Chiles en nogada, a colorful, patriotic dish featuring late summer produce, dates back to the 19th century.
Stories by Leigh Thelmadatter
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Mexico’s avocado boom benefits rural farmers — but also organized crime
The phenomenal success of this fruit as an export is breaking decades of uneasy detente between growers and narcos in states like Michoacán.
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Unique microlender not only funds startups, it gets them to the next level
The microfinance organization En Vía is helping female entrepreneurs in Oaxaca not only open businesses but succeed at them and grow.
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Mexico’s firefly tourism trend could end up a victim of its own popularity
Firefly tourism, a recent phenomenon in Mexico, is growing rapidly, which concerns both conservationists and those who live off giving tours.
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Artisan dolls based on legendary Maya elves help Cancun’s vulnerable
In ancient lore, elf-like aluxes helped Yucatán farmers thrive. Today, dolls in the creatures’ image are giving seniors and single moms jobs.
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Mexico’s coronavirus toll also includes abandoned cats and dogs
Mexico’s unseen pandemic victims are the countless pets whose owners died from Covid or who gave them up because they couldn’t afford them.
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After disastrous year, Oaxaca’s budding wedding industry starts to rebound
The paralysis of the destination nuptials industry in 2020 devastated what was a growing number of businesses statewide.
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California’s sparse Franciscan missions had a colorful start in Querétaro
Friar Junípero Serra is more known for building spartan Catholic missions up north, but first he built more Baroque ones in central Mexico.
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Do Mexicans accept death better than other cultures?
Day of the Dead beliefs diffuse the grieving process for those left behind more than in some societies, but it still is a painful loss.
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Oaxaca family artisan studio labors to support an entire valley
Jacobo and María Ángeles have transformed their subsistence farming community’s economy by teaching generations how to make alebrije art.
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Can jazz and hip-hop save dying languages? Indigenous bands say yes
From Mixtec rap to Tepehua punk, younger bands are making ‘outsider’ music with lyrics in the vanishing tongues of their communities.
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Chef and restaurateur Alam Méndez is Oaxaca’s culinary messenger
His new restaurant, Maíz 64, brings the flavors of traditional Oaxacan cuisine to a new frontier: Washington D.C.
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NGO’s mission to aid repatriated Mexicans looks northward for support
New Comienzos helps deportees adjust to life in Mexico. For the first time, the NGO is seeking connections in the United States.
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Through a pandemic, silversmith stays dedicated to his Mazahua heritage
This former dentist who entered his family’s jewelry-making tradition keeps alive an indigenous artisan item that almost went extinct.
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Is Cuauhtémoc buried in Guerrero, or is his grave an elaborate hoax?
In 1949, artist Diego Rivera announced the discovery of the warrior’s grave. Indigenous groups and academics are still debating its veracity.
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Want to know Mexico’s history? Read its street signs
Most countries have street names to preserve the memory of historic events and people, and certainly, Mexico is no exception.
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Diverse Baja migrant community finds pride, identity, connection in murals
Artists Julia Celeste and Rogelio Santos use street art to improve community ties in San Quintín, a poor rural farming area near Ensenada.
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In a tiny, remote Michoacán community, Purépecha artisans embroider award-winning designs
A pair of women’s artisan collectives in the tiny community of Zipiajo work together for mutual success.
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Drowned by Mexico’s thirst, underwater towns emerge during drought
Seeking to modernize, the nation entered a dam-building period from 1910 through the 1980s, with whole communities sacrificed in the process.
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Chef and Oaxacan cuisine authority got her start in grandma’s kitchen
Celia Florián’s first job was at a bank. But she never forgot the childhood joy of learning to cook from the women in her family.
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How San Cristóbal de las Casas became a haven for chocolate, coffee
In just a few decades, San Cristóbal de las Casas has gone from sleepy Chiapas town to a center for high-end makers of these gourmet treats.
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Durango artist gives back culturally to the city he escaped to as a child
After a deadly neighbor dispute, Trinidad Núñez Quiñones’ family fled to Durango. The chance arrival in the city changed his life.
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Is ‘Mexico’ a country? A state? A city? An identity? The answer is yes
The Spanish imposed this Nahuatl word when they conquered the Aztec Empire. What has given it such lasting power through the nation’s history?
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Tlaxcala’s role in the Conquest led to ongoing cultural repercussions
In siding against the Aztecs with Hernán Cortés, the Tlaxcala people both got privileges in the colonial era and stigmatized as traitors.
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Artisans’ longstanding partnership falls victim to its own success
A once mutually beneficial mercantile relationship between two artisan communities now threatens the health of their economies and ecosystems.
