Page 86 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER SPRING 2022

That first afternoon, Diane Gould of Seattle and
I set out for the 20 de Noviembre mercado where
we encountered the abuela selling chapulines. In-
side the market, we made our way past a variety of
booths with everything from bread to cheese to
fish to fruits and vegetables on colorful display.
But our goal was the market’s Passillo de Humo -
which translates as “smoky corridor.”
The narrow passageway was lined with stalls
where a multitude of meat cuts and sausages were
being roasted over fires and served at tables.
Beams from a skylight cut through the haze, giving
the passage an almost mystical feel.
One evening, we were treated to a private tour
by Enrique de Esesarte, a history professor whose
family operates the Rufino Tamayo Museum of
Pre-Hispanic art, which is housed in a former colo-
nial home not far from the Pug Seal Hotel.
Rufino, an abstract painter from Oaxaca who
lived from 1899 to 1991, is considered on par with
other famed Mexican artists such muralist Diego
Rivera and portraitist Freda Kahlo. Rufino col-
lected Zapotec, Aztec, Mayan and other indige-
nous ceramics, which influenced his surrealistic
work.
After my classes on the second-to-last day, I re-
turned to the 20 de Noviembre market to photo-
graph vendors and their wares. I stopped at an ice
cream stand, bought a coffee gelato, decorated
the top with chapulines and watched the locals.
There wasn’t another gringo anywhere around.
And my gastronomical creation? The spicy in-
sects were a spicy - and crispy - contrast to the
smooth ice cream. But I doubt if chapulines and
gelato would gain much traction in the North
Ameircan culinary scene.
On the final day before I returned to snowy
Wisconsin, my classmates and I headed into the
countryside with Oaxacan guide America Schulz
to visit several women-run cooperatives. The first,
a pottery studio in the town of San Marcos Tlapa-
zola, is operated by Marcina Mateo Martinez,
whose works have gained international acclaim
and been shown in New York City’s Museum of
Modern Art and the Vatican.