Text and Photos by Nora Vasconcelos
Cod Fish Torta.
Not so long ago I wrote a post about an exceptional book on typical Mexican food origined during the 17th and 18th centuries right in the heart of the Colonial Convents placed in different parts of Mexico.The book, called Delights of yesteryear. History and Recipes of the Mexican Convents refers to tradicional recipes that are still prepared in this country, dishes that usually take a long time to be made with amazingly delicious results.
So after some time enjoying this book, I started to think how the ingenuity of the Mexican people has managed to transform these very elaborated dishes into a some sort of Mexican Fast Food.
Of course tradicional chains of Fast Food are popular in the country, selling pizzas and hamburguers, but, for many people in this country, tacos and tortas are a good way to bring fast, some food to their stomach, while really hungry, or when time is short.
Tacos and Tortas, are also a good way to take advantage of the left overs and keep enjoying all sort of elaborated dishes such as Tamalli, Mole and Chiles rellenos (stuffed chilli). The only thing to do to transform this food into fast food is stuffing a tortilla o some bread (kind of baguette style but Mexican) with the left overs and that’s it, intant fast food ready to good!
Even more, if there are no left overs at home, or if there’s no time at all to prepare a torta or a taco, there are always many places to buy them, either street stand to (literally) eat the on the go, or small locals specialized in preparing this kind of food. And when times allows it, it’s also possible to eat them, quite relaxed, in a restaurant.
