Mexican
cookbook collection on display in Herzstein room
By Carolyn
Gonzales
A new exhibit,
El Sabor del Mestizaje: The Cuisine of Mexico in Print,
The Baca Family and Bueno Foods Mexican Cookbook Collection,
is currently on display in the Herzstein Latin American Reading
Room on the second floor of Zimmerman Library.
We
have nearly 700 cookbooks as part of the collection and about
40 of them are part of the exhibit, Carolyn Mountain,
director of the Division of Iberian and Latin American Resources
and Services (DILARES), in the UNM General Library, said.
 |
At
left, the poster created to publicize the exhibit features
the 17th century Convento de Santa Rosa in Puebla de los
Ángeles, Mexico and was photographed by Tim Burciaga
of Albuquerque.
Mole an Aztec word meaning concoction,
stew or sauce, is a Mexican chocolate
sauce prepared in a variety of ways. The most famous mole
is a complex dish using dried chile, nuts, seeds, vegetables,
spices and chocolate, preferably ground, toasted cacao beans,
but Mexican chocolate, such as Ibarra brand, is also used.
Historical origins of mole indicate that it was created
between 1680 and 1688 in one of the convents in the Mexican
city, Puebla de los Ángeles. The most frequently
told story is that Sor Andrea, sister superior of the Santa
Rosa Convent, created the dish to honor the Archbishop for
having a convent built for her order. Another spin suggests
she was honoring the Viceroy, Don Tomás Antonio de
la Cerda y Aragón. She wanted to create the perfect
dish, trying to blend the ingredients of the New World with
those of the old. |
Mountain
and Russ Davidson, curator of the librarys Latin American
and Iberian collections, worked with a collector in Mexico to
put together the collection.
The oldest
cookbooks are a three volume set, El Cocinero Mexicano,
published in 1831. Approximately 10 volumes will need preservation
work before they will be able to be used by patrons. Most of
the items, however, are mid-20th century books produced for
popular audiences, Wendy Pederson, Ibero-American collections
and acquisitions specialist, said.
The
collection has not yet been fully processed yet, so the items
arent listed in LIBROS. Once cataloged, the books will
be accessed through the paging desk at the Center for Southwest
Research, Mountain said. They will not be available for
checkout but patrons will be able to use them in the Anderson
Reading Room, she said.
Among
the items are several pamphlet-type cookbooks put together by
a Mexican agency much like the agricultural extension service
in the United States.
Those
items are crumbling and will definitely need some preservation
work, said Pederson, who helped Mountain put up the exhibit.
We
are extremely grateful to the Baca family for their assistance
in putting together the exhibit, Mountain said.