Original subtitles

[birds singing and twittering]

[peaceful music playing]

[Drew] I've lived and worked all over the world.

In 2012, we opened Deckman's En El Mogor

in Valle de Guadalupe

on the grounds of an organic farm and vineyard

with the goal to be as close to a sustainable

zero-kilometer restaurant as possible.

And I think I finally found my home.

I came here because of the incredible ingredients

that come from both the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean.

We have beautiful produce, cheeses, meats, olive oils,

all within mere miles from the restaurant.

For me, it really is a chef's paradise.

After I became a Mexican citizen,

it was important for me to travel the country

and meet like-minded chefs, ranchers, producers, fishermen, artisans

who shared my commitment to responsible and sustainable farming and fishing.

Join me as we explore and deep-dive into the magical landscape of Mexico

and discover its rich culinary tapestry.

Puebla lies 70 miles southeast of Mexico City in central Mexico.

It's a lush valley surrounded by mountains near the base of an active volcano.

Between the fertile soil from the volcano

and the microclimate created by the surrounding mountains,

the region is rich in agricultural land, producing a wide range of ingredients.

During the 15th Century, Puebla was arguably

one of the most important cities during the Colonial Period,

as it served as the bridge between the transatlantic

and transpacific trade routes

from the port of Veracruz and the port of Acapulco,

where all ingredients and spices arriving from Europe, Asia,

the Middle East, South America, and the Caribbean had to enter through.

When the Spanish arrived in Puebla,

the area was an uninhabited, vast area of agricultural land

with an abundance of natural resources.

The Spanish saw this as an opportunity to erect a model city with a grid layout

centered around a central plaza, cathedral,

and important government buildings.

In Mexico, we call this a zocalo.

The city was constructed to feature Spanish architecture

with vibrant colors and ornate facades.

Pueblo was started by the Spanish.

It wasn't so many of the other cities in Mexico,

sort of as a show of dominance,

built the new towns on top of indigenous communities,

like in Chulula.

Yes, quite literally.

Right? With the cathedral built on top of the pyramid.

But Puebla wasn't that way.

It wasn't that way.

This was a viceroyalty, technically not a colony.

It was very simple,

identifying pre-existing indigenous settlements, city states,

that already had a food system, that already had a society, trade routes.

So just subjugating, destroying, and then building.

Temples were often destroyed, and then the material repurposed to build churches.

So every time you hear about colonial cities in Mexico

and, you know, this romantic image--

-How romantic. -I know!

And when you understand, it's not romantic at all. Yeah.

No, no. It has been totally, yes, romanticized.

However, in the case of Puebla,

they felt comfortable enough because it was so empty.

No indigenous settlements were in this area where the city is.

Between the port of Veracruz, muy importante, right?

-The connection with the North Atlantic. -Right.

And the city of Mexico, crossing the volcanoes.

So there's no short way to get there,

but crossing from Veracruz, this valley, and Mexico City.

And every time they came and went,

they realized eventually that this space was totally empty.

-Okay, sure, that makes sense. -Right?

So they're like, "Okay, let's take Puebla,

and also, hello, we have the chance we don't get anywhere else,

to build it from scratch.

We don't have to negotiate with pre-existing societies,

displace, violence, et cetera.

So how about we take this opportunity to create Puebla like a template,

and also like a social model, you know, to make a very 100% almost Spanish city."

[Drew] Puebla became the trade hub for all goods coming from both ports.

When goods arrived, they were bought, sold, and traded for local use

and for distribution throughout New Spain.

The model city attracted settlers, merchants,

and artisans from all over the world

and solidified the city as a major economic powerhouse

during the Colonial Period.

It also became a culinary melting pot with the arrival of new spices

and ingredients like pork, dairy, grains, and vegetables.

Puebla, like you say, was, like, in this crossroads

because we were really, really close to the port of Acapulco,

which, at some point in history,

became like this point of contact with the Far East.

-As far, far away as Nagasaki. -Right. Right. Okay.

I mean, that's crazy.

So the transpacific trade routes that connected New Spain

entered via Puebla, because Puebla secured almost exclusive trade

of all these sumptuary products.

They had to come here. And obviously, they had to stay here.

Many of these commodities were edible. But here's the thing.

Not only all these things, you know, spices and oils and crops were brought in.

In the return journey, as you just said,

there would have been many Mesoamerican crops and ingredients--

-That would have then gone missing. -Think of chiles, right?

That's how chiles entered India, entered the sub-Asian continent.

Cacao and many others, beans, corn, and all that, tomatoes.

Of course, Puebla has always been sort of the intersection

of not just ingredients, but going back to the human aspect,

of people, of ideas, of creativity that not only came,

they stayed and left a very rich footprint

that is still very visible in our culinary traditions.

[Drew] Puebla has a rich history of corn cultivation

dating back to pre-Columbian times.

It was part of the territory of Mesoamerican civilizations.

Today, my friend Chef Ángel Vasquez and I are headed to Ozolco,

an agricultural town 30 minutes from the city of Puebla.

The agricultural region is known for its production of heirloom heritage corn.

Many of the residents of Ozolco are descendants of the Nahuatl people

and continue to farm their land using traditional farming techniques

and cultural practices that have been passed down through generations.

We are here to meet Leo Tellez,

a young farmer who co-owns Mili Cooperative,

a co-op that works with local farmers to produce and sell corn-based products.

Leo and many of the young men of Ozolco have an all-too-familiar story

of leaving their families to migrate to the U.S.

in order to earn enough money to support their families.

[in English] What's happened in Leo's village is not uncommon

in many, many villages in Mexico.

I spent some time in Guanajuato,

and there's whole towns that just... Just gone.

And they just, you know... Unbelievable.

And more and more, people are coming back.

After they leave, you understand how really special Mexico is.

And every place in the world has its positives and its negatives,

every place in the world.

But there's a value here that's way bigger than dollars.

Well, yeah, and I think one very powerful thing of Leo's story is

the fact that they're using that tradition,

that legacy, that way of life.

You know, I got goose bumps, you know,

when he said that it's the seeds what they are given.

And it's the seeds of the past, but they are the seeds of the future.

Of the future.

They have undergone centuries of oppression, feeling underrepresented,

undervalued, being ashamed, you know, for being just who they are.

And now that they're reclaiming that heritage

and just sharing it and, you know, putting out there so proudly.

Preserving the culture.

[Ángel] For Mexicans, corn is everything.

You can have, like, a whole menu,

like drinks, appetizers, main course, and everything,

with just one ingredient.

Corn is one of the most versatile foods that you can ever find.

You can prepare hundreds of dishes.

In Mexico, we have so many different ways of transforming and cooking corn.

One of the most important techniques of the Mexican culture is nixtamalization,

which is a technique in which you cook the corn

with wood ashes or with calcium, with hydroxyl calcium.

And with that, you have many different benefits, nutritional benefits,

because it increases the bio-ability of iron, zinc, and vitamin D,

and many other important nutritional values.

Just tortilla by itself is the most important staple food in Mexico.

It provides the main source of proteins,

fiber, calcium, energy, for the Mexican people.

And this is something interesting

because corn traveled to South America, Central America, North America.

So all the continent is the land of corn.

And each of our countries develop different ways of cooking,

different ways of processing, different ways of understanding this crop.

We're seeing more and more younger generations

caring about the conservation

of things that are being lost through commercialization.

How important is it that Leo is preserving these corns?

The importance of what Leo and his colleagues are doing here

is that they are bringing back all these amazing corns.

They are coming back to the lands.

They are showing people that they can do a living,

that they can cook them, they can transform it

into ice creams and tortillas and tostadas, tortilla chips.

They have been very creative. They have been very active.

And they are now seen by so many different young people,

learning and watching what they can do in their own villages, in their own towns.

Nowadays in Mexico, the average age of the farmers is above 60 years old.

It is very important that young people like Leo

come back to the fields and plant and transform these corns.

Perfect.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Leo. This is really, really beautiful.

Okay, so she's going to show you how to--

[Ángel] A little bit of water.

[Ángel] The corn that is already nixtamalized.

[Ángel] Yes, you see, really simple.

So you got it?

Let's see.

They've been doing this for years, and, like, corn, sauces, everything.

This is how you start the ingredients for the mole, right?

[Ángel] Yep.

The Aztecs started with this kind of grinding, you know, like...

Everything with the stones and 8000 years that we've been using this,

like, to grind, like, even, like, these kind of grains or chiles.

So this is, like, a really important piece for us.

Okay.

[peaceful music playing]

[Drew] As iconic and important as corn is an ingredient to Mexico,

the same can be said for mole as a national dish.

Mole is a dish that has been changed and adapted over thousands of years

from pre-Columbian times to the present.

It continues to evolve today.

Poblanos don't have much of a desire for change.

Rather, they embrace the traditions of their ancestors

and fiercely promote their longevity.

And nothing could represent this more

than a Poblano's generational iteration of mole.

Mole is complex, it's cultural, and it's personal.

We are here today in Ángel's restaurant Augurio.

He and his father opened the restaurant to pay homage to his family's traditions.

He makes one of the best moles I have ever tasted.

In fact, it even made my wife cry the first time she tried it,

as it took her back to her childhood.

We're in Augurio, one of my favorite restaurants

in Mexico, in the world.

I love to eat here.

One of the signature dishes of Augurio,

I know that you package it and people can take it with them.

You have an online store that sells the mole.

Yes.

The mole poblano, your style, your family's style.

Yes.

Let's talk about that a little bit.

Let's talk about the mole tradition in your family first,

and then let's talk about how you make it here.

The story comes from these great aunts.

They were aunts from my great-grandmother.

They used to be cookers at the Convento Santa Rosa.

They were just in and out,

and they just got a bunch of recipes that we cook in here.

They are from this book, cookbook, the family cookbook.

So your aunts cooked in the Santa Rosa convent.

[Ángel] They were helpers to the nuns,

and they used to work in there, doing a lot of stuff.

But then, most of the time, they were in the kitchen,

working and cleaning and helping.

So that recipe, the recipe that we have, comes from that place.

People, they used to...

They asked to another aunt, like a younger aunt,

to do the mole for them, and for the wedding,

and for the first communion, and for everything.

I told my dad, "Hey, she's the only one that has been doing it since tradition.

We need to put that on paper, put it in grams,

because everything is, like, one handful and whatever.

So we measure the mole, like, I don't know, maybe like 10 times

until we got it all together.

And now we have a really great mole.

What I want is that people eat my mole

the same way that my great-grandmother ate it.

And I want to keep this tradition.

Incredible.

So this is some of the ingredients.

We have cinnamon, we have cloves, coriander seeds,

and then we have almonds, and then sesame seeds.

So all these things would come from Asia and Europe.

And then we have lard or pork or...

And then we have the chiles that we used to have in here.

So this is like the marriage of this mestizaje.

And everything, when we fry, cook, and do a bunch of stuff,

because it's like a very large process, and then grind, we came to this.

-So you get to... -Yes.

So we don't add onions, we don't add tomatoes, we don't add--

So this is the base, and then you do the sofrito.

And then fry it a little bit, and then put chicken stock, and that's it.

The way that we eat right now, the Puebla style,

it's right after the Spanish.

We didn't have cheese, we didn't have cows,

we didn't have a bunch of stuff that we use in here.

[Drew] That all came with the Spanish.

Food from Puebla, we use cream, we use cheese, we use a lot of spices.

Like every single mole, pipián, mole, adobo,

everything has a hint of spices, so it's...

I don't know. That's the way that we do it here.

We both have something in common.

We both work with or for.

-We work for. -For our wife.

Do you like working with your wife?

I like to work for my wife.

Work for your wife.

Isn't it easier when you just let her make the decisions?

-I feel it that way. -Yeah.

-It is. -Come on.

You guys make a great team.

-Yeah, thank you. Thank you. -You really do.

It's like a power.

It's a great pleasure now to work with my dad.

Gina is taking care of the wine.

Food has bring us all together.

It's a connection for sure.

Talking about food, working about food, and everything the same thing on mind,

just like to show the best that we can do to preserve and the guests can eat it.

Well, it's beautiful.

Right, so guazontle, you know, it's this plant.

What we do is we blanch it. You have to put a lot of salt.

And then we have, you know, for do the capeado.

Yeah, let's do it.

[Ángel] Put it in the capeado.

-Up to the edges, right? -Yes.

Alright, and another different and interesting thing

to know about the guasonte is how to eat it.

So you can kind of like grab it, and then hold it,

and then, kind of like dig it, like, kind of like a fish.

-So you need to keep the... -Like the French eat white asparagus.

-Yes. Same way. -Yeah.

-It's a big vegetarian corndog. -Yes. [chuckles]

You were a big influence on Ángel growing up,

and one of the reasons why you started cooking.

He likes to eat, but he likes to cook more than eat, I guess.

He loves to cook for us,

so I get the influence of being cooking with him.

His dad used to have a place in the market,

like, he used to sell potatoes.

I want that my daughter eat the same way that my grandmother used to eat.

Then she need to pass it away.

-Like she need to learn how to do it. -Pass it on.

And do it to their kids.

She is 11 and the other is 5, they have to have it.

They have to know. That's our job.

There's so many little jobs and so many important jobs

that you don't want to give to someone else.

Exactly. That's the truth.

-You can only trust your family.

The maguey, also known as agave, is an incredible plant

that has played a significant role in Mesoamerican civilizations.

The long, spiky leaves are used for making ropes, textiles, and traditional crafts.

The core of the plant contains a dense fiber structure known as the piña.

The sap, or aguamiel,

is extracted from the piña to make fermented alcoholic beverages.

[Drew, in English] Pulque is a fermented alcoholic drink made from the agave plant

that has a rich history in Mexico, dating back to pre-Columbian times.

Pulque was the precursor to tequila

before the distillation process was brought to Mexico by the Spaniards.

When the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 16th Century,

they began experimenting with the agave plant,

attempting to distill it into a more potent alcoholic beverage.

The process of distillation was a technology brought to Mexico

by the Spanish colonizers.

Over time, specific regions within Mexico, such as the town of Tequila in Jalisco,

became known for the quality of their distilled agave spirits.

Tequila is a distinct type of mezcal, evolved in these regions

due to unique variations in production methods

and the agave species used,

primarily the agave tequilana, also known as blue agave.

In the 19th Century, production techniques were refined,

and tequila started to be produced in larger quantities.

The Cuervo family played a significant role

in the commercialization and popularization of tequila,

obtaining the first license to produce it commercially in 1795.

The Cuervo family has been rooted in the tequila tradition for 250 years,

and was also the first to release extrañejo to the public.

Today, my wife Paulina and I are headed to La Rojeña,

the oldest distillery in the Americas,

where Reserva de la Familia is made and 100% handcrafted

by skilled and passionate artisans.

I'm here to learn about their ultra-premium collection

of artisanal small-batch tequilas

that are the crown jewel of the Cuervo family.

[Alex, in Spanish] Welcome to La Rojeña,

the oldest distillery in the tequila industry.

[Drew, in English] All right, yeah, you can feel the history here, Alex.

-[Alex, in English] Yeah. -How long have you been here?

-[Alex] Me? -[Drew] You.

-[Alex] Thirty years. -Thirty. Wow.

[Alex] Thirty years.

But this has been since 1795.

-1795, before the revolution. -Exactly.

So this is still Spanish control.

Yeah, so we had to ask for permission to the King of Spain

for distillation of the tequila.

So, Alex, where are we now?

This looks like a whole lot of agave piñas.

So this is the first process.

In the company, we have a big agricultural team,

and they are responsible for the...

From the planting to the harvesting of the agave,

and they have experts managing the soils, any type of logs, plaga.

So if it wasn't for the agave growers and the agave itself,

I mean, there would be no industry.

Well, and that's where the quality coming from the field

is the quality that you have in the glass.

Exactly. Exactly.

And every step of the process is really important.

Ingrediente, ingrediente, ingrediente.

Right there. That's it. Yeah.

Once you smell cooked agave, you will enjoy tequila differently.

Okay. Just pull it and then...

Oh, wow.

All right, we can go home now.

Wow.

So this is the first time in my life that I've been with two maestro tequileros,

which is not a... It doesn't happen every day.

How often is each barrel tested along the process of making

before it gets to the bottle?

-Every barrel's different. -Every barrel's different.

Every barrel's different. And every "cosecha", every harvest is different.

Yes.

And depending on the time of the year, just, the agave, it's a plant.

It's constantly changing.

Yeah, and to produce a barrel is very handcrafted.

Sure.

As well as all the charring and the toasting, it's really...

It's manual. It's a manual operation as well.

-So there's always variances. -Sure.

Which is, I think, what's nice about small-batch products.

Absolutely.

Still family owned, Jose Cuervo.

How many generations are we looking at right now?

-Eleven generations. -Eleven.

Obviously, Jose Cuervo has become a very, very big company.

However, when you look at all these industrial processes up in the planet,

reserva de la familia, handmade, small batch,

from the hand-blown glass for the bottle, to the labels,

to the waxing, how important is that?

-Sure, okay. -Okay?

How important is passion for you in something as amazing as this tequila?

I mean, for me, this is gonna be... It's not a job, it's your life.

Yeah, in my opinion, passion is... It's key.

You know, because personally, I feel so fortunate

being Mexican and work for this, you know, for this brand.

I think it's... I'm being an appellation of origin tequila, so...

You need to love what you do,

I mean, with discipline and intensity and with your heart.

Sure.

Because every... All we're doing is producing, you know, um...

experience for the world.

We're showing the world what Mexico and tequila could do.

And there's a lot of work and effort from a lot of people in the distillery,

from planting to harvesting to distilling, maturing.

So we're representing a lot of people that are putting their best effort

and waking every morning to do their best.

So I think that's what passion is all about.

[peaceful music playing]

When did wheat come, and what was the process of making wheat

sort of part of the Puebla and Mexican diet?

You might think it's been forever, you know,

judging by how much we love bread and how many bakers we have.

But actually, it really only came with the Spanish colonization.

It was really important for Spaniards

to actually start replicating their own food system.

And just like for us, corn was fundamental to our food system,

but also to our culinary traditions.

Wheat had all these meanings,

cultural meanings, spiritual meanings, you know, attached to it.

So it was for them very, very important

to introduce it here in New Spain and to adapt it.

So obviously, they tried with different grains, different densities,

but they really wanted to introduce.

But because it needs a certain altitude, humidity and all that,

it was really hard for them to introduce it.

They first tried in the Caribbean and, you know, Veracruz.

-[Drew] Yeah, humidity, that doesn't work. -You've been there, it just didn't work.

But here in Puebla, you know, we're high, it's cool.

[Drew] Yeah, low humidity.

Yes, very rich soil, so, you know, it just really, really adapted very quickly.

Now, this was good for one part of the society

and really bad news for another part of the society.

So obviously, Spaniards were just very happy

that finally, they were growing their own wheat

and being able to eat bread, right?

-Because it was the staple of their diet. -Sure.

But obviously, you need to make room if you're going to grow that.

And being this such a fertile place,

that means pushing, displacing native indigenous crops.

So the milpa system, you know, corn or even amaranth,

or, yeah, cactus, nopales, many of these crops had to be displaced.

So indigenous people were really, really upset about this.

You can understand. Also, they knew nothing about wheat.

Why would they? So they knew-- They were not familiar

with the technology, with the cycle, how to harvest.

-And I can imagine an effect in their... -Absolutely.

-In their persons as well. -Absolutely.

-Because it's an ingredient that... -Wheat intolerances are not a new thing.

So actually, many indigenous people were just absolutely unable to digest.

Just as...

Guess this.

Many Spanish people were unable to digest corn.

-So it worked both ways. -Oh, interesting. Okay.

Yes, they were like, "Oh, my God,

we really need our bread because we can't eat tortillas.

They're delicious, but we can't digest it." Some of them.

So it was the same.

And also for the products that were introduced.

So, say, when dairy cattle was introduced,

many indigenous people just couldn't tolerate lactose.

And to this day, that still remains. So it worked both ways.

But really, Puebla became really, like, was on the spot

and became like the granary and the breadbasket of New Spain

because it started producing...

You know, if you're producing wheat, well, what's next?

Well, you need to mill it, right? So we need to build a lot of mills.

You're milling, well, we need bakeries.

You know, news spread, and everyone wanted some bread,

and, like, Puebla has bread, come on, like, let's start producing a lot.

[Drew] One of the most famous and respected restaurants in Puebla

is El Mural de los Poblanos,

owned by Luis Javier Cue,

featuring seasonal and local ingredients in traditional Poblano dishes.

He is a fierce advocate of sourcing local and seasonal ingredients

that celebrate Puebla's heritage.

Good morning, brother. Man, what... What a pleasure to be back here.

It's been a while since I've been seated with you in a table at your restaurant.

It's always a pleasure to have you here and to share what we have here in Puebla.

All the ingredients have history, traditions,

and dishes that Puebla is famous for.

One of the things that I really like about visiting Puebla,

it's one of my favorite places to visit in Mexico.

People who live here and who are from here are so proud of their city.

It's one of the cleanest cities I've ever seen in Mexico.

People are smiling.

They want to talk about their city.

They want to talk about the history. They know about the history.

What is it about Puebla that just makes people love to be here?

It's just a very special place.

Yeah, we... As you say, we are proud of what we have here.

We have a lot of dishes that make us proud

in the case of what we do at the restaurant.

We have different seasons,

and it's all about gathering with family and friends

that makes these moments special for the Poblanos.

We have the tradition of the Chilean hogada

that's a seasonal dish that... It gathered the family.

So that's-- Going back to the being proud of,

it's like a moment that is very comfortable for the Poblano to share.

Now, you are raised with this tradition in your family,

and then you want to show it to your friends.

[Drew] And you want to share it.

[Luis] You want to share it with people that come from other places.

And that's what I think the Poblanos are very proud of,

what we have here and what we have in different dishes.

So with the chiles, when we were here for the festival,

it was interesting for me.

I was able to do a side-by-side taste test of a chile Poblano grown commercially.

Okay.

And then one of the chiles, the traditionally grown from the mountain.

And even from just the size, the shape, everything was different.

-The flavor. -The flavor is just totally different.

And I know that it's happening a lot in Mexico all over the place.

Traditional dishes are being diluted through commercialization.

And I know that the Chili en Nogada dish is one of the same thing,

where it was traditional and special

because those ingredients were only available at that time.

The chili was grown a certain way.

And now those ingredients are available now all year round.

You can make Chili en Nogada all year round.

[Drew] In addition to the iconic dishes of Puebla,

like chalupas, cemitas, mole poblano, and chili en nogada,

there's another beloved dish called tacos árabes,

which is seeped in history

and happens to be one of my favorite things to eat when I visit.

Ángel is taking Rocio and I to his favorite spot called El Sultan

in the heart of the city.

Ángel! How are you, my friend?

Nice to meet you. Please come in El Sultan.

-Thank you so much. -Thank you. Thank you.

So, all right, guys. If you don't mind, I already asked for some tacos.

-I hope you don't mind, Carlos. -Oh, no, please.

Al pastor, árabe, tortas, jocoque,

and this beautiful sauce that has to go on the tacos.

-How long have you had the taco shop? -Thirty-three years.

This is an original recipe from Lebanon for many, many years ago,

more than 100 years ago.

So Puebla is obviously a crossroads of a lot of different things.

That's right.

[Drew] Tell me a little bit about the history.

I know that there was a couple of different immigrations of...

Arabs, not just one.

When did tacos árabes start, uh,

and sort of how has that influenced some other things in Mexico?

Okay, well, you maybe know more than I do.

There have been many waves of Arab immigrants.

It's a whole big Arab diaspora, actually, that came from the Arab world.

And when I say the Arab world, guys, you won't deny that

some came from Lebanon, indeed,

but some came from, you know, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait,

like, really the whole Arab world.

And it just takes us to the late 1800's

with the Ottoman wars, pulling everybody out.

So back then Mexico had this very friendly policy of welcoming refugees.

And so it's in this context that our government just opened their arms,

and we Mexicans, we're like, you know, you're having a hard time?

Sure thing, we can squeeze you in.

So they came here really with nothing.

Puebla is one of the biggest cities in Mexico, the fourth largest city.

And it has a big Lebanese influence.

Boss, which of the sauces do you recommend?

-This one is for the árabe. -Okay.

And either this or this are for the pastor.

Taco del pastor, always with the green sauce.

Yes.

That has a touch of habanero.

And that's it.

And then árabe with this sauce, a little bit of croque,

and you have the bread that you always like.

You might notice something about your taco, your taco árabe,

-and it has this layer of smokiness. -[Drew] Sure.

[Rocio] That really, really comes through, and the lovely flavors in the marinade.

So this is the thing.

This is peasant food. This is farmer's food.

When these Arab people came here, they really came with nothing,

and they had to start from scratch.

So from selling haberdashery door-to-door, and doing odd jobs,

joining the textile industry, but some realized, like,

-"Poblanos really like their food." -That's right.

"So how about we introduce our own culinary traditions and see how it goes?"

At what point did the taco árabe change from lamb to pork?

Well, lamb is not very usual to have it in Mexico.

Okay.

And pork, of course, is much easier to get it.

And also, in Puebla, it says that...

[in Spanish] The Poblano eats, pork, pig, and swine.

[Rocio] You know what that means? Pork, pork, pork, pork, everywhere.

So it was really that main change that they did to these actual reels.

So it is this moment when the shawarma comes to Mexico here in Puebla,

because we're so close to the Port of Veracruz

where they came from, right?

So they entered the country via the Port of Veracruz.

That's why many settled in that region in southeast Veracruz.

Loads went to Mexico City,

but because Puebla is, like, in the middle,

they decided to stay here.

And you can't blame them, you know?

Lovely weather, beautiful city, beautiful people.

So when they started introducing this, well, it would have been a kebab.

But honestly, if you're in Mexico,

if you put a bread that looks like a tortilla

with some food inside it, roll it like a taco,

I mean, Arab, taco, árabe taco, and there you go.

Very simple.

And this salsa is really what-- It's chipotle.

So without telling us your secrets,

can you tell us what your friend told you about this salsa?

Oh, yes, of course.

I mean, it has a special combination of... It has olive oil.

Of course, chipotle, which is a chili and salt, pepper, and a secret ingredient.

But this salsa, you won't find it in the Arab world.

So this was the only kind of adaptation that they allowed themselves.

-That's right. -Sort of like a token.

-That's right. -Okay, you like our food.

We know you like your salsa.

There is... If tacos árabes started, at what point did tacos al pastor?

After a few generations, these descendants of Arabs growing up,

being familiar with the flavors, like the tortillas, the spices,

the textures, they understood more about Mexican food.

So they started experimenting with different ingredients.

This marinade...

Also, was it also... Was it born here in Puebla?

It was born here in Puebla, out of the creativity of these people

who really understood and made this adaptation.

-[Carlos] What do you like best? -Um...

-The taco árabe. -The taco árabe?

Yeah.

Taco árabe is the most popular one.

-Yeah, I want another one. -[Carlos] Of course.

[peaceful music playing]

[Drew] Another iconic treasure of Puebla is Talavera pottery.

It was granted a denomination of origin by the Mexican government in 1998

for its intricate, exquisitely designed pottery and artisanal craftsmanship

that makes each piece a true work of art.

It was a lot, man.

We got next to some really, really special people

that are doing some really incredible things.

The young guys bringing back heritage corn

and celebrating what's been celebrated in their families

for "siglos", for centuries.

And one of the things that really impacted me was that

we've lost so much information, we've lost so much heritage.

And the little that's still being preserved,

it made me think about how much is not going to be preserved,

how much is not going to carry on.

You know, the corn is part of it.

But there's so much from language to even just family.

There's a lot to learn.

Well, I'm trying to do our best as a team here at the restaurant,

trying to be proud of the products,

the real ingredients that gave the flavors that our grandmothers and our father.

Food transmits, like, emotions.

So I think when my grandmother died, she died in my dad's arms.

He remembers his mom cooking.

So that's why I think he cooks, like,

because every time that he's cooking, he remembers his mother.

Every time he's doing a chile nogada, he's always thinking,

and when he takes the fork and puts it in his mouth,

he's, like, happy.

Like, what I think is, okay, now he's remembered--

-It hits that spot, you know? -That's very strong, what you're saying.

Like, he's remembering what he was eating when he was a child.

I think that the recipe that we're having,

we're trying always to keep it just because that family heritage.

So I know I can do, like, different stuff and innovate

and put a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I like it.

It's a really nice situation because you have Augurio,

where you can stay very traditional and not move away from...

What those recipes from the tiyas that you were telling me about,

that that's the line you're following,

but then you have intro where you can go wherever you want, right?

So you have that outlet.

You can respect tradition and still be innovative.

Is it not as important to communicate the idea of great-grandmother's mole

as opposed to replicate it?

You're transmitting tradition and heritage and history and family

by even attempting to recreate it and then serve it, you know,

basically, okay, I'm open to the world,

and here, this is my grandmother's mole in a restaurant.

I think that's noble enough to continue the tradition.

We have to share this, to be proud of it,

and to share with all of them, and to shout it to the world.

Now that we have the world's attention on us, like, literally the spotlight,

how are we going to tell that?

How are we going to tell that story?

How are we going to tell what you're doing in a way that incites

and invites people to come and discover that?

But tradition and heritage is very difficult to communicate

to someone who isn't in it or living around it.

So as Mexican food continues to leave the borders and go to other places,

it's... Everybody understands if you talk about an ingredient.

It's not easy to communicate the love of your grandmother,

and how she stood over the clay pots,

and this is what her Cocina de Humo looked like.

And that's really tough to communicate

to somebody who hasn't seen that or done that.

But to celebrate an ingredient, as it moves forward,

that's something that everybody can understand.

And then that's something that can travel.

Heritage corn, uh, vanilla from Veracruz.

Moving forward, Mexican food may become

kind of anything made with Mexican ingredients.

We turn it around, right?

Because we sort of trace back

how Mesoamerican crops built national cuisines.

What is our responsibility?

We have a soapbox.

We have a platform to communicate.

We have the ability to really make things happen.

-To change the narrative. -To change the narrative.

With this new ecosystem we are creating, by listening to critical voices,

you using that spot you have to say, "Yes, we can all do more.

We can all support each other. You don't have to be just the producer.

I don't need just the person that transforms that.

How about we protect it? How about we change it?

How about we export it under a different way and conditions?

Sustainability and food preservation is not something you need to talk about.

It's something you need to eat.

And the only way that you could communicate food stability,

food justice, food sustainability is by propagating it and consuming it.

There's no point in having an heirloom corn

sitting on a bookshelf going, "This is heirloom corn."

We need to grow it.

We need to have it in as many people's mouths as possible.

And we need to show that it's there and it's part of the marketplace.

You know, sometimes when we get the ability to go

and be next to these really incredible people doing incredible things,

I don't always feel like I'm worthy.

I don't always feel like, "Hey, you know,

who am I to be trying to get next to these people

and tell their story and understand it?

Am I doing things for the right reason? Are my questions the right questions?

This was a really, really great time for me here in Puebla.

It's an amazing place.

[peaceful music playing]