Blog # 5: Mexico in the 20th Century: A Recipe

Blog # 4: Mexico in the 20^th Century: A Recipe

            I rolled the ball of dough between my palms and placed it in the center of the wax paper.  As I pressed the soft, moist ball into a flat tortilla, my classmates huddled around a large wooden table, squeezing limes, cutting avocadoes and chopping tomatoes and onions.  An hour later, we sat around the same table, enjoying a delicious meal of warm tortillas, flavorful guacamole and hot tamales.  Our tongues tingling from the slight sting of the spicy guacamole, my classmates and I piled our plates high with the products of our hard work.  As we left the kitchen later that afternoon, we each received a copy of the recipes used during the class.  The guacamole, my favorite of the day’s creations, contained many ingredients.  Avocadoes, “chiles serranos”, a white onion, a clove of garlic, a bit of cilantro, a lime and a pinch of salt. . .  Each ingredient in this traditional Mexican side dish added a unique and essential flavor and helped to create the smooth and creamy finished product.   Like its traditional foods, Mexico is a country whose history and culture is the product of myriad ingredients. Just as the guacamole’s distinct flavor is shaped by each of its ingredients, the events of 20^th century Mexico were the product of many historical and cultural “ingredients”.

            The avocado, a creamy green fruit, provides much of the substance of guacamole.  It binds the other ingredients together and gives the dish its color and consistency.  During the 20^th century, Mexico underwent a period of great change.  According to David LaFrance’s Mexico Since Cardenas, political centralization, economic development based on industrialization and urbanization provided the foundations for this century of development (207).  These three “avocadoes” bind the historical events of the 20^th century together.  After winning independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico struggled for more than 100 years to establish a viable political system.  Centuries as a Spanish colony left this country with no central government and although Porfirio Diaz furthered the construction of a system of centralization, the first functional government was created by revolutionary leaders between 1910 and 1920 (208).   In reference to Mexico’s economic development during the 20^th century, LaFrance comments that “the country’s economic performance over the last forty years outpaced any previous period in its history” (212).  This period of industrial development allowed Mexico to develop a self-sufficient industrial system.  Urbanization also encouraged change in Mexico during the 20^th century as people moved to cities in response to a decrease in the demand for agriculture and an increase in government bureaucracy.  The expansion of cities provided many Mexicans with new opportunities and created a new sector in the labor force.

            The white onion and “chiles serranos” add a subtle, yet tongue-tingling taste to the guacamole.  Inducing sniffling and the occasional moist eye, these flavors remind us of the challenges faced by people in Mexico during the 20^th century.  Although urbanization provided citizens with many new opportunities, it also introduced a new kind of poverty.  Overcrowding became and problem and, as LaFrance describes it, “the ragged and dirty shoeshine boy, the adult male selling tissues in the intersection to passing motorists, the seated Indian woman, surrounded by several children, selling gum and candy on the sidewalk. . .” were blatant examples of the challenges of urbanization (219).  Last Monday, I sat in front of a church, taking notes on my first lecture in Oaxaca.  As I listened to the professor’s words, my eyes wandered across the area surrounding the church, and I observed the diverse array of people walking down the pathway.  My eyes were particularly drawn to a young girl, no more than five or six years old.  Her left arm was draped with colorful, handmade scarves, while with her right arm she steered a young girl in a white sun dress and a young boy with duck shoes that squeaking with each step.  Another young boy tagged along behind her, gripping her dress, as she offered her wares to passing strangers.  Scenarios such as this provide insight into the sometimes painful flavors of “onions” and “chiles” that have been so much a part of Mexican history in the 20^th century.

            In guacamole, the garlic, cilantro, lime and salt are added in small amounts and infuse the paste with subtle, yet delicious flavors.  The Church, a central figure in Mexican history for centuries, added these important flavors during the 20^th century as its role changed.  According to David Bailey’s article, The Church Since 1940, the Church played such a central role in Mexico that the Mexican government often consulted Church officials before making decisions that might be controversial (239).  With a strong centralized political system, the Church can work effectively with the government.  For this reason, Church officials preferred the more stable PRI party to other, less secure parties. 

            As I smeared the guacamole on a tortilla, the smooth green spread was dotted with flecks of red and white.  My eyes watered as the chiles and onions tickled my tongue, yet the salt and lime juice lessened the effects of the spicy tastes.  Although avocadoes provided the base, onions, chiles, garlic, lime and salt added essential flavors.  The 20^th century in Mexico was a period of turbulent change and that change was the result of many different historical and culture issues.  Each of these “ingredients” helped to shape the “recipe” for the events of the 20^th century in Mexico.

Sarah Harris