Question: Whenever I am in NY, I make it mandatory to visit yours or Aaron’s restaurant. In fact, I will be there in November for the marathon.

As a home brewer, I will give a presentation to our club about Mexican beers. I will present information on the German settling in Mexico as well as the different styles and brands of Mexican beers. Since I am also an avid music lover, I will also incorporate German influenced music such as polkas and waltzes into the talk.

I once thought Germans introduced the making of cheese to Mexicans, but later found out it was the Spanish. I am coming to the expert in Mexican cuisine to ask if you know of any German influenced food that occurred during the settling of German immigrants during the late 1800’s? I want to serve some appetizers to accompany my replication of some of the famous Mexican brews. For instance, I will be serving my attempts of cloning Negra Modelo, Bohemia and Corona.

Thank you so much in advance for your help.

Salud!
Kansas City, MO

Answer: Very interesting question you’ve posed. Let me consult my food culinarian friends, like Jeffrey Pilcher, author of the marvelous book on the role that food plays in the cultural identity of Mexicans, ¡Que Vivan los Tamales!”

Here’s his answer:

Anyway, to answer the question about German influence, apart from Menonite cheese, I can’t really think of anything obviously German. Of course, there is the Austrian influence (by way of northern Italy) of Milanesa, but I don’t know how great of an appetizer that would make. There were beer gardens in Mexico City about 1900, and according to the English-language press, a German restaurant was _the_ place for tourists to sample mole poblano on Wednesday nights, but that doesn’t really help much. Tony might want to try a Maximilian and Carlota revival, say, spaetzle with salsa. Sorry I don’t have any other suggestions.

You may be interested to know that I wrote an essay on culinary tourism to Mexico, in a volume entitled Culinary Tourism, in which I discuss your book on Oaxaca.

My little contribution is to say that what could be more German than pork and cabbage? So here’s my recipe for Makúm de Repollo from the Yucatán peninsula.