Yucatecan Cuisine

Culinary influences of Yucatecan cooking reach back beyond remembrance of time. Wild turkey, deer and jabalí (a type of wild pig) are indigenous to the Yucatán penninsula. Along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, fish and seafood are the most common staples. Corn, tomatoes, cocoa, avocados, bananas, squash, potatoes, yams, frijoles, achiote, chiles and epazote were used in the Yucatán before the Spanish conquest.

Some of the notable ingredients introduced to the region by the Spanish are garlic, onion, wheat, vinegar, lard, pepper, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, sugarcane, garbanzos, pork, beef, rice, olive oil and limes.

Today's Yucatecan cuisine is found in small family run restaurants and homes of the Yucatec Maya. Cooking is rarely done with a recipe. This is a style of cooking that has been handed down throughout generations with a little bit of this and a little bit of that as the primary technique.

Recipe books are primarily for those not gifted with the appropriate DNA. One I have in my collection in English is Yucatan Cookbook Recipes and Tales by Lyman Morton. Morton moved from Los Angeles to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in 1994, and he has devoted much of his time in that tropical environment to collecting indigenous recipes for the vast varieties of foods consumed by Yucatecos.

One of my challenges living in the region was dining out as a vegetarian. The year round abundance of fresh produce was great for my own culinary prowess, but dining out usually meant quesadillas and a salad. The typical salad is iceberg lettuce with sliced tomato. If I pleaded for extra guarnición I could usually wrangle some avocado. International cuisine was my special treat on infrequent trips to Cancún.

As the years went by and development slowly spurred south of Cancún to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, European influence became apparent. Little Italian restaurants popped up and I could dine out on pasta once more!