Alejandro Ruiz: Cocina de Oaxaca

This is the Mexican-published, Spanish-language edition of Ruiz's The Food of Oaxaca.

While the recipes, headnotes, and other written content are substantially the same, this edition eschews the more compact format and festive coloration of the US edition in exchange for a larger trim (8.5” x 10.5”) and a more naturalistic visual style which contrasts the sense of open sky and simple ingredients with presentations which are by turns rustic and sophisticated.

Ruiz, who was born and raised in Oaxaca, now operated the internationally recognized Casa Oaxaca in Oaxaca City. While technique and presentation may sometimes appear cosmopolitan, his emphasis on using local ingredients roots his cooking firmly in the region.

As we said of the US edition: The chef notes early on: “For the most part, these are not simple recipes. They come from the collective imagination of my community, which time has proven, which don’t belong to any one person, but rather to everyone, thus demanding great respect. In translating them into precise quantities and cooking times, we run the risk of losing something.”

Throughout the book. Ruiz is deliberate in his effort to place the foods in context, to let you know if a dish is made daily or for community gatherings, if different regions in Oaxaca have different expectations for how it should taste and look, and anything else that might help you understand how food is prepared in a place where ingredients such as corn, chocolate, chiles, and tomatoes have been in use for millennia.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout. In Spanish