Cooking up culture

Mexican bakeries offer sweet treats and a chance to connect with Latino traditions

by NANCY SEPULVEDA

For some Latinos with a sweet tooth, a package of Chips Ahoy! won’t cut it.

For those who crave an empanada, sweet bread or biscochito with their morning cup of café con créma, a panaderia – or Mexican bakery – is often the answer.

“It’s not at all like what you would find in a grocery store’s bakery,” said Albuquerque native Linda Mejia. “The selection is larger and mainly has traditional Mexican treats.”

Those goodies can include panes de esponja: miniature loaves of white bread coated with vanilla, strawberry or chocolate confection; yoyos: rounds of strawberry sponge cake sandwiched around vanilla custard and rolled in coconut flakes; and jubiletes: chunks of bread smeared with honey butter and sprinkled with pecans and sesame seeds.

A sample of the selection of goods

at Hector's Panaderia on Old Coors

Mejia said her family always has a sweet treat on hand in case friends or relatives visit. Many Latino households are well-stocked with pastries to share because family is an important part of the culture, she said.

“You usually won’t find yourself eating your bread alone,” Mejia said.

Family-owned Hector’s Panaderia, at 921 Old Coors Blvd. S.W., offers an assortment of delicacies.

The aroma of vanilla mingled with cinnamon greets incoming customers, and trays of cookies and other treats are displayed behind a glass counter.

Tables and booths line the walls, where patrons can sit and nibble their goodies or read the newspaper.

Hector Enriquez Jr., whose father opened the panaderia in March 2000, said the bakery can prepare wedding, birthday and quinceanera cakes, but many customers come in to stock up on a week’s supply of sweets.

There are a few basic items offered, like doughnuts and muffins, but most are customary to Latino culture, Enriquez said.

Hector’s has a baking room connected to the market area. Everything is handmade from scratch and the food, still piping hot, goes straight from the oven to the buyer, Enriquez said.

“Nothing is frozen or canned, and we don’t use any machines,” he said. “We use traditional methods of baking, so we maintain an authentic Mexican taste.”

Business picks up during Christmas and around Mexican holidays, like Dia de los Muertos, Enriquez said.

One holiday many Latinos celebrate is Dia de los Reyes, Mejia said. Held the first week of January, it commemorates the three kings who brought gifts to the infant Jesus.

Mejia said panaderias will sell Roscas de Reyes, large loaves of bread with a plastic baby doll baked inside.

“The doll represents baby Jesus,” Mejia said. “Whoever finds the doll in their slice of bread is supposed to host a party within the next month.”

Roscas de Reyes are about $20 per loaf.

At Hector’s, there is no price list posted because the daily selection varies, but in general esponjas – bread items – are 50 cents each. Reposterias – pastry items – are 65 cents each, Enriquez said.

Mejia said she has seen an increase in ethnic markets in Albuquerque in recent years. People should take advantage of cultural stores and goods, she said.

“I think anybody would enjoy visiting a panaderia, not just Latinos,” Mejia said.

Hector’s attracts customers from a variety of backgrounds, including tourists from other states, Enriquez said.

“You don’t have to be Mexican to enjoy good food,” he said.

A trip to a panaderia is about more than purchasing baked goods, Enriquez said. It is an outing, often a family event, and offers patrons the chance to linger, laugh and gossip.

Panaderias connect the Latino community to its cultural food traditions, he said, and are also an interesting and tasty venture for those not familiar with them.

Posted May 8, 2008

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