YUCATAN CUISINE

WAS YUCATECAN COOKING THE FIRST 'FUSION' CUISINE? Possibly! This amazing culinary tradition is a rich blend of ancient Mayan and Spanish techniques and ingredients, with just a soupçon of French and Caribbean influence.

LIKE MUCH OF MEXICO, YUCATÁN has its native ingredients and its indigenous population to thank for the core of its cuisine. Ingredients like recado negro, orégano Yucateco, and one of the world's hottest chiles, the habanero, are unique to Yucatán. Cooking methods like the pib, a hand-dug pit lined with stones and fiery coals in which banana-leaf-wrapped meats are cooked are typical of Mayan cooking. Ground spice pastes used for marinades, sauces of nuts, spices and chiles, intricate methods for cooking meats, pungent citrus juices all contribute to the unique culinary tradition of Yucatán.

WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS came domesticated pork and other meats, onions, garlic, and perhaps more important, wheat, rice and citrus fruits. All contributed to the flavors of the land.

COOKING METHODS CHANGED, TOO. The Maya had never fried foods before; with the pig came lard, and with lard came frying. This produced arguably one of the greatest changes in Mexican cooking. The Spanish brought sausage-making. The French brought yeast-risen breads and pastry, which infiltrated every Mexican bakery. From the Caribbean came the plátano macho, and barbacoa or barbecue – two staples of the Yucatecan table.

YUCATECAN CUISINE REMAINS LITTLE KNOWN outside the region. But for the serious student and gourmet, it contains elements of surprise and richness that rival the great cuisines of the world.