Latino food fest creates unity in diverse recipes
May 28—Noe Cisneros had just finished a cool plate of ceviche Sunday when he rounded a corner at the Kern County Fairgrounds, saw a line of people waiting for food and — without asking what was being served — added himself to it.
Already having a great day and looking forward to trying different offerings at the 23rd annual Latino Food Festival Menudo & Pozole Cook-Off, Cisneros said the only question left was whether the event lives up to the hype.
"I'm sure it does because everything smells good right now," he said.
Thousands turned out on a warm but pleasant afternoon to focus on two dishes traditionally eaten only at Mexican family gatherings, for the most part, especially holidays.
A brilliant spirit of unity shone Sunday, but so did a series of subtle differences as diverse as the families in attendance. Amid the upbeat music and the colorful displays, from one steaming olla to the next, there played out fundamental differences about what belongs in traditional menudo and what constitutes proper pozole.
Red broth or white? Leave the bones in or remove them before cooking? Add pigs feet for flavoring? Is hominy only for pozole — or for menudo, too? And how critical is it to serve tortillas made minutes before they're served? Everyone had an opinion.
Chef Lupe Muñoz with team Levanta Muertos ("Raising the Dead"), who was assigned to handle the menudo while her sister oversaw the pozole, motioned toward a container of almost dangerously hot salsa that she said represents her family secret. But it sounded like there was more to it.
Her family sticks to red sauce for menudo and pozole. Having spent three hours Saturday scrubbing and washing meat for menudo, she brought in her 76-year-old mother to approve how much of the different ingredients needed to go into the dish. Measuring it with teaspoons would have been off the table.
"Let your soul tell you when it's ready," Muñoz said of her family's approach.
But she's flexible, too. Muñoz decided to add hominy to her menudo this year, not because she thinks it's correct, "but the millennials like it so, guess what, we're throwing it in."
One ticketholder at Sunday's event, Anthony J. Guerrero, said he likes his pozole with tender pork and radishes. It's good for hangovers — "as long as it's spicy," he said.
Though normally a menudo guy, he said the pozole he had Sunday was better, mainly because the menudo he sampled didn't have the hominy he likes. That was fine, he said: "Everybody has their differences."
All around, people sat in the shade watching mariachis and twirling dancers in brightly colored dresses. Vendors sold straw hats and sandals, churros and $2 Jarritos sodas.
The proliferation of family-based entries to Sunday's cook-off competition struck Ralphie Rodriguez, head chef at Jerry's Pizza & Pub downtown. Although his restaurant had taken second place at the Bakersfield Mac & Cheese Fest competition, an all but imperceptible wariness showed on his face as he surveyed booths food around him. But he perked up when talking about his family's recipe.
His pozole featured chicken with green sauce made from tomatillos and a combination of chiles, he said. The menudo had the bones still in because they add flavor.
"A lot of people don't like that but we decided to go traditional," Rodriguez said.
