Mexican Meals

In Mexico, food is an intrinsic part of festivals, rituals, and personnal commemorations, but the daily meals are the focal points around which everyday life revolves. Mealtimes, especially comida - the main meal of the day - are treated as special intervals, to be approached with relish and respect for the work which went into their preparation.

Even those who do not have time for breakfast, or who pass up the late-night supper, sit down to a substantial comida in the afternoon. Translating comida as "lunch", as is often done, does not do it justice, for it is nothing like the gringo version of lunch and is served later than most people north-of-the-border would eat lunch. It is much more like the old-fashioned mid-day dinners that people ate in the United States back when a larger percentage of the population were living in small towns or on farms and the three daily meals were called breakfast, dinner and supper.

The comida, more than any other meal, is still structured much as it was during the time of the Spanish colonials, and hasn't changed much even in the last hundred years. It starts off with a soup course, called the sopa aguada, which may be anything from a clear broth to a rich cream soup. This is followed by the sopa seca, which is either a rice or pasta dish. Although rice would normally be served with the main course in many other countries, Mexican tradition dictates that it be served separately. Next comes the main course, which may be a meat or chicken guisado - stew - or mole, meatballs in sauce, pork loin in adobo, chiles rellenos, or any of countless other regional specialties. The main course is followed by beans, for those who still have room for them, and many do.

Dessert is most frequently a lighter affair than the cakes and pastries that serve as between-meal treats. Often it consists of flan, gelatin, or fruit in syrup. Pitchers of fresh fruit drinks, aguas frescas, traditionally accompany the comida. A fresh, homemade fruit agua, such as jamaica or tamarindo, is a wonderful accompaniment to the many flavors found in the comida.

Desayuno: Breakfast

A light breakfast eaten first thing in the morning - perhaps just coffee, hot chocolate or atole (a thick hot drink that is made with corn, rice or oats) and sweet bread or fruit. A heavier morning meal is usually refered to as almuerzo.

Almuerzo: Brunch

This is a more substantial breakfast or brunch, usually eaten sometime between 9 am and noon. This morning meal may consist of an egg or meat dish, or a dish made with fried tortillas and a spicy sauce such as chilaquiles or enchiladas.

Comida Corrida: Main Mexican Meal

Generally eaten between 2 and 4 pm, comida is the main meal of the day. It may consist of several courses, including soup (sopa) or salad (ensalada), a main dish (guisado) and dessert (postre).

Sopas y Caldos

Comida corrida starts with soups (sopas) or broths (caldos). Mexicans are great soup makers. One reason is their method of boiling or poaching all meat as at least a first step in the process of meat preparation. As a result, good homemade stock is always available. These aromatic broths can be turned into a delicious soup by simply adding a dollop of guacamole (sopa de aguacate), stirring in some sauteed julienne of squash blossoms (for sopa de flor de calabaza), or by whisking hot stock into a spicy paste made from chiles, garlic, tomato, onion, and cilantro, and topping the soup with a wedge of lime. There are endless variations on the simple broth-based soup. Heartier soups are also common. Posole is hominy stewed with meat, usually pork or pig`s feet, and vegetables, finished with various fresh garnishes like avocado, lettuce, raw onion or chile, and limes. Sopa verde is a fish soup wherein vegetables and fish are boiled together, puréed, and whisked into a paste of poblano, cilantro, and garlic, and finished with whole shrimp. Black bean and tortilla soups are more well-known Mexican soups. Accompanying this course, and all those following, up to dessert, is a non-stop supply of fresh tortillas.

Sopa Seca

The second course is called sopa seca, or dry soup. This is most often a pasta course, such as linguine with roasted garlic, roasted chipotle chiles, or wild mushrooms and tomatillos. It could also be a spiced rice dish, a rice and bean casserole, or tortillas cooked in broth.

Platos Fuertas

The main course of the comida corrida is the plato fuerta. Most often this course is a meat served with one or two vegetables. In the northern states, you might eat a steak marinated in a paste of cumin, chile, and garlic, then seared in a cast iron skillet. Further south, one of many complex and amazing mole sauces might grace your chicken, or even seafood. Pork loin pairs with guava and plum sauce. Further south still, lobster is matched with tamarind sauce, or a seafood taco is filled with pomegranate seeds. The main course usually closes with beans. Other dishes you will see are pork loin in adobo and chiles rellenos.

Postres

Dessert is usually a fruit or custard served with coffee. Chocolate is of course indigenous, but is used in main courses as much or perhaps more than in confections. Local homemade sorbets are frozen freshness made from mangoes, figs, or limes. Churros are a popular deep-fried dessert fritter that is shaped like a flute. Bunelos are also fritters, traditionally eaten at Christmas. To make bunelos, a yeasted dough with a hint of anise is deep-fried then drenched in a syrup of brown sugar, cinnamon, and guava. Flan is perhaps the most well-known Mexican dessert. It is a simple caramelized egg custard that has many variations.

No alcohol, except an occasional beer, is drunk with comida corrida. This doesn`t mean that Mexicans are a teetotalling bunch. It is amazing how many recipes (such as menudo, the famous tripe soup) are described as having miraculous powers to banish a hangover. Beer and tequila are local favorites.

Cena: Supper

For many Mexicans the final meal of the day may consist of just a hot drink and some bread, but it could also be a nice meal consumed in a restaurant, or a chance to try out some authentic Mexican tacos at a street stand.

Botanas, antojitos and tentempiés: Snacks

These are different terms that are used to refer to snacks and you'll find plenty to snack on as you go about your day in Mexico. Botanas generally accompany drinks and can be as simple as salted peanuts or nachos and salsa. An antojo is a craving and antojitos satisfy those cravings for yummy Mexican snacks - these tend to vary throughout the country.