Celebraciones Mexicanas

History, Traditions, and Recipes

By (author) Andrea Lawson Gray, Adriana Almazan Lahl

Hardback - £34.00

Publication date:

24 September 2013

Length of book:

412 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759122819

Celebraciones Mexicanas: History, Traditions, and Recipes is the first book to bring the richness and authenticity of the foods of Mexico’s main holidays and celebrations to the American home cook. This cultural cookbook offers insight into the traditional Mexican holidays that punctuate Mexican life and provides more than 200 original recipes to add to our Mexican food repertoire. The authors first discuss Mexican eating customs and then cover 25 holidays and festivals throughout the year, from the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Carnaval, Cinco de Mayo, to the Day of the Revolution, with family celebrations for rites of passage, too. Each holiday/festival includes historical background and cultural and food information. The lavishly illustrated book is appropriate for those seeking basic knowledge of Mexican cooking and customs as well as aficionados of Mexican cuisine.


Andrea Gray and Adriana Lahl have a winner in this charmingly beautiful cookbook that focuses on the food of Mexico’s festivals. As well as recipes, there is abundant material about history and folklore, much of it highly visual and appealing to children – it’s a perfect family gift. Professional cooks as well as writers, Gray and Lahl know their way around the Mexican kitchen. It’s a labor-intensive cuisine, and the streamlining here is as intelligent as any I have ever seen – no false notes, some truly helpful simplifications. If you want the best ever recipe for Nogada Sauce, one of the signature paradisal items in Like Water for Chocolate, buy the book and turn to page 257.