ms

I came to the realization that I am a cultural oil-and-water mixture: I am a Vegetarian Mexican. My culture definitely does not promote vegetarianism. I mean, come on, we have a holiday specifically designed to celebrate dead things. But it's not just that. None of our food is very veggie friendly. There are plenty of vegetables but all the gusto normally comes from the meat that is added to the dishes. Lately I have been having cravings for some of my old favorites. Specifically chorizo con huevos, menudo, and tripas de leche. Chorizo hasn't had that bad of a hold on me. There is Soyrizo in the stores and that is ok, but to make menudo or tripas vegetarian friendly would be blasphemy and all-together impossible. Until now. I have made the first step into a new phase of Mexicanism. I had developed the first hardcore Mexican dish. It is a work in progress but the first dish came out spectacular, especially after the limon and cilantro were. I have geared my dish towards "Mexitarians" and those suffering from a hangover. I made Soynudo last night. For those of you unfamiliar with menudo it is a soup made of beef tripe (stomach lining), hominy, and sometimes other vegetables like celery or carrots (but that is if you're being adventurous.) To my dish I added potatoes, carrots, celery, and I substituted soy-meat crumbles for the tripe. It tasted wonderful. I would like to try and make soy-tripas but that has been deemed impossible by the Mexican Vegetarian Society of Oaxhaca. I have to agree with them on that one. For those of you that don't know (which is probably everyone here) tripas de leche are cow intestines (geez, I'm not gonna have any more friends after this.)