonious management of the environment, and centuries-
old expressions of social ties: festivities, calendars for sowing and
harvesting, funerary uses and other indigenous customs that provide for
nutritional balance and an enormous variety of characteristic dishes."
Mexican cuisine is "concept and practice, simultaneously traditional and
groundbreaking, profoundly original, and preserved throughout hundreds
of years," states the application.
The government of President Vicente Fox believes that UNESCO recognition
would contribute to fostering national identity, educational programmes
focusing on national cuisine, and the preservation of native plant
species and indigenous traditions.
These goals are backed by campesino (peasant farmer) activist groups and
environmentalists, who consider the defence of culinary elements like
corn as fundamental to Mexico's national identity.
The future of this traditional staple food crop is currently threatened
with contamination by genetically modified strains imported from the
United States, they maintain.
Innumerable dishes are made with corn, which has been raised in Mexico
for over 9,000 years, including the flatbread known as the tortilla that
accompanies almost every meal.
"We face an enormous threat from junk food and other foreign foods that
are taking over our culture, which is why UNESCO could help greatly by
supporting our traditional cuisine," Rojas told IPS.
At the restaurant where he works, in Mexico City's historic centre,
Rojas prepares dishes that date back to pre-Hispanic Aztec indigenous
culture, with ingredients like crickets, "escamoles" (ant larvae),
iguana, field rat and chrysanthemums.
He laments the fact that city-dwelling Mexicans have become increasingly
accustomed to fast food and largely turn up their noses at traditional
dishes based primarily on insects, roots and herbs. "Lots of protein and
very low in fat," he stressed.
Rojas and Don Chon have earned numerous national culinary awards for
creations like chrysanthemums stuffed with escamoles in guava sauce.
The restaurant, a Mexico City landmark for over 30 years, offers a wide
range of unconventional menu selections including iguana, armadillo,
deer, puma, badger, frog, snake and even "xoloitzcuintle", a dog bred by
the ancient Aztecs.
Patrons can also sample roasted crickets, a popular
appetiser, "ahuahuatles" (fly larvae), or tacos prepared by stuffing a
corn tortilla flatbread with "huitlacoche", a fungus that grows on corn
and is considered a plant disease in other countries.
"Beyond the merely culinary aspect," Mexican cuisine is a "focal point
of our national identity" and a "cultural system" whose roots reach back
thousands of years, the government's application to UNESCO highlights.
The Mexican ambassador to the U.N. agency, Pablo Latapí, said that the
declaration of Mexican cuisine as a Masterpiece of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity "would serve as a basis for those of
other countries to receive similar recognition."
In Latin America, this designation has already been granted to the
carnivals of Oruru, Bolivia and Barranquilla, Colombia, the Day of the
Dead festivities in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the oral traditions of the
Wajapi indigenous ethnic group of Brazil and the Zápara of Ecuador,
among other cultural traditions in the region.
(END/2005)
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