ESPAÑOL
When people ask me what I miss about my previous life in the Big Apple, my usual response is “family, friends and good Chinese food.” To produce authentic foreign food, you need authentic foreigners, and Mexico City, unlike other major metropolises in the world, is not as culturally diverse for its size: most people here are Mexican. So if, like me, you’ve munched on sappy, celery- and cornstarch-filled meals in our ersatz “Chinatown” (Calle Dolores in the Centro Histórico), or paid an exorbitant amount for a plate of Chop Suey at Lomas, I’ll be happy to know that there is good, genuine Asian food in this city: you just have to know where to find it.
Asians landed in Mexico in the 19th century when Porfirio Diaz, seeking to modernize the country, opened Mexico’s doors to foreigners. Chinese, Japanese, and later Koreans arrived in significant numbers. Chinese immigrants built railroads and irrigation systems in the north and worked on farms in the south. Using their quick cooking skills, some founded “Cafés de Chinos”, (see my article) the Mexican equivalent of the iconic American coffee shop, serving breakfast at any time of the day and offering what we would call Chinese dishes/ Americans, such as Chow Mien and Chop Suey. But it is the recent wave that, since the beginning of the millennium, has arrived and requires more sophisticated dishes. In recent years, many places aimed at the Chinese community have opened, some of which don’t even offer menus translated into Spanish. I present a partial list, others will follow.
