My Scholarship entry - Understanding a Culture through Food
WORLDWIDE | Wednesday, 18 April 2012 | Views [216] | Scholarship Entry
Oaxaca. South Mexico. Two black bulging eyes staring back at me from a crumpled paper bag. Tired scratchy legs claw at my hands as I go in for my first taste. Chapulines – otherwise known as Grasshoppers are a Mexican snack. They’re a snack rather than delicacy as even Mexicans will hesitate before recommending them to you.
They’re salty and crunchy, and as I weave away from the stall I catch another tourist’s eye who’s a couple of minutes behind me in the tasting stakes… he looks at me searching for sympathy… or a tip of some sort, I wink and mime putting the whole Chapulin in my mouth, pretending it’s a delicious, and then walk away…. My eyes dancing, having captured some of what the market stall holders enjoy on their Saturday tangles with tourists.
As I squeeze through the rows of green chillies, tomatoes, jitomatoes, nuts, almonds and ground spices, the sweet smell I’ve been told about tingles up my nose.
Mole pronounced “mole-eh” explains Mexico in one mouthful. This salsa grabs hold of your tongue in the same way the culture strikes you. In your first mouthful you see little boys selling loaves of bread out of car–wide sombreros. In the second mouthful the spices and richness stand up and dart around inside your mouth… each flavour a different member of a band, using each tooth as a drum, bouncing and hopping to the next drum when they get pushed off by the next man. Mole to me is Mexico: bold, layered and hard to explain.
Tags: Travel Writing Scholarship 2012
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