For many foreigners, Xochimilco conjures images of an afternoon of beers and mariachi bands while soaking up the sun on one of the colorful boats known as
trajineras that navigate the waterways here.
But there's so much more to Xochimilco than booze and boats. There are the
collectives that practice small-scale agriculture on the man-made islets called
chinampas, the vendors that sell food that is as close to its pre-Hispanic roots as you can get and, of course, the market.
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In 4,200 words, Robb Walsh valiantly searches the Lone Star State for old-school Tex Mex. We're talking chili con carne before Velveeta was ever a thing, third-generation tamale carts, and what tacos used to be: tortillas dipped in oil, filled with smoked brisket, and then griddled. If anyone can build a Tex-Mex time machine, Walsh can....
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This month's Esquire has a willfully ignorant piece by Iraq war veteran, blogger, and writer Colby Buzzell about the Mississippi Delta Tamale Trail. All the piece does is reinforce the worst kind of racial, regional, and cultural stereotyping that occasionally still goes on when "serious" writers deign to write about things like barbecue and tamales and fried chicken. Southern Foodways Alliance oral historian Amy Evans of Southern Foodways's Tamale Project had this to say in response to Buzzell's piece: While it's impossible for this guy to have missed our project online—or anywhere—and unprofessional and unwise to not make the slightest mention of us and our Tamale Trail, the thing that gets me the most is his portrayal of the Delta....
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