Mexican Cuisine Part 1: On the Yucatán

Toothed Chac (the Mayan Rain God) at Sayil

I’ve posted about my trip to the Yucatán Peninsula elsewhere, and I discussed the history and archaeology and, of course, the food. But there’s more to be said and more pictures to share.

One of the many awesome customized bugs in Mexico

In my foolish youth, which I think I’m only belatedly (very belatedly) leaving behind, I thought fruity drinks were for the weak. I’ve changed my mind about that; providing the fruit is fresh (or even freshly frozen) and the drink is made with care, there’s a place for daquiris and piña coladas and the like. Hemingway himself loved daquiris and is said to have drunk sixteen in one sitting, and he epitomizes machismo, right? A well-made piña colada is damned good, and no man need feel that enjoying one supplants his right to  drink straight tequila later in the evening. That’s what I kept telling myself when the waiter on the beach in Tulum tried to hand me my girlfriend’s michelada and chuckled in surprise when I pointed at the frothy drink on his tray instead.

A night on the porch of our beachside bungalow in Tulum

I mentioned some of our favorite meals on the trip: the cochinita pibil and sopa de lima we had in Mérida, the Italian-inspired seafood pizza and Thai-inspired shrimp salad and shrimp tacos we had on the Caribbean coast, the tamale I bought from a Mayan woman at the market in Valladolid, and the posole in Cancun. We also had great breakfasts – the Mexicans have a way with eggs, beans, and sauces, and they make nice savory-sweet pastries as well, like sugar-coated pork buns (I don’t know what they call them). We bought meringues and marzipan from Mayan women on the street in Valladolid, and we could tell from the smell that they were made with lard. I was happy to try them but my gringo taste found them awfully porky for confections.

Pozole rojo from El Tapatio in Cancun

Seemingly every restaurant and coffee shop served licuados – fruit blended with a little ice and either water or milk. My girlfriend had one or two papaya licuados a day. I have a smoothie aversion and I think most fruit juice is lame, but these were light, fresh, and brightly flavored, and I was having one (melon o papaya con agua) with breakfast by the end of the trip.

Huevos rancheros with black beans and fried plantains from the restaurant at La Vita è Bella in Tulum

Thai shrimp salad and shrimp tacos with sweet chile sauce, from some place we happened across on the Tulum beach

Beautiful tomatoes and pre-zested citrus at the market in Valladolid

Since our return, I’ve made a few of the dishes we enjoyed there with marked success, if not verisimilitude. I’ll write about those soon.