Steaming-Hot Mexican Tortillas

Many do not know that the Harlem Renaissance literary figure Langston Hughes lived in Mexico and spoke Spanish fluently. Jim Crow laws and customs in the United States influenced his father to relocate first to Cuba and then later to settle in the Toluca district, a valley region just south of Mexico City. This happened during the time of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1917. According to Langston, his father “had legal training in the South, but could not be admitted to the bar there. In Mexico he was admitted to the bar and practiced law.” Rising Mexican nationalism caused many white American to flee Mexico thus providing job opening for African-American like Hughes. A New York owned electric light company in Toluca hired him as the general manager of its facility because from the start of the Revolution, autonomous bands of quasi-revolutionaries/rural marauders attacked the holdings of white Americans and Europeans. A young Langston went to Mexico at about the age of fourteen to live with his father. He provides wonderful descriptions of the food.

“In Mexico City . . . my father took me to call on three charming middle-aged Mexican ladies who . . . served the most marvelous dishes . . .—roast duck stuffed with pears and turkey with mole sauce, a [spicy chocolate based] sauce that takes several days to prepare, so complex is its making. And always a there were a pile of steaming-hot tortillas, wrapped in a napkin, at one corner of the table.” (Langston Hughes, From his Autobiography The Big Sea)

Hughes comments about the hot tortillas resonant with the mouth-watering memories engraved in my palate about living in Mexico. I recall the host at the house where I stayed would serve just about every meal with hot tortillas made just around the corner from the house. Neighborhoods of all class distinction had a tortilla vender that produced piping hot government subsidized affordable tortillas. Mexicans served them to me with soups, sautéed mushrooms in rich gravy,filled with guacamole, or refried beans. Refried Beans—usually pinto beans—filled tortillas with cilantro smelling salsa—either red or green and topped with onions, shredded cheese, and lettuce became my favorite association with Mexico. It’s a simple but incredible meal with so many great flavors and a balanced meal too. To replicate the experience here, I purchase packaged Mexican tortillas at bodegas. I’ve learned to make tasty refried beans and homemade salsa and regularly enjoy the tortillas that I heat up in a toaster. The first meal I prepared when courting my wife was Mexican style tacos with hot tortillas. And some nine years later, it’s what she and my two children love to eat. I look forward to the real thing on my coming trip to Mexico City.