How Cheese Came To Mexico

Native cuisines come from thousands of years of foraging

, agriculture, and tradition. Foreign introductions can result in widespread acceptance, flat rejection, or relegation to a fad. But it's rare to have a historical record that documents a culture's love affair with something new. The use of cheese in Mexico is well documented, because the Spanish conquistadors were the first to introduce dairy to the area. The indigenous Mesoamericans had never tasted cheese before, but they fell in love with it and Mexican cuisine would never be the same.

Corn as always a major staple of the diet of the Mesoamerican civilizations. Tomatoes, avocados, chilis, and beans, were all part of their diet; their meat sources came from turkey, fish, deer, tapirs, and shellfish. There were no milk-producing animals in Mesoamerica at the time - no cows, sheep, or goats. For centuries Nixtamalized corn flour, the primary ingredient in tortillas, has been a part of the local cooking; they were filled with grilled meat, fish, vegetables and spices.

When the Spanish conquistadors set out from Europe in the 1510s, they brought lots of animals with them. For long-distance voyages this was standard operating procedure; food preservation was virtually unheard of, and meat would spoil within a few weeks. Live cattle and goats could produce fresh milk and be slaughtered later for their meat. When the Spaniards landed in Mesoamerica, they brought these animals on shore with them. Cattle, goats, pigs and chickens, had never been seen by the Aztecs before; cheese making was unknown. But the introduction would change Mesoamerican cuisine forever; as European and indigenous traditions mixed, the locals began to produce their own cheese, modified to suit the tastes of both cultures.

People made cheese at home during the Spanish colonial era. Communities from Jalisco to Puebla became known for their cheeses; many people make cheese by hand to this day. Regrettably, Mexico's cheese quality isn't as great as Europe's. Despite several hundred years of experience, local varieties have not broken into international markets, and some cheeses are barely known outside of the cities where they're made. The use of raw milk is the biggest problem with Mexican cheese; while some varieties are mass-produced with pasteurized milk, most local cheeses use raw milk. There have been several cases of food-borne diseases due to the bacteria in raw milk, and most cheeses cannot be brought across the U.S border. Mexico's government has stepped in to promote better regulation for dairy products, but it's been a slow process.

So should you avoid all cheese in Mexico? No! Oaxaca cheese is one of the most famous varieties made in the country; it's a soft white cheese that is used specially in quesadillas. Mass-produced all over the country, Chihuahua cheese is one of the few yellow cheeses made in Mexico. You'll want to try some of the better-known commercially available varieties, if you're a fan of Mexican cuisine.

by: Robert Nickel

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