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Mexican Mole Poblano: a Culinary Clash of Cultures
Modern Mexican Cuisine resulted from the fusion of the native culinary traditions with European ingredients and techniques introduced by Spanish conquistadors. However, few dishes reflect this melange as vividly as Mole Poblano.
Cuisine tells us much about a certain region's culture particularly because up until a few centuries ago, before worldwide commerce was common, cuisine in a region was mostly tied to whatever was produced locally. As traders and migrants began to spread crops and spices, these began to gradually enrich local cuisine as people began to incorporate these new ingredients into their diets.
Mexico has the distinction of being one of the only five areas in the world where farming developed independently from other cultures, as such, Mexican Cuisine benefits from thousands of years of cultivation of various species of fruits and vegetables, which helped to develop a rich culinary tradition long before the Spaniards arrived in the early 1500s.
When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, the local population had been successfully farming beans, maize, cactus (nopales), tomatoes, cocoa, avocado, chilies and amaranth, among others, and naturally had consequently developed a culinary tradition based on these ingredients. The Spanish quickly introduced many ingredients that were already common in Europe, like rice, onions, garlic, cilantro, cinnamon, oregano, pepper and lemons, these foods and spices came to form part of the plethora of ingredients used in Mexican cuisine, complimenting existing recipes and creating new ones altogether.
The famous Mexican Mole Poblano sauce is a product of this fusion of the native Mesoamerican and Spanish cultures, its origins however, have taken on an almost legendary quality, as various stories seem to intermingle fact and much fiction.
The stories dealing with the creation of mole mainly center on religious convents in Puebla. One story tells us of an inventive sister who randomly ground up various aromatic ingredients and haphazardly stumbled upon the recipe, much to the delight of her fellow sisters. Another story, also dealing with a sister, tells us of an important banquet for the Viceroy of New Spain, where said sister, after realizing the sauce she had prepared for the turkey was to spicy, decided to sweeten the dish with chocolate, nuts and spices, much to the delight of the Viceroy and the relief of the worried nun. Another story goes as far as to say that Mole was a terrible mistake gone good, when the magical ingredients came together by chance in a very messy and hectic kitchen, resulting in an unexpected culinary hit.
While these stories provide some folklore and add the mystique of an elaborate dish like Mole Poblano, the truth is that such combination is most probably not the result of luck alone or one single person, but of a gradual combination of ingredients and a collective effort involving a recipe that evolved in the midst of the culinary melting pot of colonial Mexico.
Mole Sauce involved mixing Cinnamon from Sri Lanka, Annis from the Orient, Cloves from Indonesia, Cilantro from Persia, and Sesame from Arabia, mixed with local Chilies, Peanuts, Chocolate, Pumpkin Seeds and Tortilla, amongst other ingredients to create an entirely unique combination. As if the mix of ingredients did not provide enough variety, many of these ingredients must first be grilled, toasted, mashed, peeled, cut and fried, resulting in a rich mix of flavors and textures within one single dish.
Whatever the nature of its true origin is, the only certain thing is that Mole is one of the most delicious and culturally varied dishes in Mexican Cuisine, with so many ingredients from so many parts of the world, it truly embodies the cultural mix that has shaped not only Mexican Cuisine, but all of modern Mexico.
About the Author
The author runs and maintains an Online Mexican Grocery Store and is a life long Mexican Food aficionado.
Sufi poetry is known for?
1
Sufi poetry is known for
A) its intuitive, non-rational dimensions of religiou experience
B) its reverence for Allah
C) the dangers and seduction of women
D) the dangers of the flesh
2.
Unique to Arabic literature was
A) the novel
B) the epic
C) rhyming prose
D) music
3.
The Thousand and One Nights has remained popular; it contains stories filled with
A) military escapades of early Muslims
B) fantasy and spicy romance
C) pilgrim's journeys
D) stories of trade routes
4.
Of the following terms, which one is not part of Islamic architecture?
A) minbar
B) mihrab
C) clerestory
D) hypostyle h
i know 4 is a. Islamics do not support drinking alcohol
Cultural exchange flourishes at Thurston High
They'll always have Lady Gaga, shopping at Westland Shopping Center and snowboarding at Mount Brighton.
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