At the small neighborhood market where I buy essentials for Mexican cooking, the meat counter has thick Mexican-style crema and slabs of moist queso fresco in bulk so I can buy just as much as I need. With Thanksgiving looming, I’ll need some of both for turkey chilaquiles. My husband and I are splitting a turkey with friends (I joked that I wanted the front half), but even so, we are sure to have plenty left over for one of my favorite cheese-topped Mexican dishes.
Read moreLatin Accent
The new Administration’s immigration plans are likely to up-end California agriculture. Everybody knows that. But I hadn’t thought about the impact on the nation’s creameries until a cheesemaker told me about her terrified workforce. Immigrants make a lot of our cheese, so get ready for labor shortages and price hikes. And of course they have introduced us to their own cheeses, from feta to Gouda.
Read moreMexico’s Ambassador of Cheese
With The New York Times ranking Mexico City as the top travel destination for 2016, maybe you have moved this vibrant capital higher up on your bucket list. If you do go, make time for Lactography, a petite cheese shop inside the hip Mercado Roma.
In a space the size of a walk-in closet, Carlos Yescas and his sister, Georgina, have amassed hand-crafted cheeses from all over Mexico. On a mission to help rural cheesemakers find markets, these two evangelists are trying to elevate the image of their country’s dairy output and persuade Mexicans to take their own cheeses seriously.