AMLO’s decree to shield megaprojects ‘an act of desperation’?

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November 29, 2021

President López Obrador speaks at a recent press conference. Presidencia de la República

President López Obrador’s new decree that fast-tracks government infrastructure projects and protects them from scrutiny and legal challenges is part of “a cynical power grab” and possibly an “act of desperation,” according to an opinion piece published Monday by The Wall Street Journal.

The decree, published in the government’s official gazette last week, shields from scrutiny the construction of infrastructure projects in a wide range of sectors by declaring them pertinent to national security.

Columnist and WSJ editorial board member Mary Anastasia O’Grady claimed that AMLO, as the president is best known, “pronounced himself above the constitution” by issuing the decree.

“It felt for some like the beginning of the end of the Mexican democracy,” she added in a piece published under the headline “López Obrador courts the Mexican military.”

“… The decree designates the development of large parts of the Mexican economy as pertaining to ‘national security.’ Think Donald Trump’s steel tariffs – justified on the same grounds – on steroids,” O’Grady wrote.

“… Under current Mexican law, once a project is deemed necessary for national security, no-bid contracts are permitted and the terms of those contracts may be shrouded in secrecy,” she said.

O’Grady, a frequent critic of the president, said the decree is likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court (SCJN), and asserted: “This suggests that it is an act of desperation rather than a sign of strength.”

She claimed that a court decision against the decree “will be useful in further inflaming” AMLO’s base after the president’s “most ardent disciples” bemoaned obstacles to his proposed electricity reform, which seeks to guarantee more than half of the power market to the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission.

O’Grady noted that AMLO “has been drawing the military closer by giving it contracts to build pet projects,” such as the new Mexico City airport and sections of the Maya Train, as well as “money making opportunities” via future management of those projects and others, such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor.

“Under the guise of national security, the new decree widens the scope for similar military contracts,” she wrote.

“To make his projects run smoothly, Mr. López Obrador’s diktat shoves aside independent agency reviews that would normally ensure project feasibility, environmental protections and transparency,” O’Grady added.

“… Authorizations not given within five days will be ‘considered resolved in a positive sense.’ Translation: Whatever AMLO wants, AMLO gets.”

Continuing with her denunciation of the decree, O’Grady noted that Mexico has long been considered one of the world’s most corrupt countries and asserted that “classic liberals have tried to overcome this problem by building institutions.”

“Their efforts have been only partly successful, as evidenced by serious allegations of graft during the presidency of President Enrique Peña Nieto from 2012 to 2018. Yet using the imperfection of institutional checks as an excuse to demolish them is a cynical power grab,” she wrote.

(AMLO is also seeking to eliminate two energy sector regulators with his electricity reform and has outlined plans to incorporate other autonomous organizations such as the National Institute for Transparency and Access to Information into federal ministries and departments.)

“Mr. López Obrador’s real problem is that, although he remains popular, the country is also flush with interests that don’t always share his views – from Mayan communities that oppose his train through their lands to energy investors with signed contracts,” O’Grady opined.

“In other words, AMLO is running head-first into pluralism, where the limits on executive power, lawfully imposed by Congress and the courts, threaten to slow his agenda in the second half of his term. If his supporters respond with physical confrontation, or what they call ‘participatory democracy,’ Mexicans had better fasten their seat belts.”

With reports from The Wall Street Journal

‘No tattoos or piercings and don’t voice your opinions about AMLO’

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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The president and legal counsel Estela Ríos after her appointment in September.

Members of President López Obrador’s legal counsel need to be careful what they put on display: no tattoos or piercings can be shown, and no opinions about the president can be posted on social media, according to a set of rules obtained by the newspaper Reforma.

The six-page document, titled Dress Code and Coexistence in the Office, was allegedly sent by the president’s top legal counsel, Estela Ríos.

However, her office denied having sent the document and said the Code of Ethics that governs the behavior of its members is available online. The president’s office said it had launched an internal investigation to determine its origin.

In the document published by Reforma, the section “Clothing outside the code” lists shoes without socks, t-shirts and earrings as poor etiquette for men. For women, crop tops — shirts that don’t cover the midriff, strapless tops, miniskirts and leggings are all banned. Faded or ripped jeans, piercings, and visible tattoos are against the rules for both sexes.

The document states that a suit and tie are expected for men and a tailored suit should be worn by women. It features models wearing designer suits, scarves and bags to offer an example of “business casual” dress, which is only appropriate for Fridays.

Rules on dress could be relaxed for pregnancy, travel, illness, disability, extreme weather and special days or events.

As for behavior, volume on headphones should be kept low and odorous foods like seafood, onion and garlic should not be consumed. On social media, employees were told to avoid making political comments, not to take photos of famous visitors to the National Palace, and not to publish photographs of areas of the palace where public doesn’t have access.

Ríos took over as top legal counsel on September 2 after Julio Scherer Ibarra left the post.

With reports from Reforma

Prestigious wine competition returns to Guanajuato

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Diana Serratos

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November 29, 2021

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Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Chihuahua 2020 — Sampling the wines at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Mexico Edition in Chihuahua in 2020. Concours Mondial de Bruxelles

Five years ago, Mexico hosted its first national edition of one of the wine world’s most important events: the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. The competition’s first Mexico edition, held in the state of Guanajuato, was one of the most important wine competitions in Mexico to date.

On December 1–3, the competition circles back to Guanajuato, this time to the beautiful town of Mineral de Pozos.

The return of the Mexico edition of the prestigious competition here is clearly a recognition of Guanajuato’s growing importance in Mexico’s winemaking industry.

As the third largest wine-producing region in the country, the state is vying to be an important player in the national wine market. Today Guanajuato has 46 wineries in production.

The state is interested in promoting such world-class competitions in an attempt to revitalize the economy after the effects of COVID-19. Wine tourism has become an important element of that economic revitalization.

Guanajuato vineyard — Guanajuato’s vineyards in the Bajío region are the third-largest producer of wine in the country. Concours Mondial de Bruxelles

It’s not a bad bet. Guanajuato is not only gaining rapid recognition for its wine region, it’s also growing rapidly: according to Sandra Vázquez, Guanajuato’s tourism marketing head, the number of wineries and land dedicated to cultivating grapes in Guanajuato is expected to increase a hundredfold in the next five years. Also in agreement with Vázquez is Carlos Borboa, director of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles México edition.

Mexico in general is experiencing a high point in its winemaking. Next year, Mexico will also host the 43rd World Congress of Wine, one of the most important global events for the industry, put on by the Mexican Winemakers’ Council.

The increasing importance of Mexico in winemaking can also be deduced from the sommeliers who have been chosen as judges in the Concours’ Mexico edition. They are a laundry list of international wine celebrities, including Doug Frost, director of Echolans Winery in Oregon and president of the Best USA Sommelier Association.

Other judges include a who’s who of wine experts, ranging from sommeliers, denomination of origin directors for wine regions around the world, respected industry journalists, winemakers, and haute cuisine restaurateurs.

Among those representing Mexico include Laura Santander, Mexico’s best sommelier of 2019; Andrés Amor, Mexico director for the Rías Baixas wine-producing region of Galicia, Spain; and Raúl Vega, owner of gastronomy tour company Terravid and the Mexico City’s Mesa 19 wine restaurant/club.

Mineral de Pozos, Guanajuato — This year’s Mexico edition of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles will be held in the picturesque Guanajuato town of Mineral de Pozos. Government of Mexico

The competition will launch on November 30 in Mexico City at the Concours’ own affiliated Wine Bar, located next to the Marriot Mexico City Reforma Hotel in the Juárez neighborhood, before moving to the La Antigua Escuela Modelo in Mineral de Pozos, where three days of judging begins.

The Wine Bar is open year-round, incidentally, and offers much more than wine: customers can also partake in mezcals, sotols and many other high-end Mexican liquors. It even offers excellent coffees from Puebla and Veracruz and teas and infusions for non-drinkers in your party.

It also offers a menu of tapas, small plates and finger food, as well as some of the country’s best chocolate from Alma Chocolate, whose exquisite cacao truffles are an excellent pairing with the bar’s drink list.

Sommelier Diana Serratos writes from Mexico City.

Over 2,500 hectares cleared in Quintana Roo in order to plant trees

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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Land has been cleared in various states so as to qualify for the Sembrando Vida social program.

Trees have been cut down on more than 1,000 parcels of land in Quintana Roo in order for the land to be used for the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) reforestation program, according to an investigation by the newspaper El Universal.

The newspaper obtained information about the location of 5,142 of some 10,000 parcels of land authorized for inclusion in the federal government’s tree-planting employment scheme in the Caribbean coast state.

By consulting land use maps, it determined that 2,426 of the parcels are located in areas classified as jungle, and 2,651 are on agricultural land.

Via an analysis of satellite photos, El Universal discovered that deforestation had occurred on at least 1,032 parcels. Their combined area is more than 2,500 hectares, or four times the size of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Forest. El Universal said it was unable to determine whether trees had been cleared on an additional 907 plots of land.

A reporter for the newspaper subsequently visited many of the parcels to corroborate the findings of the analysis.

Google Earth images show the same plot of land before and after entering the Sembrando Vida program.

“We had to cut down … trees to enter [Sembrando Vida],” said one beneficiary in the north of Quintana Roo who has planted trees on land classified as jungle.

El Universal sought comment about its findings from the federal Welfare Ministry, which manages Sembrando Vida, but received no response.

It’s far from the first time a deforestation accusation has been leveled at the program, which pays some 440,000 people 5,000 pesos (US $230) per month to plant timber-yielding and fruit trees in poor, rural areas.

El Universal said in a report published in June 2020 that cases had been identified in which people deforested parcels of land in order to participate in Sembrando Vida and collect a monthly salary from the government. The practice – known in the context of the scheme as sembrando muerte, or sowing death – occurred in several municipalities where the program operates, the newspaper said.

A Bloomberg report published in March said that forested land had been cleared in Yucatán and Campeche so that saplings could be planted where mature trees formerly stood, while the World Resources Institute, a United States-based environmental non-profit organization, determined via an analysis of satellite images that people had also cut down trees in Veracruz, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Chiapas so they could participate.

A recent report by the magazine Gatopardo also highlighted that the program’s requirement for trees to be planted on unforested land was driving farmers to clear their land to join it.

Sembrando Vida, one of President López Obrador’s signature initiatives, has also faced accusations of corruption.

Nevertheless, the United States has agreed to invest in the program both in the south of Mexico and Central America.

In addition to reforesting land – López Obrador describes Sembrando Vida as the world’s largest reforestation scheme – a central aim of the program is to provide opportunities that dissuade people from migrating in search of work, especially to the United States.

With reports from El Universal

Mexicans conquer Mexico City marathon, taking 1st and 2nd place

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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Mexicans Darío Castro and Eloy Sánchez took first and second place, ahead of Kenyan Rodgers Ondati in third.

Two Mexicans dominated the 38th Mexico City marathon on Sunday, taking first and second place.

Darío Castro and Eloy Sánchez, both of whom are soldiers in the Mexican army, crossed the finish line together to return Mexico to the podium after a 12-year absence ahead of third-place finisher Rodgers Ondati of Kenya. Castro won the race with a time of 2:14.51 and Sánchez finished just a second after. Ondati recorded a time of 2:17.31.

The last Mexican to win the marathon was Edilberto Méndez Hernández from Tlaxcala in 2009.

More than 15,000 runners lined up early on Sunday morning outside the Olympic University Stadium in Coyoacán, in the south of Mexico City, for the 42-kilometer race to the historic center, ending at the city’s central square, the zócalo. They awaited Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who fired the starting pistol.

Castro said that despite his victory, the Mexico City marathon was no walk in the park. “I think that here … the conditions in Mexico City, the altitude, pollution and other influencing factors make the marathon difficult, but it motivates us to keep working and to look for another marathon that gives us the conditions to run faster,” he said.

Sánchez was ahead for most of the race and described the moment that Castro caught up. “I slowed down and he caught up with me. We got back to competition rhythm side-by-side. We were talking, supporting each other. I told him ‘This race belongs to us Mexicans,’” he said.

In the women’s event East Africans dominated a historic race: Kenyan Lucy Cheruiyot broke the record by more than six minutes, and was followed by Ethiopian Amare Shewarge Alene, who finished almost 10 minutes later. Kenyan Leah Jebiwot Kigen came in third.

In the wheelchair categories, Mexican Ivonne Reyes won the female competition and Colombian Francisco San Clemente won the men’s contest in record time.

With reports from Milenio

Missing persons crisis due to inadequate security strategy, impunity, warns UN

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana, president of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) — Government needs a comprehensive strategy, says Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances.

An inadequate security strategy, poor investigations into missing person cases and impunity are key factors in the persistence of abductions in Mexico, according to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

Speaking on Friday at the conclusion of a 12-day visit to Mexico, CED president Carmen Rosa Villa Quintana said “disappearances are not just a phenomenon of the past” but an ongoing scourge.

She noted that more than 95,000 people are currently considered missing in Mexico, and estimated that more than 100 probably disappeared during the CED’s tour of 13 states to meet with authorities and assess the country’s capacity to respond to the crisis.

“The profound causes of disappearances haven’t been dealt with. The security approach that has been adopted is not only insufficient but also inadequate. Impunity is almost absolute,” Villa told a press conference.

The Peruvian lawyer said that searching for victims and investigating missing person cases are not always priorities for Mexican authorities.

Villa also said that the federal government needs a comprehensive strategy to deal with the multiple causes of impunity, among which she cited the ineffectiveness of investigations, inaction of authorities and a law enforcement system that “conserves the inertias of the past.”

She said a range of factors inhibit people’s capacity to access justice in missing person cases, including a lack of legal assistance for victims’ families and geographical obstacles.

“We recognize that the challenge is enormous. No process or mechanism can be successful if it doesn’t have political will [and] effective participation of victims as well as sufficient financial resources and duly trained, competent and committed personnel,” Villa said said.

The CED chief also raised concerns about the lack of coordination between attorney general’s offices, the federal government’s militarized public security strategy and the “forensic crisis” of more than 52,000 unidentified bodies in morgues and common graves.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who met with the CED members on Friday, said the federal government recognizes that it faces a range of challenges in the area. He said the CED, which is due to deliver a report on its findings next March, could help Mexico strengthen its capacity to prevent disappearances, investigate missing persons cases and search for victims.

As things currently stand, there is no “clear policy from the current government” to confront the problem, a member of Movimiento por Nuestros Desaparecidos (Movement for Our Missing People), an NGO, told the newspaper Milenio.

“There might be [political] will but that doesn’t translate into actions and of course it doesn’t translate into a clear and convincing budget that can help build a better Mexico” in which disappearances decline, said Martín Villalobos.

With reports from Milenio

Government downplays gravity of omicron; northern states yellow on virus map

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell emphasized that much remains unknown about the new omicron strain.

While countries around the world impose new travel restrictions in light of the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, Mexico is not currently planning to introduce any additional measures to stop the arrival and spread of the highly mutated strain.

President López Obrador, who downplayed the threat of the coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic, said Monday that there was no cause for concern about the variant, first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa last Wednesday.

There is scant information about the new strain – which has not been detected in Mexico – and what there is is not yet confirmed, he told reporters at his regular news conference.

López Obrador said his government is not planning to impose new restrictions, suggesting they are not required because most Mexican adults are vaccinated.

“We’ve made a lot of progress with vaccination, we’re still vaccinating and we’re going to ramp it up,” he said.

“We’ll report about this variant tomorrow but I’ll say to all Mexicans that we’re monitoring [information about the strain] and there is no evidence for us to worry about.”

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, Mexico’s coronavirus czar, said Saturday that some data suggests that the omicron strain is more transmissible than previous variants but stressed that “it hasn’t been proven that it’s more virulent or that it evades the immune response induced by vaccines.”

“Travel restrictions or border closures are not very useful measures,” he wrote in a follow-up Twitter post.

“They affect the economy and people’s well-being. The information disseminated about the risks of the new variant is disproportionate with respect to what existing scientific evidence shows,” López-Gatell wrote.

Unlike many other countries, Mexico has never barred international flights from entering the country and has not imposed any restrictions on incoming travelers. The absence of restrictions has been blamed for fueling coronavirus outbreaks in tourism hotspots such as Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur.

To mitigate the risk of the omicron variant taking hold, health experts consulted by the newspaper El Universal advocated a range of measures, including the testing of incoming travelers and limiting entry to fully vaccinated people.

The first image of the Omicron variant, produced and published by the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, shows that it has substantially more mutations than the Delta variant, compared to the original coronavirus strain. Whether Omicron is more transmissible remains to be seen. — The first image of the omicron variant, produced and published by the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, shows that it has substantially more mutations than the Delta variant, compared to the original coronavirus strain. Whether omicron is more (or less) virulent than other strains remains to be seen.

Alejandro Macías, an infectious disease doctor and member of the National Autonomous University’s coronavirus commission, said that conveying the message that the pandemic is not over is also important.

“We must [continue] to promote the use of face masks, avoid crowds of people, work from home if you can, ventilate enclosed spaces and most importantly get vaccinated,” he said.

Xavier Tello, a health policy analyst who recently predicted that a fourth wave of the pandemic would begin in late 2021 or early 2022, and Andreu Comas, a virologist and researcher at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, agreed that the federal government should immediately offer booster shots to health workers and the elderly. In addition, they urged the government to accelerate the rollout of vaccines to minors.

The government announced two weeks ago that it would offer shots to youths aged 15 to 17, while López Obrador said last week that health authorities will consider the possibility of making third, booster shots available to some sectors of the population, including seniors. But the government hasn’t announced any plans to vaccinate children younger than 15, which Tello thinks is a mistake.

“We have to begin vaccinating adolescents and even young children, like they’re doing in the United States and Europe,” he said.

With regard to its messaging about the pandemic, Tello charged that the government is guilty of “terribly irresponsible behavior,” asserting that it has sought to “create an environment that doesn’t exist” via its coronavirus stoplight map, on which 27 of 32 states are currently painted low risk green.

At his regular Monday press conference, President López Obrador said there are no plans to impose new travel restrictions, and suggested that such restrictions are unnecessary given that most Mexican adults are vaccinated. — At his press conference Monday President López Obrador said there are no plans to impose new travel restrictions, and suggested that such restrictions are unnecessary given that most Mexican adults are vaccinated.

“Having a country painted green is telling people to gather, to have parties, to go to the zócalo,” he said, apparently referring in the last instance to the rally López Obrador will hold in Mexico City’s central square on Wednesday to celebrate the third anniversary of his government.

Both Tello and Comas predicted that case numbers and hospitalizations will increase with the inevitable arrival of the omicron variant, although the latter said that the impact probably won’t be as severe as that seen last winter, when the second wave of the pandemic peaked and the vast majority of Mexicans hadn’t yet been vaccinated.

The three experts who spoke with El Universal agreed that information about omicron is limited but expressed concern that it could replace delta – which fueled a large third wave in Mexico – as the most dominant strain. They also said that the effectiveness of existing COVID-19 vaccines against the new variant is unknown.

“… This variant seems to be dangerous not because of the number of mutations it has, but rather because it’s capable of replacing the delta variant,” Macías said.

“Until now no variant had been capable of that; the implication … is that [the coronavirus] could once again enter countries that were already punished by the delta variant, like Mexico,” he said.

The WHO said Sunday that the omicron variant presents a “very high” global risk due to the possibility that it spreads more easily than other strains and might be resistant to vaccines and natural immunity.

Northern states have turned yellow on the new coronavirus map.

Meanwhile, Mexico is starting the new working week with all but five states painted green on the stoplight map. The northern states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua and Coahuila are all medium risk yellow on the new map, which was published by the Health Ministry last Friday and will remain in effect through December 12.

The risk level was downgraded from high risk orange in Baja California and increased from green in the other four states.

Baja California ranks first among the 32 states for active cases on a per capita basis with almost 90 per 100,000 people, according to Health Ministry data published Sunday. Sonora, Baja California Sur, Coahuila and Chihuahua rank second to fifth, respectively.

Estimated active cases across Mexico total just over 22,000, including more than 3,000 in each of Baja California and Mexico City. The national accumulated tally currently stands at 3.88 million, while the official COVID-19 death toll is 293,897.

More than 76.6 million Mexicans – about 60% of the total population – are vaccinated and about 85% of that number are fully vaccinated, the most recent data shows.

With reports from Milenio and El Universal

11 arrested in connection with Guaymas, Sonora, attack

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MND Staff

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November 29, 2021

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Eleven people were arrested in Sonora for an attack outside the Guaymas municipal palace that killed three people on Thursday.

The target of the attack is thought to be municipal police Chief Andrés Humberto Cano Ahuir, officials said, despite a feminist protester being among the victims and the mayor of Guaymas being present outside the palace.

A delegate from the state Attorney General’s Office, Francisco Sergio Méndez, said the large arrest operation on Sunday in Guaymas and the nearby town of San Carlos involved 120 navy personnel, 34 state police officers and 24 federal agents.

He added that the arrests were made for possession of narcotics.

One of the victims, Marisol Cuadras, an 18-year-old feminist protester, was identified as the daughter of a navy official. A member of the mayor’s security team, Antelmo Eduardo, 40, was killed, as was an armed, unnamed criminal suspect. Another young protester, Jovanna, and a municipal official were wounded.

Cuadras was one of several people who had gathered outside the palace for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda ruled out the possibility that the attack was aimed at Mayor Karla Córdova, who had left the palace with Cano to address the protesters, and said Cano was the target.

“It was not an attack directed at the mayor … they were going for the captain,” he said on Friday.

State Attorney General Claudia Indira Contreras Córdova confirmed the protesters were not targeted. “What was shared by the delegate and the prosecutor clearly leave the certainty that the aggression was not for the feminist group,” she said, and added that Cano had been the target of threats.

With reports from Reforma

A French cookbook’s secret weapon: the Mexican cooks in a CDMX test kitchen

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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November 27, 2021

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James Oseland may be an award-winning food writer from New York, but the local cooks he works with in Mexico City are the secret behind his latest cookbook on French cooking.

Two of these cooks, María Ester Godínez Guzman and Brenda Yafté Nieto Sánchez, are what make his home-based test kitchen here everything he could ever hope for. They have become indispensable sources to Oseland despite neither woman ever having considered a career in testing recipes from far-flung places.

Born and raised in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl (more commonly referred to as Ciudad Neza), a working-class suburb of greater Mexico City located in México state, Godínez grew up around food, helping her mother and other family members as they cooked at home and in small, family-run restaurants called fondas.

However, she cannot say that she particularly enjoyed cooking until she was an adult and had a kitchen of her own. Making food her own way inspired her to save some money and start her own fonda, making the kinds of traditional dishes and street food that the capital is famous for.

She met Oseland only because she was doing some work for a friend of his. Her deep involvement in what Godínez calls “normal Mexican cooking” impressed the writer, and he invited her to collaborate.

Nieto is from another part of greater Mexico City, Ciudad Satélite, also in México state. She, too, began cooking in the home kitchen, but after graduating high school and going to culinary school she realized that however much she loves food, she is not a fan of the restaurant industry in Mexico, with its long hours and poor pay.

Nieto’s meeting with Oseland was also by chance, through her sister, who manages a restaurant that he visited. As he went to her home to interview her mother and aunt, Nieto not only impressed him with her formal culinary experience but also with her absolutely excellent English.

For Oseland’s previous Mexico City cookbook, both women worked as expert consultants, using their native knowledge to evaluate and test the recipes that James collected. They worked to make them easier for non-Mexicans to understand and corrected any “errors” contributing cooks might have slipped into the recipe to prevent anyone else from preparing the dishes exactly as they do.

However, for the Paris book, they were newbies. Godínez had “zero” knowledge and experience in French cuisine. Nieto had a year and a half of French cooking training in culinary school but admits that it only consisted of basic building blocks.

When she received Oseland’s initial list of recipes to test, she did not recognize more than half of them.

On that first day of French cooking, both women were nervous and excited, discovering that nearly everything they needed was indeed available in Mexico City’s historic center.

James Oseland in Mexico — Ester Godinez collaborating with James Oseland at Oseland’s Mexico City apartment kitchen. Leigh Thelmadatter

However, their first efforts did not pan out well. Mexican cooking is quite “loose,” Oseland says, with measurements and temperatures usually done by eye or hand.

French food, on the other hand, “… is quite square,” says Nieto, noting that shortcuts tolerated in Mexican cooking are not permitted in French cuisine.

However, by the time I arrived at Oseland’s’ apartment for the interview, both women had mastered various dishes, including quiche, which I discovered I do like when done properly.

Both women have found working with French cuisine both extremely challenging and rewarding. For both, leg of lamb with rosemary was a favorite dish. Nieto says that “cookies have captured my heart.”

They also said they were amazed to learn as much as they have, which has only served to make them want to discover more. For Godínez, the chance to taste such food has been special as she does not expect to ever have a chance to visit Europe.

With over three years together, the trio have a camaraderie that no corporate test kitchen staff could ever hope to achieve: they are truly colleagues in an informal atmosphere that is unlike any that Oseland, Godínez or Nieto have ever experienced.

World Food Paris cookbook — James Oseland’s latest cookbook, World Food Paris, was published this month by Penguin Random House.

Oseland provides direction, but it is not the formal “do exactly as you are told” attitude found in bosses at many Mexican workplaces. The environment is about interactions, asking questions and offering suggestions — real collaboration.

The partnership also includes the encouragement of nonculinary skills: Nieto now participates in both the writing and editing of the book. She has found a passion for research. All will continue to work together, not just on Oseland’s next book in the series but on other projects.

Godínez’s and Nieto’s families are impressed with the work they do, with Godínez’s family ribbing her about being “too sophisticated” to live in Ciudad Neza now.

However, both women say that their work with Oseland’s foreign cuisine does not translate into making the non-Mexican dishes at home. Many families here are simply not interested in food they didn’t grow up with.

This is one of the contradicting truths about foreign food in Mexico City: you can find cuisine from around the world here, but it is nothing like New York or London; only certain demographics of people are interested in new food experiences.

But Nieto has taken what she has learned to open a small baking business in Ciudad Satélite that does delivery.

Oseland says that working with Godínez and Nieto has been a sheer joy, that the differences among the three of them are not minuses but pluses. Each brings a unique perspective, he said.

Which is immeasurably helpful when you’re not in France but you have to cook a French dish over 15 times to get it right.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

If you can find it, Mexico’s rich authentic nata is worth the hunt

By

Janet Blaser

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November 27, 2021

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Nata is one of those old-school (or old-fashioned) milk products we don’t see around very much anymore. Why? The reason is simple: it can only be made from raw, completely unprocessed milk, which most of us aren’t drinking.

Even “organic” milk sold in a grocery or health food store will be pasteurized (heated to boiling to kill bacteria) and homogenized (the fatty cream is processed into microscopic molecules and emulsified into the milk so it won’t separate).

So what is nata? After raw milk is heated to boiling for pasteurization, as it cools, a layer of fat rises to the top. That rich, creamy semisolid byproduct is nata, a delicacy known mostly to farmers and their families who have their own dairy cows.

It’s called clotted cream by the British, who use it as a beloved spread on scones for afternoon cream tea (also a favorite of hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books). But classic British clotted cream is made using a slightly more complex process, although the principle is the same. Cornish clotted cream has a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) like Parmigiano Reggiano, certifying that it was made by the traditional method from milk produced in Cornwall, with a minimum butterfat content of 55%.

I’m fortunate that at Mazatlán’s weekly farmers’ market, there’s a dairy farm that sells nata (along with fantastic cream-top milk, fresh cheeses, yogurt and butter). Farmer Hector Manuel told me locals like to spread it on bread or toast.

Gorditas de Nata are cooked in a flash on a cast-iron frying pan, coated skillet or a comal.

Even after tasting it, I can’t really describe it accurately. It’s kind of like butter but with a silky texture and more subtle cream flavor. And it’s naturally sweet and unsalted — not like crema or sour cream — and not fermented or tart like yogurt or jocoque. Nata is a soft ecru in color and looks like very, very thick heavy cream or mashed butter.

I discovered that nata also works great in pasta primavera or alfredo sauce. Having many of the same qualities as butter, albeit with a slightly different (dare I say richer?) flavor, you’ll find it a delicious addition, even if you just stir it into some spaghetti with a little fresh Parmesan, some salt and freshly ground pepper. You can also add a dollop to soups and stews, baked potatoes (regular or sweet) or plantains, risotto or other rice dishes. In some parts of England, clotted cream is used in the making of ice cream.

If you can find fresh nata from a farmer, I encourage you to get it. Nata can also be found commercially packaged in small eight-ounce containers in the refrigerated dairy section, and while it won’t be quite the same, you may want to try it anyway. There are also recipes to make nata at home, but it won’t be the “real thing” — they’re just a mixture of whipping cream, butter and media crema to imitate the rich, natural goodness of actual fresh nata.

Gorditas de Nata #1

1 cup nata
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add the nata, egg and vanilla; mix gently to form a smooth, firm dough. (If necessary, add a bit of milk.)

Shape into balls, then flatten to 2½-inch rounds. Cook on a preheated comal, cast-iron frying pan or coated skillet over low heat until cooked through and browned on both sides, turning once. They will puff up a little.

sweet nata gorditas — Made with sweetened condensed milk and natas, these gorditas are super rich!

Gorditas de Nata #2

These will be sweeter and softer than the recipe above.

1¼ cups nata
3 eggs
1 can condensed milk
4½ cups wheat flour
1½ Tbsp. vanilla
2½ Tbsp. baking powder

Using a mixer or food processor, mix the condensed milk with the nata, vanilla and eggs. Mix flour and baking powder. Add to mixture little by little to form a smooth dough.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to about ½-inch thick. Cut rounds with a cookie cutter or rim of a glass. Cook on a preheated comal or cast-iron skillet over low heat until they puff up. Flip and cook until lightly browned on both sides. You may have to flip them twice for them to be cooked through.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Instagram at @thejanetblaser.