by the El Reportero‘s news services
MEXICO CITY – The 48th edition of the Cervantino International Festival (FIC) will take place on virtual websites due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to organizers.
Cuba and the Mexican city of Coahuila stand out as honor guests of the event, both nations will be part of the party with a cultural representative offer of their region next year.
The Ministry of Culture reported in a press release that this decision seeks to protect the integrity of the public, the artists and the collaborators that make the cultural event possible.
Located among the four largest festivals of its kind in the world, the festival will be held from October 14 to 18, five days in which the public will be able to enjoy artistic presentations in digital formats, as well as conferences, workshops and master classes.
Based on the premise of connecting with the audience using technological tools without breaking the tradition of this party, the festival will be broadcast on open television, social networks, the Internet and websites of federal and local public media.
The tlayuda wins Netflix street food championship
The Oaxacan dish won with 46.8 percent; Peru’s ceviche placed second with 45.3%
The tlayuda, a Oaxacan dish made with a large tortilla filled with refried beans, cheese and meat, has been crowned the best street food in Latin America among Twitter users who voted in a poll by the Netflix streaming service.
The contest was part of a promotional campaign coinciding with the July 21 launch of the Netflix series Street Food: Latin America, which takes viewers on a gastronomical tour of six countries, exploring their cultures through traditional dishes.
The tlayuda went up against choripán (Buenos Aires, Argentina), acarajé (Salvador, Brazil), ajiaco (Bogotá, Colombia), ceviche (Lima, Peru), and stuffed potato balls (La Paz, Bolivia).
Only the tlayuda, ceviche — fish cured in lime juice — and choripán — a dish made of grilled chorizo and bread — made it to the semifinals of the 24-hour contest.
While the tlayuda trailed ceviche at noon yesterday, it managed to rally and win the competition with 46.8% of the vote, and was declared the winner shortly after 7 p.m.
Ceviche came in second with 45.3 percent, and choripán was the favorite of just 7.9 percent of the 802,095 people who participated.
The Mexican government, the governor of Oaxaca and the United States Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, all urged their Twitter followers to cast their votes for the Mexican entry, and when the news broke that the tlayuda had won broke, social media was flooded with celebratory memes.
What makes the tlayuda so special? Chef and culinary historian Rodrigo Llanes told the newspaper El País that the tlayuda is a bridge between pre-Hispanic and European culture, calling it a “magical” culinary creation.
“I do not disqualify the other candidates, but I maintain my preference for the Oaxacan entry for its historical tradition that does justice to native peoples, for its flavor that is emblematic of mestizo gourmandise, and for its size, which makes it a dish to share,” he said.
Source: El Heraldo de México (sp), El País (sp), Diario de Yucatán (sp), Milenio (sp)
Mexico City plans virtual Day of the Dead celebration
About 2 million people attended last year’s parade in the capital
Mexico City is exploring holding virtual Day of the Dead celebrations in the fall in order to maintain traditions in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Some two million people attended the Day of the Dead parade last year on November 2, which was also broadcast live, said the director of Mexico City’s tourism promotion fund, Paola Félix Díaz.
Now the city is looking to other large cities around the world for ideas on how to carry on traditional practices safely. Her office is also exploring options such as Day of the Dead drive-in theaters, or tours by car as alternatives to dense crowds in the streets.
A UNESCO-protected celebration, the Day of the Dead as it is celebrated today has its foundation in the deeply rooted Mesoamerican traditions of the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Catholic ritual introduced in the 1600s.
While every region of the country has its own particular way of celebrating the event, the common denominator is the remembrance of a family’s departed loved ones, who are visited at cemeteries and honored by an altar that includes the meals, drinks and vices favored by the deceased.
