A Delectable Día de los Muertos

Earlier last month, I received a call from Sahar Arafat-Ray, director of the Central Market Cooking School here in Austin, wondering whether I would like to teach a class based on food for Day of the Dead. Since Day of the Dead is one of my favorite holidays, and since the class will be a benefit for the Austin Children's Museum, I happily agreed. I was asked to come up with a menu that featured tamales and other traditional foods of Día de los Muertos, and to share with the class some of my research on the cultural history of tamales.

I wanted to find out more about the event, so I contacted Connie Swann, the marketing coordinator for exhibits and programs at the Austin Children's Museum. Swann said that the idea to have a benefit for the Museum started when HEB sponsored "In My Family/En Mi Familia," an interactive exhibit featuring the works of Chicana narrative artist Carmen Lomas Garza. Lomas Garza's work is lively and colorful, depicting Mexican-American life, traditions, and food. "We wanted to kick off the tamale-making season with this workshop in November. Since a piece at the exhibit focused on tamale-making, HEB/Central Market seemed like a natural fit to host a tamale-making class for adults," Swann says.

At the class, Lomas Garza will be presenting a slide lecture of her paintings and paper cutouts with the theme of food, beginning with the Tamalada, since it is the one piece in the exhibit that inspired the benefit. Other artworks in the lecture are Empanadas, Barbacoa Para Cumpleaños, Guacamole, Sandia, Nopalitos, Tortillitas Para Mamá, Flora and Fauna of Mexico/ Deer and Corn, and others. The "En mi familia" exhibit will be on display at the Austin Children's Museum, at

201 Colorado, until Jan. 10, 2004.

The menu that I will be teaching consists of dishes that are traditionally served for Día de los Muertos in various regions of Mexico. Mucbil pollo is a kind of "tamale pie" made of chicken and pork, wrapped in banana leaves, and traditionally cooked in an earth oven, or pib. At Central Market, however, I will be cooking it in a regular oven. This tamale is traditionally served in the Maya area for Hanal Pixan, the Day of the Dead celebrations. We will also make a mole, this time a duck in mole verde (made with pumpkin seeds, cilantro, and other herbs), since moles are the quintessential festive dish of Mexico, and traditional for this festivity. To end the meal, we'll make tamales de nuez (sweet pecan tamales) and atole de guayaba (a guava-flavored, corn-based hot beverage). I will also speak to the class about the history of tamales and their importance in Mexican culture.

The cooking school has done fundraising events before. They did a benefit for the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 2001 and a benefit for the Austin Children's Shelter in August of this year. Both classes sold out, and they were able to raise almost $3,000 each time. The museum is also having a Day of the Dead altar on display in the Community Gallery upstairs, created by the River City Youth Foundation. I am proud to have been asked to be part of this unique experience. It should be very rewarding, and most of all, lots of fun. The Central Market Cooking School is located at 4001 N. Lamar. Call 458-3068 for information and reservations.