mexican culture

FMGM 2014 Puebla: Preserving Mexico’s Culinary Traditions

November 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

FMGM 2014, Puebla de Los Angeles, Puebla, Mexico

VIDEO: A Gringo In Mexico’s perspective on the 2014 World Forum on Mexican Gastronomy (FMGM). PUEBLA, MEXICO – As El Gringo rolled down the long, bright hallway of Puebla’s Central Expositor conference hall toward this year’s World Forum on Mexican Gastronomy (or FMGM for [Read More]

WTF at Tijuana’s “The Kitchen”: 12 hedonists. 12 courses. 1 vision.

May 20, 2014 // 8 Comments

WTF, Josue Castro, Karla Navarro, The Kitchen, TJ 22000, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

TIJUANA – In the 1930’s, artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were at the vortex of the “Mexican Renaissance”, surrounding themselves with an inner circle of intellectuals and creatives, such as Trotsky and Andre Breton. The group asserted some influence on society with [Read More]

Get Over the Volcano: An Open Letter to Anthony Bourdain

May 5, 2014 // 114 Comments

May 5, 2014 Dear Mr. Bourdain, My name is W. Scott Koenig. I am a San Diego-based blogger at http://www.AGringoInMexico.com, a small site I started about two years ago to report on the fantastic experiences, people, food, culture and trips my wife Ursula – and now 6-year old son Wolfie [Read More]

Weaving Rugs and Culinary Traditions in Teotitlan del Valle

January 15, 2014 // 1 Comment

Restaurant and Galeria Tierra Antigua, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico

TEOTITLAN DEL VALLE, OAXACA – Over 20,000 years ago, small Mesoamerican tribes roamed the frozen Valley of Oaxaca to hunt mammoth, deer and other game. They foraged the mountain forests surrounding the valley for edible plants. As the ice age rescinded it’s frosty fingers, the tribes [Read More]

Traditional Temazcal: Sweatin’ with the Oldies in Oaxaca

December 30, 2013 // 11 Comments

OAXACA DE JUAREZ, OAXACA – As El Gringo’s taxi rolled into the dirt road, ramshackle neighborhood of Privada Villa Alta on the outskirts of Oaxaca city, I wondered if the driver knew where he was going. Having just been to Los Cabos a couple of months ago, this looked like the last [Read More]

Night of the Radishes: Playing with Food in Oaxaca

December 25, 2013 // 0 Comments

OAXACA DE JUAREZ, OAXACA – In the 16th Century, the Spanish brought many new food staples to recently conquered Mexico. One of these staples was the radish, originally from China. In subsequent years, Mexican farmers grew and harvested the vegetable in the valley of Oaxaca. When taking their [Read More]

Tijuana Art Walk & the Rebirth of Pasaje Gomez

September 16, 2013 // 4 Comments

Pasaje Gomez, Tijuana, Baja Norte, Mexico

TIJUANA – “In the sixties and seventies, when you walked down the stairs from the street into Pasaje Gomez, the place was filled wall-to-wall with tourists buying souvenirs from the various shops — all of which were occupied by vendors and in high demand. That was a boom time for [Read More]

Dia de los Muertos in Michoacan

October 6, 2012 // 2 Comments

PATZCUARO, MICHOACAN – As the air begins to cool and the nighttime arrives much sooner, October and November herald the onset of Fall and the arrival of Halloween in the US. Like most other Holidays we observe here, the pagan origins of Halloween have become muddied amidst an onslaught of [Read More]

Tulum Ruins: The Gem of the Mayan Riviera

September 22, 2012 // 0 Comments

TULUM, QUINTANA ROO – As we near the end of the Mayan Calendar in December this year, I thought it would be a good time to take you back with your Gringo and his family to the two Mayan ruins we had the pleasure to visit during our trip through the Yucatan Peninsula last year, starting with [Read More]

Morelia: Around Michoacan’s Stately and Historic Capital

September 7, 2012 // 1 Comment

casa-de-artisanas-morelia-michoacan-mexico

MORELIA, MICHOACAN – Although our plans were originally to visit Oaxaca for Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos observance, political unrest there made us change our destination at the last minute. The quick rerouting was more than fortunate. We enjoyed the week-long celebration in Morelia and [Read More]