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Before my
first trip to Mexico a number of years ago, I didn’t know Mexico
was a country known for its ice cream (helado), let alone an
array of other delicious sweets. I wandered through panaderias (bakeries)
with the metal tray and tongs they gave me, picking out my own
cakes and confections. I fell especially hard for the little disks of mazapán de
cacahuate (peanut paste), caramelized flans sold on
blocks of ice from pushcarts on the street, and anything – and
everything – made with cajeta,
goat’s milk
caramel.
Americans
have integrated many of the wonderful foods from Mexico into our
culture, but the ice cream remains elusive. Fany Gerson is
changing that. I was introduced to Fany when I picked up a copy of My Sweet
Mexico, a book that she wrote to present desserts and
pastries from our neighbors south of the border.
There
aren’t a lot of book that focus on the sweet side of Mexican
cooking and I was so taken with the book, and the photographs of
Mexican bakers, fruit vendors, and candy makers, that before I signed
my contract to write My Paris
Kitchen, I insisted on having Ed
Anderson shoot the photos, who did the photos in My Sweet
Mexico. Like the recipes in the book, his pictures captured what makes
Mexico, and the foods of the country, so special. I knew he could do
the same for Paris, revealing something about the city’s soul and culinary
culture that exists, but is often presented in a different way than I
saw it. (Someone wrote to me that they were surprised that there were
some recipes included that weren’t French in the book, not
understanding that foods like pistou, foie gras, macarons, croissants,
and even coffee, have roots in other cultures.)
After her
book on Mexican pastries, Fany came out with a book on Paletas,
those cheerful Mexican popsicles which are often a palette for
creativity, made with everything from mangoes and limes, to
cucumbers and chiles. And, of course, Mexican chocolate and vanilla,
considered some of the best in the world, figures its way into
everything.
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