Cinco de Mayo Festival

This week brings Mexico's most well known festival - Cinco de Mayo. It is celebrated on the 5th of May, which marks the date of victory of Mexico over France in the Battle of Puebla. This festival is well known for its costume parades, musical events and of course food. 

The Mexican food served in most Mexican restaurants outside Mexico, is usually some variety of Tex-Mex. The original versions of Mexican dishes are vastly different and if all you know of the cuisines is a taco and a cold beer – you are missing out on some amazing tastes.

Mexican cuisine earliest roots lie in the first agricultural communities such as the Maya who domesticated corn. After the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec empire, Spaniards introduced their own food influences, helping create a distinctive Mexican food tradition.

Amongst the less well-known but great Mexican dishes are: Mole (pronounced  Molay). Don’t worry it is often made with chicken and has no moles in it. It is a sweet and stew with ground nuts and chocolate

Another important festive food is the Tamale, also known as tamal in Spanish. It’s a tasty Street food from Mexico and Central America consisting of a spicy filling covered in corn dough and wrapped in a corn husk and steamed.

Pambazos, is made with pambazo bread dipped and fried in a red guajillo pepper sauce and filled with potatoes with chorizo.

Alambre is a popular Mexican dish consisting of grilled beef and topped with chopped bacon, bell peppers, onions, cheese, salsa and, in some variations, avocado. It is usually served with freshly made corn or flour tortillas.