COMIDA CORRIDA – Cheap Eats with Deep Roots

October 18, 2013 at 12:49 pm · Filed under activities for cruisers, alternative activities in Cabo, Cooking Classes in Cabo, Culinary Tourism, Latin American Culture, Mexican Cooking Classes, Mexican food, Traditional Mexican Cooking, Travel in Mexico, what to do in Cabo

I’ve been a baaaad blogger!  I have a bunch of cheap excuses–last season was crazily, gloriously busy!  I have acquired a new computer and new camera and because I was in the kitchen all the time I never figured out how to work them properly!  I just got back from 9 weeks in south central Mexico…  The bottom line is, it’s been a while since I have posted a proper article.

I am making use of WordPress’ amazing technology to repost this article on Mexico’s Comida Corrida not just because I haven’t put together a new article (which admittedly I haven’t) but also because I am putting together a new class entitled, rather pithily I think, COMIDA CORRIDA!  In my travels through southern Mexico this summer I was again bowled over by the availability, price and quality of this amazing culinary phenomenon.  Here’s your homework–read up prior to taking the class this season!  As ever, BUEN PROVECHO!

The gastronomic phenomenon of an inexpensive, three course, fixed price meal comes alive during the afternoon lunch hours at every “fonda” and “cocina económica” in Mexico.  This wonderful Mexican gastronomic phenomenon, the Comida Corrida, is named for the “Tres Tiempos”, the Three Parts, of a bullfight, the legendary Corrida de Toros.

These small restaurants are attended by women who own them, presiding over kitchens throughout the country with a motherly homestyle feel, feeding a nation well and very affordably every working day.  Men generally stick to more manly cheap eats like tacos and carnitas, leaving lunch to the ladies.

The Three Parts have been set in stone over the generations:  First:  The “entrada caldosa”, a brothy dish like a pasta soup or consomme.  Second:  The “plato seco”, or dry dish of rice or spaghetti, or a vegetable salad.  Third:  The “plato fuerte”, or main dish, typically featuring three or four options of Mexican homestyle dishes like beef tips in red chile sauce, pork or chicken in mole, fried or grilled fish, and perhaps a vegetarian offering like tortitas de papa, crispy potato cheese cakes served in a red sauce, particularly during Lent.  An “agua fresca”, fresh water drink made with fruit, flowers or rice will be served, but dessert is not typically included and would be considered a courtesy of the house rather than a part of the comida corrida.

My guy Manuel is back in Mexico City, where he frequently takes his main meal in fondas near his home.  He sent me this story, which he wrote for me as a birthday present the other day. This is my translation:

LA COMIDA CORRIDA.
On Saturday I went back to “Fonda Mary” for a comida corrida.  The day was chilly, and when I stepped inside the fonda was empty, which I presumed was due to the cold, but as I ate people began to arrive and the place filled up as it always does.

The comida corrida consists of three dishes–I ordered vegetable soup, adding fresh cilantro, chopped white onion, chile and lime for extra flavor.  Then I asked for rice and beans, and as a main dish I had the almendrado, a simple mole with almonds and chile cooked with pork, mopping it up with eight hot tortillas and washing it all down with agua fresca.  It was so tasty that I raised my glass to my lady in celebration of her birthday back in Cabo!

The almendrado was homemade and very tasty, and I got to wondering what part of the southern Republic Mary might be from.  Today when I went back for the comida corrida the first thing I did was ask her where she learned to cook.  It turns out she’s from Progreso National, born right here in Mexico City!  So again today I had the pasta soup, then spaghetti with cream and cheese, and finally a pipian–the famous green mole based on pumpkin seeds cooked with pork and beans, and it was delicious as always!

A worker or campesino who does hard work can eat a good comida corrida and leave well satisfied and ready to continue his work.  The same goes for a housewife with children, and for students who don’t want to live on junk food.  Professionals are just as likely to be found at fondas, eating well and saving money on Mexico’s national treasure, the comida corrida.

This Saturday I will celebrate 60 years of eating at great fondas like Mary’s–with yet another comida corrida!

Saludos a todos,

Manuel

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