Greetings from the Food Track

Imported: USA - Jean Harvey Borino

Commence: Health in Oaxaca class

On Monday Jean Harvey arrived ready to teach us about ongoing diet trends, both global and Mexican. We have been discussing topics such as the health care bill in the USA, health care in Mexico, and the relationship between American agriculture policies and Mexican health. We were given a breif Nutrition 101 class, where we reviewed essential components of a healthy person's diet such as: carbohydrates, protien, calcium, iron and daily caloric intake. We have been reading about obesity trends, both urban and rural-in addition to Western medicine and homeopathy.

At the start of the week some girls went to watch everyone's favorite pastime- baseball! Although "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" wasn't sung, it was a lively game between Oaxaca and Campeche with Los Guerreros de Oaxaca winning the game.

This weekend, a group of girls ventured to Puerto Escondido, while others took advantage of the last weekend in the city. In the llano (a small and beautiful park) a human health and environment fair was held; dozens of NGOs, cooperatives, Universities, small businesses and working groups came together to educate the public. It was wonderful to see so many people involved in amazing projects such as pedal power (generating electricity by bike pedaling) environmental art, sustainable agriculture models and projects, in addition to human rights and environmental advocates. Overall it has been a fufilling week and a great start to a new class, which has made the end of this program seem further than it actually is.

Hola!

This was our last week of the art class with Corrine. On Tuesday we visited museums and galleries around Oaxaca to work on our Cultural Biography project. Each group managed to track down a handful of paintings by their artist, and by the end of the day everyone could recognize an Olivera painting from a Toledo from across the room. As we went on, we discussed the symbolism behind the art work, and how Oaxacan culture was being represented.

On Wednesday we ventured out of the city again and

visited the communities of Ocotlan and

Coyotepec. In Ocotlan we found the Aguilar sisters- 3 sisters who have set up shops next to each other, making and selling pottery. They specialize in figurines, everything from village women to goats to skeletons. Their work has been featured in the Smithsonian, and it was amazing to see where the art was made. Afterwards, we wandered around Morales' house and walked to see his mural in the town center, discussing what we saw and sketching in our journals. We grabbed a quick snack of quesadillos and hot chocolate in the mercado, and then hopped on a bus to Coyotepec. There we went to visit the home and studio of an 87 year old women who had been making black pottery since the age of 12. Watching

her knead a block of clay and shape it into a vase was mesmerizing. Her main tools were her hands, and she moved with the strength and agility of a much younger woman to finish the basic structure of her piece in under 15 minutes. We talked with her for a little while, drew some more sketches and then headed back into the city with a new appreciation for arte popular.

The next day we met early in the morning to go to the studio of Claudia Vergaz, a local "upcycle" artist in Oaxaca. Claudia collects trash- wrappers, tinfoil, cans- and turns it into art that has gotten her recognized internationally. She transforms everything she finds into shadow boxes, dolls, frames and piggy banks. We were in awe of the amount of creativity she had to use trash in such a different way. Furthermore, Claudia mentioned that she is starting a sort of women's cooperative, where she provides training and small jobs for women living on the streets. It was really inspiring to hear of how she rose up in the art community and is now using her abilities to give back.

Friday was the culminating day of our class, and we gathered together in the morning to present our artist biography projects and art journals to one another. We wrapped up some of our thoughts about the meanings of folk art and culture, and compared artistic skill in our drawings. Later that evening we met as a whole group at Mary Lou's to show the Food and Nutrition track all we had worked on the last couple weeks. They were suitably impressed, just as we had been with the feast they prepared for us on Wednesday during their class. We all agreed that the art class had been wonderful. Learning to make alebrijes and identify works of art was completely new to us, and we enjoyed being able to see so many aspects of Oaxacan culture portrayed through pottery and paintings. Corrine was a great professor, always ready to look at another museum or assure us that our sketches really were great. We will miss her after she heads back to the U.S. but we're looking forward to starting Geology with Barry next week!

Brazos a todos!

Sarah and Caroline

Culture and Cuisine

Food Systems Track

The food systems track started their first week of the Culture and Cuisine class with Professors Amy Trubek and Cynthia Belliveau, looking into the concept of cuisine in Oaxaca, and how it fits into the past, the present, and the future of the people of Oaxaca. After a day of in-class discussion, we had our first field trip to Las Quince Letras, a restaurant where we tasted and analyzed three different types of mole, a traditional sauce that Oaxaca is well-known for. It was a really filling and tasty experience!

Continuing with trying to understand and deconstruct the Oaxacan cuisine, we discussed the differences between pre and post-conquest ingredients in the Oaxacan diet. A lot of us learned that sugar, mangoes, onions, garlic, and chicken weren't here pre-conquest! We then took our new found knowledge to the Hidalgo Market in Colonia Reforma, where we bought ingredients to make an epic meal! After five hours of working together diligently in the most beautiful kitchen we have seen so far, we mastered an incredible meal that we got to share with the Arts and Science group. We even got to make our own tortillas (with a little bit of help)!

We also had the chance to experience food at Teatro Culinario, a restaurant that believes in using local in-season ingredients of Oaxaca to create artistic, contemporary dishes. Very different than any of the food we have tried within homestays, in other restaurants, and on the streets! Finally, we made a trip to the Tlacolula market to look for different types of herbs and chiles that are used in Oaxacan dishes.

We are excited to learn more about Oaxacan cuisine and to cook more in the kitchen with Cynthia and Amy!

Food Systems Track

The food systems crew, 13 mujeres and John Hayden, spent the past week in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. On Monday morning we met, sleepy-eyed at 6 am in the Zocalo and made our way to Abasalo bus station where we boarded public transportation. The bus made its way outside of the city through the Central Valleys out to the mountainous Sierras, to a village called Capulalpam de Mendez. We split up into three groups and stayed in houses with families, where we ate our meals and slept. It is amazing the change in climate out in the mountains, lush green forests, fruit trees, vibrant flowers, and the constant backdrop of the endless mountains. We learned about the governance system of the village (usos y costumbres) and what it means to be a "magic town". We celebrated Lesley's birthday with a bonfire, all sitting under the beautiful, starry night sky. We went to a traditional medicine center and learned about different beliefs of health and indigenous medicine. We saw a demonstration of a limpia, and some of us received traditional massages and participated in a temezcal.

We also spent two nights in Yavesia. This was a small village of less than 700, located in a drastic valleys, the houses literally perched on the side on the mountain, a river in the middle of the valley, separating it into two neighborhoods. We had individual home-stays, which posed as a challenge for many, but was definitely rewarding in the end. We learned about the villages efforts to protect their forests from being exploited for lumber. An ongoing legal battle that shows the challenges of communally owned land, and an inspirational real-life example of people reclaiming their commons. We spent Thursday hiking and appreciating the woods in the mountains, the jagged rock formations, and the breathtaking views. We returned on Friday, meeting at 4:30 am, to catch the only bus to the city.

Words cannot quite do justice to the natural beauty and tranquility of these villages. Hiking in the mountains and seeing the beautiful pine forests, rivers and flowers, was like candy for a bunch of nature-deprived Vermonters, I am not exaggerating when I say it was blissful. It was a refreshing and challenging week, I think that we all pushed our comfort zones, and learned a lot. It was good to be learning but also feel like we are really experiencing Oaxaca, more and more it seems like the most important things in life are learned this way. Experiencing first-hand a different way of life, a different way of thinking, has certainly broadened our own perceptions. We have talked a lot about our relationship to nature, our selves, agriculture and the environment all being a part of the same thing.

Now we are about to embark on the last month of the program with cooking classes and discussions on food and culture. We are all very excited and eager for what the next month has in store for us.

Abrazos,

Jessie and Page

Arte Week 2-Arrazola!

This week marked the 2^nd week of Art class for those of us in the Arts and Sciences Track. We started out the week with regular scheduled classes at Solexico coupled with some field trips including a visit to the house of Oaxacan artist Rene Bustamante. We were all amazed by his vast (over 2,000!!!!) collection of painted masks that covered every available surface of his gorgeous house. These masks, like much of Oaxacan art, tell stories of traditional cultural practices including dances and other ceremonial uses.

As amazing as our visit with Rene was, the highlight of our week was our weekend-long field trip to the town of Arrazola to learn about “alebrijes” as a supplement to what we had been learning about in the classroom. Alebrijes are hand carved wooden figures (usually animals) made from the Copal tree and elaborately painted with various ornate and intricate designs. In order to enhance our learning experience, each member of the group stayed with different families to whom we gave various food items and paint supplies as a small gift for the immense hospitality they offered to us. After a short while, we realized that this small gift could never compare to what these families gave to us by welcoming us into their homes and of course, providing us with endless amounts of food and the overwhelming hospitality that we have found common here in Oaxaca.

Among the many things that we learned during our stay was how central the family is in the production of the alebrijes-while the father and sons carve the figures, the wives and daughters often collaborate in the painting process, making the final product a family creation. While we came into the town with the preconceived notion that what we were studying (the alebrijes) was a craft of mass production for tourists, we came out of the stay realizing how much time and careful artistic consideration goes into each and every piece. We met on Sunday morning to partake in making a breakfast of memelitas together with the community, each and every one of us sad at the prospect of saying good-bye, but comforted by the sincere requests of the families that we return soon and stay with them again. We all look forward to fulfilling this request.

Paz y amor from Oaxaca-Elena and Amber.

Russ, Caroline, Allie, Taylor, and Sarah

Arte es chido!

This past week of March 8^th through March 12^th, seven of us (Russell, Taylor, Allie, Caroline, Sarah, Amber, and Elena) began our new Art History Class with Professor Corrine Glesne - Manifesting Culture through the Arts in Oaxaca, Mexico. The class is a combination of making artwork, learning about traditional folk art from Oaxaca and Mexico, and the anthropological aspect of art. For example, one theme we’ve picked up on a lot is the influence of capitalism and tourism on the production and evolution of the art. Some of these art forms, most commonly pottery making, have been around for thousands of years. In the beginning, pottery was a way to support life – you could store food and drink, cook, carry things, etc, but now it both serves its basic functions and collects income from tourists. You can imagine how pottery designed for functional use might evolve if its creators adopted a new motive, to attract tourist buyers. The shaker in the photo, for example, is a piece of art that probably doesn't have much of a functional use, but is a nice thing to bring home and remember Oaxaca.

As demonstrated in the photo above, we’re collecting our findings in our own, personal, handmade art journals – sketching “arte popular”, pottery, textile designs, alibrijes (wooden animal figurines – with bobble heads!), murals, and devoting a few pages to reflective writing or creative additions. On Wednesday, March 10^th, we visited a Oaxacan jewelry museum and drew representations of pieces we found. On Thursday, 11^th, we took a trip to the Zaachila Market, explored the arts and crafts we found there, asked about the history and production, and purchased a variety of artistic objects. The photo on the left shows a table in the Zaachila market displaying gourds, bowls, and animal alibrijes - all of which are probably meant to be sold as souvenirs or decorations. Caroline and Russell went into the market with specific intentions to look for these and other objects created from gourds. They found the shakers above which are hollowed out, cleaned, filled with their own seeds, glued back together, and painted. Different family members take on different tasks in the creation, a brother might dig up the gourds, a sister might clean them out, and an aunt might paint them. This, at least, was one case we found in Zaachila.

Friday we took a trip to a local store to learn about natural textiles, how they are made, what their patterns mean, and when they are worn. After Fridays class, for the day of the Samaritan, Oaxaca was bustling with people here to collect all of the delicious (and free!) fruit waters being handed out on Calle Alcala, in the Zocalo, and other locations around town.

Saturday night, everybody celebrated Lesley’s birthday on the rooftop of Mezza Luna, complete with fireworks and cake presented with a song on the violin. Sarah, Caroline, and Elena took off to the Coast until Tuesday afternoon, and everybody is enjoying their long weekend. Paz y Amor from Oaxaca, Adios!

Hola a Todos!

Hola a todos! As excited as we’ll be to return to all of you, it’s hard to believe that we’re officially past our halfway mark and nearly finished with our plant and soil science class. It doesn’t seem possible that we first hung our hats here two whole months ago, though the season change is hard to ignore; the heat has no mercy midday!

It would be easy to fill a novel with the past week’s events, as John Hayden’s class has kept us very busy outside of the classroom and learning by doing. We met with John to talk about mechanistic versus naturalistic farming practices, sustainable agro ecosystems, and food sovereignty in the face of globalization. At 4:00, we reconvened at the Botanical Gardens; beautifully designed gardens located right behind Santo Domingo, Oaxaca’s famous museum and church. The space once belonged to monks who inhabited Santo Domingo, it was then used as a military base for several years and, following a failed battle to turn it into a commercial shopping center, it was finally transformed into 6 acres of paradise filled with hundreds of varieties of trees and plants. Our tour guide spoke a lot about plants endemic to Mexico, for example, the historical and nutritional importance of amaranth, the life of the agave plant (used to produce mescal and tequila), and the significance of Oaxaca’s trees to traditional Mixtec society. We met a 200 year old cactus and several plants that could have inspired Dr. Suess.

On Wednesday we caught a bus to Zimatlán (about 25 minutes from the City, a town you can read more about through the Centeótl crew’s blog), where we were sent into their bustling market place on a mission; to find one of the plants we’d learned about at the Botanical Gardens, ask more about it, and bring it back to show & tell. We came back a type of rock used to make tortillas that can double as a pumas stone, unusual looking fruit, and the juice produced by agave plants. Which we discovered has a tendency to explode as it’s fermenting (Annie’s backpack will never smell the same). After the market we walked to an Amaranth factory where we learned more about the history and nutritional importance of amaranth (practically a life elixir, with protein, calcium, vitamin D and folic acid) and how the crop has been regaining popularity locally. After this we practically bought out their supply of amaranth cookies, an amazing chocolaty treat that we can’t get enough of. We’ll bring some back to the States, but no guarantees they’ll outlast the plane ride…

On Thursday we went again to Tierra del Sol, a beautiful small scale farm outside of the city. Some members of the group helped dig out a new garden plot and others harvested lettuce and carrots for our lunch. After helping out in the kitchen, we ate a delicious meal of pea soup, lasagna and salad. All of the vegetables came from the farm. The cheese we ate even came from the farm's dairy cow! On Friday we headed over to UniTierra to check out their rooftop garden and learn more about urban agriculture, a fast growing food movement. They had plants of every variety, and even a large compost bin complete with lovely red worms, which can eat half of their body weight in one day.

On Saturday, we had a symposium on maize, or corn. We discussed its biology, technological advances and risks in its cultivation, its importance in history and as an element of culture, and its current place in society. For Mexico, corn is more than a food source, it is a part of 'el corazón,' the heart, and is a foundation of Mexico's rich culture. To close the symposium we went to Itanoní, a little restaurant that featured delicious traditional comida. This restaurant was very special because its philosophy emphasized the importance of local, natural corn and how it is such an essential element of Mexican society. You can see their website here: Itanoni

That night, we went to Mezzaluna and celebrated Lesley's 21st birthday! The food was tasty, we were on a beautiful terrace, and a violinist played happy birthday. It was a wonderful evening.

Monday morning, painfully early, we head to the Sierra del Norte where we will spend two nights in Calpulalpan learning more about milpa and traditional herbs and two nights in Yavesia learning about agro forestry, alternative pest management strategies and eco-tourism. Stay tuned for next week’s report back!

Over & out,

Annie and Lesley