Mexico: The Liberated Street Food Consumer
Action
As I’m sure you’ve seen on our concurrent food blog, Josh and I have experienced many tasty treats so far in Mexico. Many of these we discovered frequenting street vendors. For example, in Guanajuato, one afternoon I was so hungry that I stopped by a stand selling chicken sandwiches and asked for some bread. The young woman at the stand was surprised by my humble request. I explained that I didn’t eat chicken, so bread would be fine.
“What about a sandwich with avocado?” she asked.
I replied with a cautious, “Sí.”
“And tomato?” she continued.
I replied with an enthusiastic, “Sí!”
“And lettuce, onions and chili?”
I nearly jumped with joy. And thus was born my new favorite sandwich.
Fine Mexican cuisine even extends beyond sandwiches. The food vendors we’ve encountered on the streets and in markets usually have had the ingredients for what they’re preparing in bowls displayed at the front of their stands. These ingredients are added to some form of a tortilla along with salsa. Thus are gorditas, huaraches, enchiladas, tostadas, tacos and quesidillas created. Josh and I often point at ingredients and ask if they contain meat or dairy. If they don’t, we request that a gordita/taco/huarache, etc. be made out of them. The vendors also seem to enjoy coming up with suggestions for combinations of vegetables.
Reflection
Josh and I agree that we like taking matters into our own stomachs… er… hands like this. “We’re beyond menus!” we proclaim. Since liberation theology (see previous blog, “Queretaro and Oaxaca: Does God hate gold?”) has been on my mind, I’ve begun to draft a manifesto entitled, “Food Ordering for Self-Actualization.” Mind you this is just a draft, so I welcome input before it goes to the presses.
“Whereas: congregations who read the Bible themselves, discuss it with others and relate the Bible to their own lives to interpret it are empowered and liberated;
Whereas: students who read primary source material and discuss it amongst themselves develop into independent, critical thinkers;
Therefore be it resolved: It is manifest that engaging with the primary sources of “food” and “vendor” to develop vegan interpretations of Mexican food leads to intellectual & spiritual enlightenment as well as political & economic liberation.
Menus are merely a starting point! The Liberated Street Food Consumer (LSFC) only uses the menu as a guide. The LSFC shall not relinquish her tastes and values simply because of the constraints of a given menu. The LSFC examines a menu for ideas, but also examines the ingredients and dialogs with the vendor to develop a creative, unique, and principled eating experience.
It must be emphasized that the vendor is an equal partner in the struggle for yummy meals …”
Question
When have you been able to “eat outside the menu”?
As I’m sure you’ve seen on our concurrent food blog, Josh and I have experienced many tasty treats so far in Mexico. Many of these we discovered frequenting street vendors. For example, in Guanajuato, one afternoon I was so hungry that I stopped by a stand selling chicken sandwiches and asked for some bread. The young woman at the stand was surprised by my humble request. I explained that I didn’t eat chicken, so bread would be fine.
“What about a sandwich with avocado?” she asked.
I replied with a cautious, “Sí.”
“And tomato?” she continued.
I replied with an enthusiastic, “Sí!”
“And lettuce, onions and chili?”
I nearly jumped with joy. And thus was born my new favorite sandwich.
Fine Mexican cuisine even extends beyond sandwiches. The food vendors we’ve encountered on the streets and in markets usually have had the ingredients for what they’re preparing in bowls displayed at the front of their stands. These ingredients are added to some form of a tortilla along with salsa. Thus are gorditas, huaraches, enchiladas, tostadas, tacos and quesidillas created. Josh and I often point at ingredients and ask if they contain meat or dairy. If they don’t, we request that a gordita/taco/huarache, etc. be made out of them. The vendors also seem to enjoy coming up with suggestions for combinations of vegetables.
Reflection
Josh and I agree that we like taking matters into our own stomachs… er… hands like this. “We’re beyond menus!” we proclaim. Since liberation theology (see previous blog, “Queretaro and Oaxaca: Does God hate gold?”) has been on my mind, I’ve begun to draft a manifesto entitled, “Food Ordering for Self-Actualization.” Mind you this is just a draft, so I welcome input before it goes to the presses.
“Whereas: congregations who read the Bible themselves, discuss it with others and relate the Bible to their own lives to interpret it are empowered and liberated;
Whereas: students who read primary source material and discuss it amongst themselves develop into independent, critical thinkers;
Therefore be it resolved: It is manifest that engaging with the primary sources of “food” and “vendor” to develop vegan interpretations of Mexican food leads to intellectual & spiritual enlightenment as well as political & economic liberation.
Menus are merely a starting point! The Liberated Street Food Consumer (LSFC) only uses the menu as a guide. The LSFC shall not relinquish her tastes and values simply because of the constraints of a given menu. The LSFC examines a menu for ideas, but also examines the ingredients and dialogs with the vendor to develop a creative, unique, and principled eating experience.
It must be emphasized that the vendor is an equal partner in the struggle for yummy meals …”
Question
When have you been able to “eat outside the menu”?
6 Comments:
At 12:58 AM, Jen said…
This reminds me of 2 things.
1) Americans don't tend to be very comfortable with the idea of bartering or negotiating price. We go to a store, we see the price, if we agree to it, we pay. We don't usually question the price, or what we get for that price. So in our world of "no substitutions" on menus, it's such a novelty when we go somewhere else and get to 'negotiate' the details.
2) Then again, there is that scene from "When Harry Met Sally", when Sally gets everything 'on the side' when she orders because it's the exact way she wants it and wouldn't have it any other way. Of course, the servers thought she was being a pain, so that confirms #1 above to an extent :)
I love eating mayonnaise on french fries. That's pretty 'off the menu' for places here. It's so good!!! Throws everyone off though . . .
Jen "I need to get out of the bible belt" R. :)
At 1:14 AM, lernerm said…
certainly not at Taco Bell, which encourages Americans to eat outside the box by eating at Taco Bell rather than at a Burger Joint. Kids eat outside the menu all the time - one of David's friends used to eat tuna fish, hot peppers and ketchup sandwiches - which by the way was probably as safe as what you're doing. How is it that neither of you has come down with traveler's diarrhea is beyond me, but perhaps visiting the churches confers some sort of protection for your stomachs. It is interesting to think about how it is that we come to think of certain foods as "naturally" mixing appropriately, whereas others don't seem to go together, when in fact, what we eat is purely culturally determined. It seems like your travels focus a lot on breaking with conventions - brightly colored buildings, eating outside the menu, theology that liberates rather than enslaves, and so on. May you continue with your unconventional ways.
At 6:32 PM, brooklynzoo said…
I really like this post, especially the manifesto! I’m all for eating outside of the menu, and for eating unconventional food combinations. I like what lernerm said about food mixing being culturally determined. I’ve had roommates and family members scoff at my food combinations or at what I choose to eat at certain times of the day. But really, its not like we are better suited to eat cereal in the morning, instead of leftovers from dinner that we don’t want to let spoil and have to throw out. I really don’t like wasting food, so I’m always eating different combinations and mismatching foods with mealtimes. And it made me laugh that Renate asked for bread! I remember being a kid and eating at community events and birthday parties, and asking for just the bun because I didn’t like hotdogs or hamburgers. Ah…before the days of the commonplace veggie burger/dog. It feels good when you create your own choice because nothing on the menu suits you – you’re happy, they’re ok with it, it’s all good. Josh, is acting as a LSFC a line of flight?
At 11:22 PM, josh said…
Yeah, I’d say that acting as a LSFC is a line of flight, away from and outside of the constrained territory of menus. For the uninitiated, Brooke was referring to the namesake of the website our blog is hosted on (www.linesofflight.net)… a very slowly developing website, but one that will hopefully provide some context for things we’re writing about in the blog… eventually. Right now, the website just has some old text from a paper I wrote, but feel free to have a look.
At 7:09 PM, Anonymous said…
as far as my experiences take me, it's fairly common to eat outside the menu in chinese and vietnamese culture. whenever my family goes out to eat at chinese restaurants, they just tell the waiter what they want and don't look at any menu (though sometimes they read the secret menu items on the wall). chinese restaurants are also used to catering to what you want.. so sometimes, i will look at the meat menu too and order something but without the meat. when i was in vietnam, i recall my family just sitting down and then ordering food as opposed to looking at any menu.
as for the cultural specificity of food and brooke's comment, because of my upbringing, i eat all manner of food for breakfast. i don't usually like to eat cereal and that sorta thing (as you know, josh :)). i'll eat leftover dinners, sandwiches, whatever. and for viet people, breakfast is often the most important meal of the day and noodle soups are often eaten. it's funny cuz at viet restaurants here, 'westerners' will order pho for dinner, but it's actually usually eaten for breakfast. and rice is eaten at any time of the day.
-helen ruckus.
At 3:29 AM, Swilkes! said…
I usually negotiate my sides when I'm at restaurants. Fuck a buncha fries.
Hey, look, I got a blog here: swilkesism.blogspot.com (not much there, just thought I'd point)
Also, I just noticed the "fried grasshoppers" count thing on the right. So when are you gonna order fried grasshoppers in your LSFC revolution, comrades?
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