Mexico
Those That Came
My Spanish is not good for a full translation; but for those whose Spanish is better than mine.
But this is a Mexican show about Lebanese immigration to Mexico.
Tacos Árabes La Periquita: Pita Hut
Tacos Árabes La Periquita: Pita Hut
(Click on title to read more)Although we’re always hitting the pavement in search of the next good place to eat, sometimes places come to us. Such was the case with Tacos Árabes La Periquita, or “The Little Parrot,” an unassuming taquería in San Rafael that serves a relative rarity in Mexico City: “Arab tacos.”
A common way that restaurants in Mexico advertise is to produce a ton of fliers that an unlucky employee then takes around local neighborhoods and sticks in mailboxes and under doorjambs. We usually just toss these fliers in the trash, but once in a while, we’ll see an intriguing dish listed on one of them. Tacos árabes, the menu item at La Periquita that caught our eye, arrived with the Middle Eastern immigrants who came to Mexico around the turn of the 20th century, the same newcomers who brought over the rotating vertical spit cooking method now popular for making tacos al pastor. True to their origins, these large tacos are rolled up inside a pita-like flatbread instead of the more common tortilla.
Another Schwarma + Tacos article. Also goes by the name: tacos al pastor.
The Lebanese of Mexico
From the article in the previous post, but this time we will concentrate on his points about Mexico
By Habeeb Salloum.
…
I spoke with Michel Jacabo Eljure, whose father emigrated from the district of Qura, located in present-day Lebanon. He is a retired businessman who owned a ranch in the Yucatán. He spoke Arabic well and was familiar with the history of the Arabs in Mérida. According to him, even though the Lebanese were only 1 percent of the city’s 1.5 million population, they controlled 30 percent of the commercial and industrial establishments. As for religion, he explained that the Lebanese were originally evenly divided between Maronite and Orthodox Christians. Today, they are all Roman Catholics with only about 20 families still practicing the Orthodox rites. From time to time, a priest travels from Mexico City to administer to these few families’ needs.
With the tolerance of peoples to others in mind, I asked Michel, “Why is it that in countries like Canada, multicultural societies are encouraged and here in Mexico it’s total assimilation?” He replied, “Our society is montholitic. We want everyone to be Roman Catholic and speak Spanish. In our community only about 20 people still read Arabic.”
He continued, “As for our food, it’s another matter. Even a great number of the non- Lebanese in Mérida cook in their homes our kubbah, grape leaves and other Arabic foods. At least we contributed some of our heritage to Mexico – now our beloved homeland.”
This essay appeared in Al Jadid, Vol. 6, no. 30 (Winter 2000)
I am not saying Mexico’s way is best, but notice the total assimilation of the Arab community. Notice also that these Lebanese are not commercial and industrial elites.