Del Rio News Herald

“Yo se que dicen que nosotros somos muy comelones, y si es cierto, pero estamos muy contentos! La felicidad de un hogar de nosotros es tener una olla llena de frijolitos refritos con tantito chilito, unas tortillitas calientitas, y poderlo compartir con la familia! Nosotros somos muy especiales cuando se llega a nuestra familia. La familia viene primero!” ( I know that they say we eat a lot. This is true, but we are a happy bunch. Happiness of our home is having a pan of refried beans with a little chile and some warm tortillas that we can share with our family. Family comes first.)

I believe that when a culture and its people suffer the effects of discrimination, they bind together and identify certain aspects of living that will bring them comfort. Many sociologists have even identified such aspects as “comfort food”. I know I have some dishes in our home that I use to help me feel good. I served them to my children and continue cooking them for my ten grandchildren.

“Se me hace agua la boca nadamas al pensar de unos de estos platillos!

No lo niego, pero por eso… estoy poquito gordita! Mario dice que a los hombres les gustan las mujeres que tengan carnitas, y a mi, no me faltan carnitas, por eso me siento bien bonita!!!”(My mouth waters as I think of those dishes. I will not deny it, but that is why we are a little chubby. Mario says that men like women to have a little meat on them and I suppose that because I have ‘some extra meat’, I feel pretty!!!)

“Mother, what is for supper? My answer would be, “MIGITAS CON EGGS y chilito on the side.” One of my friends said the Anglo population calls it, “Poor man’s food!” I suppose that is true. For centuries the people of the Borderland of Texas had nothing more to eat than old tortillas cut into pieces, fried along with cilantro, onions, garlic, and good old tomatoes, a little water and eggs were added and scrambled into the mixture. We devoured this magnificently! As a child we had migas y frijoles at least three times a week. To me, it was a real- deal -of –a- meal…and it still is! “De chuparte los dedos!!” In some parts of Mexico especially in the interior, they fix “migas” but they call them “Chilaquiles.” Let me say, they are not like ours, because they do not fry the tomato but instead they use tomato sauce and the tortillas swim in tomate y se hacen aguadas and they do not use eggs either! There is no way that our Migas are like Chilaquiles!!!

To this day we all can remember filling up our plate with FIDEO. In English, we call it vermicelli! The FIDEO en la caja amarilla con rojo was every Hispanic American’s dream of a scrumptious meal and it wasn’t on wheels, either! Our mother always made two boxes, porque Carlos era bien tragón! He loved FIDEO and he would eat one box for himself even as an adult. For confirmation, ask Gloria!

FIDEO was and is very inexpensive (in the 60’s the box was ten cents). The versatility of this staple is what makes it a great food and it is really economical even today. To diversify, many moms put some fried hamburger meat or, left over chicken, or peas, or pieces of potato. One bowl of this and… pancita llena, corazón contento!

These two foods are examples of some of the food eaten by our ancestors who did not eat meat unless it was drained of its blood. Apart from other foods I have talked about in other articles, there were three traditional Lenten entrees served by Christian Tejanos, which derived from Sephardic Crypto Jewish Passover. They are albondigas, capirotada, and nopalitos.

Albondigas are made from mashed potato balls that are fried in butter with or without raisins and/or pecans. They are sometimes flattened, too. Capirotada is a bread pudding with raisins, pecans, and piloncio. The ingredients vary according to the preference of the cook and household. Nopalitos are baked, fried, or grilled cactus leaves or in an egg batter called nopalitos lampriados.

Buñuelos are like the “quita y pon” game in that many are convinced are the Jewish origin adopted by their Christian counterparts of Mexico, and Texas Borderlands. The Buñuelo is a thin, cinnamon, vegetable oil fried pastry traditionally sprinkled with brown sugar. Would you be surprised if I tell you that the Buñuelo is prepared just like we do here, but it is found in African and in other European countries like Portugal.

Another interesting fact that I discovered was that in certain parts of Mexico, they serve the Buñuelo on cracked and old dishes. When the guest finished eating the Buñuelo, they threw the dishes on the ground and broke them.(Richard G. Santos. HIDDEN HERITAGE. 2000.)

Do you think maybe they were imitating the Jewish wedding toast intentionally?

In closing, I want to share something funny! Shortly after the Spaniards settled on the Caribbean Islands, they noted in their dairies that the Indigenous people ate an animal “de la barba hasta la cola.” Translated it means, ‘from its beard to the tail.’

The phrase was shorten to ‘de barba a cola’ and…again shortened to…

“Barbacoa!! The Texas Borderland Hispanics love this meal especially if it is cooked in a pit in the ground just like the ones prepared by QUIRINO ESCAMILLA, “El Rey de la Barbacoa en pozo,” by Don Alfredo Gutierrez, by Coronel Villegas, by Alfredo Villegas, his son, and by Leon Zertuche. They will all go down in our historical libro as the last of the Barbacoa Mavericks in Del Rio, Texas!

I know that as Christians we should love Sundays because we celebrate Mass, and Sunday was “church” day, but as a young child I firmly believed that the Lord in heaven had made Sundays for us to line up at Quirino’s Grocery Store to wait our turn to get una cabeza o el cachete.

The neatest part was when Quirino would let me peer over the edge of the hole to see for myself the contents of the pozo (hole). Quirino’s green eyes always beamed with joy as the result of his work was in the reception he always got when he handed me the white butcher paper bundle that held our Sunday treasure!! All the way home the aroma made my mouth create enough saliva to house a few gold fish!!!

When we were at the driveway of our house at 407 Hutchinson Street, I could smell the fresh homemade tortillas que Mamá habia paloteado! Nada, pero nada, se compara a esta experiencia que nosotros podemos saborear por toda una vida!! (…Mom had made. Nothing, but nothing compares to this experience that we can savor for our entire lifetime.)

I know that the majority of you will agree that there is nothing that equals the aroma coming out of the kitchen where fresh flour tortillas are cooking on the black comal. The aroma permeates even to an entire block. If I have a reader or two that do not believe this, just take a walk down any of the streets in old San Felipe at noon or in the evening and you will know what I mean! There are still many homes that make their flour tortillas from ‘scratch.’

“QUE LINDAS SON NUESTRAS TRADICIONES QUE NOS UNEN COMO UNA TRENZA QUE NO TIENE FIN, Y COMO DICE EL DICHO: Pancita llena, corazón contento!! (How wonderful are our traditions that unite us just like a braid with no end and a full tummy that makes for a happy heart!) Thank you for enjoying my column y hasta mañana and may God bless each of you with His favor!

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Serving Del Rio and Val Verde County since 1929

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