Today for lunch we had a side of rice with plátanos machos fritos (fried plantains); salad with shredded jicama y zanahoria (jicama and carrot), lechuga (lettuce), manzanas (apples); y pacanas (pecans), and costillas de puerco (pork ribs).
The sweetness of the plantains was a good foil for the spicy rib sauce. It worked well to spoon the rice into the sauce to soak up the flavorful goodness and then use the empty space on the plate for salad. There were probably about 4 servings of rice on the plate, and I ate about 2. Based on my observations, the Oaxacan diet is light on vegetables and tends more heavily towards carbs and protein.
Aurea told me that it was very important to get costillas con hueso because the bone adds so much flavor. The meat was very tender and I loved the flavor of the sauce. Ingredientes: tomate verde (tomatillo), chile de arbol, ajo (garlic), cebolla (onion), y sal (salt).
Hugo, Aurea's son-in-law, brought home dragon fruit, which is not common to the area, so the Spanish name for this fruit was a mystery to everyone. According to an online dictionary, it's pitahaya. It has a creamy texture and nondescript flavor. Aurea was wearing a fuchsia shirt that matched the skin of the dragon fruit and I was wearing a gray shirt, just like the interior!
This afternoon, my Nutrition class attended a lecture led by the women who started the non-profit, Puente. Their goal is to reinstitute amaranth as a common element in the Oaxacan diet because it is native to Oaxaca, yet is not a common crop due to the influence of Spaniards from years ago. Because indigenous people used amaranth in religious rituals, Spaniards successfully eliminated this pseudo-grain from Oaxaca.
Oaxaca is one of the poorest states of Mexico and unfortunately there is a lot of food insecurity. These women see this nutrient power-house of a pseudo-grain as a way to combat the problem of malnutrition.
It's very difficult to acquire quantitive data to track how amaranth is affecting nutritional status, though there is a lot of qualitative data. One mother told one of the Stanford research affiliates, "My child used to act like a cat and now acts like a dog!" The researcher interpreted this as meaning the child was very stand-offish and reclusive, but now has lots of energy and exuberance for life.
Amaranth is not common in the U.S., but is worth searching out. I know it can be found at Whole Foods.
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