The music you hear just by walking through the front door is enough to transport you to Oaxaca, and with Juana Amaya as host cook, more than enough to embark on the journey to the flavors of the state’s ancestral food, which is available at the newly opened restaurant in Coyoacán.
The stars of the menu are green moles, almond moles, chichilo moles, red moles, and, of course, black moles, typical at parties and also on days of mourning. The woman, enthusiastic and proud of what she knows, says that these and other foods endemic to the state in the southeast of the Mexican Republic live in each cook, women who preserve and transmit their gastronomic knowledge, which they acquired in life, since they were children.
Juana Amaya never imagined that one day this knowledge would help her get out of poverty and be different, as she says.
I was born in the furrow, near the metate, the smoke and the comal. She remembers her childhood surrounded by poverty. We lived in a hut, and now she knows that she also suffered domestic violence, associated with the alcoholism of the men around her.
I had to make tortillas, do housework and farm work, for which no studies were required. Later, when she got married and had her children, as always happens, necessity guides you, and she began to sell food to help my husband and my son finish school.
Juana Amaya is originally from Zimatlán de Álvarez, in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. There she opened her first business, 15 years ago, with five plastic tables, which soon became an establishment with capacity for 200 diners.
In addition to the wide variety of moles, for which ingredients endemic to the state are used, mainly water chiles, tabiche, chilhuacle and the herbs we have in the field, the restaurant’s culinary offering includes everyday meals, including tlayuda.
She explains: ancestrally, the tlayuda was pure sitio (of lard), cheese and sauce. Then it evolved and now beans, lettuce, avocado and tomato are added. This is the one that is offered in the afternoons at the restaurant.
For those who do not know, the term tlayuda refers to the cooking of the tortilla, which goes from soft, cooked, tlayuda and toasted. Now, it is also accompanied with cecina, beef jerky and chorizo.
That was the life of Juana Amaya in her business in Oaxaca. There she was when she received the proposal from her countryman Ángel Díaz Ortiz, who since 1968 lives in Mexico City, and was interested in bringing the ancestral gastronomy of the state to the capital of the country.
Thus was born the project of the restaurant Oaxaca: Ancestral Cuisine and Gallery, where in addition to a menu with traditional and country foods, diners will be able to admire the works of Oaxacan artists.
Juana Amaya will teach courses on the most remote gastronomy of her state, and starting this month, cooks from the seven regions will join the workshops, which are open to the general public and professional chefs.
The restaurant Oaxaca: Ancestral Cuisine and Gallery is located at Felipe Carrillo Puerto 54, in the center of Coyoacán. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday from 1 to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Source: jornada
