With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, my friend Andres Pinedo joins the show to talk about his upbringing in Mexico City. Andres's close relationship with food and family provides tons of color and depth to the Mexican kitchen, and he shares his dreams of opening a restaurant to employ Mexican immigrants.
This week Andres Pinedo joins the show to talk about the Mexican table, kitchen, and attitudes towards cooking. After he spills the beans on his success running beer and chocolate milk miles, we touch on the (un)importance of Cinco de Mayo to Mexicans while noting its significance more as a day of pride for Mexicans living in the US. Andres shares his family's background, his mother hailing from Chiapas in the south and his father from Mexico City. We discuss mole preparations and his grandma's molcajete, a precious family possession he hopes to take ownership of one day. Andres almost went to the Culinary Institute of America, which he ended up passing on at the advice of a chef he met before he came to the states for college (he ended up at college with me instead!) This chef recommended he learn his family recipes inside and out, and he took this to heart and is now learning how to cook like his grandma. We talk about pozole and the way his grandma prepares it and serves. Andres remembers going to church with his grandma and enjoying strawberry tamales as a treat after mass ended. We dive into a special chicken stew made with the entire bird including an incredible ingredient, the huevera, which is the tract that grows eggs and prepares them for laying. Andres shares his thoughts on the Latin American attitudes towards using entire animals before we shift gears to break down Mexican food in the US. I ask him about his future hopeful restaurant and his desires for a Mexican staff with a seasonal menu inspired by his cooks. Andres admits that it is correct that every Mexican man will tell you his abuela makes the best, most authentic version of a dish. We end by talking about how his journey into becoming a runner affected his relationship with food and how it pulled him away from enjoying sobremesa with his family before learning that food nourishes more than your body. He ends with some wisdom and a challenge for anyone enjoying Cinco de Mayo this coming week.