Poetry & Food

Chile peppers are part of Mexican heritage. The photo here was taken in the Mercado San Juan, but it's only a few examples of more than 50 different types of chile there. I had a long animated conversation with the stallholder, who introduced me to some fruits I had never seen or heard of. I learned all sorts of tricks and cooking suggestions from his wife, and left the stall an hour later, having spent far too much .
This song/poem is a translation from the Mayan language, so it's pretty old. I bought the book (called " El Chile - Fruto Ancestral) in a CDMX bookshop.

Song of the Chile Pepper
(
Translation from the original nahuatl language by Robert D. Bruce)
" White cane chile pepper!
There on my tongue, oh Lord of Song,
There on my tongue, ouch!
You tasted so good to me.
There on my tongue,
There, great parrot,
There on my tongue,
Little parrot,
There on my tongue,
Little magpie.
You tasted so good to me.
Oh habanero pepper!
When I cooked you,
When I squeezed out your juice
You were fuming!
How delicious you are, worm chile!
When I squeezed out some lime juice,
When I then sprinkled it on you,
It will cool
The burning tongue.
Oh, you worm chile pepper!
Chiles Mercado San Juan.jpg
 
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