Food

ROWELL: How much do you cook when all of your children are here?

HERNALINDA: I have to make a lot of food, so that there will be some if they come home. And I am not accustomed to making a little, not even beans. Because when I make beans, company will arrive. Then I make eggs with salsa and we begin to eat. And plenty of tortillas always.

ROWELL: Do all the wives in Coyolillo know how to cook?

HERNALINDA: Cooking with recipes? We cook with what we have. Sometimes we make chile rellenos [stuffed peppers], sometimes an adobadito, a chilatolito. We cook so that the food will be ready when the men arrive. If we have money for meat, we buy meat. And if we don't, we buy eggs, beans or vegetables from the wild country, from the countryside since now there are flor de palmito [palm flower].

ROWELL: Is cooking an art?

HERNALINDA: Yes, but we already know how to cook and do it quickly; it is something we are accustomed to doing.

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ROWELL: So what do you like? You cook meals for your family. What is the favorite meal that you cook?

INOCENCIA: Well, beans, chilies and meat. When there's meat, we eat meat. When there are beans, we eat beans and chilies. Whatever fruit there is in the mountains, palm hearts, prickly pears we eat those, too.

ROWELL: What food is there for the people who live here in Coyolillo when it's cold?

INOCENCIA: Ice. We make agrueca from ice with Kool-aid, with pineapple, guanaba, watermelon and lemons and oranges. Juices.

ROWELL: I noticed that very few people make deserts here. Do you make many deserts?

INOCENCIA: Well, there aren't really any. As far as eating goes, one eats . . . when one can buy himself a little milk, he buys himself a little milk. When one can't, one drinks his coffee without milk. When we have some beans, we eat those. When we don't get them, what do we do? Chilatoles . . . all that.

ROWELL: What are chilatoles?

INOCENCIA: It's a broth that's made by throwing in a big chili or dried chili, tomato and then you've got it . . . that's all in the chilatole.

JONES: What is the difference between the food here in Coyolillo and the food in Veracruz or Xalapa or another part of Mexico, in your mind?

INOCENCIA: What kind of food do they eat there? [Laughter.]What do they eat there in Xalapa? When one eats chicken . . .

JONES: But does the chicken here taste better?

INOCENCIA: The best tasting chicken comes from the ranch. It's better than the one from the range because they give it food, while the one from the range eats a lot of corn. It tastes better. One doesn't like meat from the range.

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JONES: What is the food like in Coyolillo?

ZACARÍAS: Yes, it's very good. I have eaten food in Xalapa and in Veracruz, and it's different. To me the food here in Coyolillo is better than anywhere else.

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JONES: What is the difference between the foods here in Coyolillo and the foods in other parts of Mexico?

LUISA: We use different herbs and ingredients. We make beans, salsas, and different meats with vegetables.

JONES: I have eaten different kinds of foods in Mexico, but the food here has a very rich taste that is not found in other places. Why?

LUISA: We use spices in it that they do not use in other places. That is why they say the moles here are very good.

UROS: What do you put in them, more chocolate?

LUISA: Chocolate, peppers, garlic, peanuts, and a little cookie.

UROS: You don't include tortillas, or you do?

LUISA: Absolutely. We fry it. Also, we use raisins, dried plums and anisette.

UROS: I have never heard of using anisette in mole.

LUISA: We use it.

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JONES: What is your favorite food from Coyolillo?

ANTONIO: First...