My Mexico

My Mexico is a personal culinary travelogue and cookbook by Diana Kennedy, documenting her decades of exploration across Mexico's regions. The book contains over 200 recipes collected from home cooks and local food vendors throughout the country. Kennedy records the techniques, ingredients, and traditions behind Mexican dishes that were at risk of being lost to modernization. Her documentation includes detailed notes on regional variations, seasonal ingredients, and the cultural context of each recipe. Maps, photographs, and Kennedy's own illustrations accompany the text, providing visual context for the landscapes, markets, and people she encountered. The narrative combines memories of her travels with practical cooking instruction and ingredient sourcing guidance. The book stands as both a preservation of Mexico's culinary heritage and a meditation on how food connects people across time and place. Through recipes and remembrances, Kennedy captures a Mexico that was rapidly changing even as she worked to document it.

Readers view My Mexico as a thorough exploration of Mexican regional cooking based on Kennedy's first-hand travels and research. Many appreciate the detailed recipes and cultural context, with one reader noting "she documents preparations that would otherwise be lost to time." Likes: - In-depth historical background for each recipe - Personal stories and observations from travels - Focus on authentic regional variations - High quality photographs - Practical cooking tips and techniques Dislikes: - Some recipes require hard-to-find ingredients - Instructions can be complex for home cooks - A few readers found the tone pretentious - Limited availability of certain regional ingredients outside Mexico Ratings: Goodreads: 4.35/5 (89 ratings) Amazon: 4.6/5 (32 ratings) Common feedback highlights the book's value as a reference but notes it's better suited for experienced cooks. Multiple reviewers mention using it more for reading about food culture than actual cooking.

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🌮 Diana Kennedy spent over 50 years traveling throughout Mexico in her pickup truck, documenting traditional recipes and cooking techniques that might otherwise have been lost to time. 🏆 Known as the "Julia Child of Mexican Cuisine," Kennedy was awarded Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle—the highest honor the country gives to foreigners—for her work preserving Mexican culinary heritage. 📝 My Mexico contains not just recipes, but detailed stories about the people and places Kennedy encountered, making it part cookbook and part cultural anthropology text. 🌎 The book focuses heavily on regional specialties from lesser-known areas of Mexico, including dishes that had never before been documented in English-language cookbooks. 🍳 Many recipes in My Mexico include traditional cooking methods using clay pots, wood fires, and grinding stones—techniques Kennedy insisted were essential to achieving authentic flavors.