The other day I noticed that the hamburger stand in Felton at Graham Hill and Highway 9 is a taqueria now. And of course you know that the Pontiac Grill (or whatever its late name was) is a taqueria now too. I like Mexican food as well as anyone, but does every joint need to have exactly the same menu? The other day I heard a story on NPR and now have hope for more diversity.
The All Things Considered story can be heard from this page. It seems that the Mexican government realized that Mexican food has an unbroken lineage going back thousands of years and it has asked UNESCO, the cultural arm of the UN, to recognize it as "Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity."
The radio story makes a good case to support Mexico in this effort and I with it well. But what I learned was the amazing ingredients in Mexican food that you don't see in taquerias. Did you know that the worm at the bottom of the mescal can be made in to a sauce? Did you know that of the 600 edible bugs in the world, 400 of them are used in Mexican cooking?
Can you imagine how popular a Mexican restaurant in Santa Cruz would be if they offered fried grasshoppers?
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