EATS & DRINKS
San Antonio A Rich Cuisine Heritage P
PEOPLE OFTEN say the taste of their favorite food takes them back to childhood. If that’s the case, what better way to experience the cultural heritage of a region than by sampling the flavors and learning to cook the foods connected to this colorful past? Visitors to the historic
Mission San José in San Antonio can experience the sounds and smells of wheat being milled in the mission’s 1790s-style water- powered gristmill just as it was done centuries ago. Corn dominated the farm fields of the missions, but wheat was the grain of choice for Spanish priests.
A mechanical mill proved essential for this task, allow- ing early Texas settlers to transform harder grains into flour to make bread. Despite its small size and simplicity, the San José mill could grind 60 pounds of grain per hour — enough to make an impressive 1,000 loaves of bread in a day. “The first permanent
Spanish settlements in Texas were mission settle- ments,” explains Dr. Sarah Gould, lead curatorial researcher at the Institute of Texan Cultures. “The missions had to produce their own food to survive. Therefore, one of the first tasks at any new mis- sion was planting crops.”
The result was a diverse mixture of Old and New world foods, as members of the missions introduced European livestock, fruits, vegetables and industry to Texas. The Institute of Texan Cultures, which was formed in connection with the Smithsonian, offers no shortage of exhibits and special events designed to entertain and educate about this period in the Lone Star State’s history. While visiting one of
San Antonio’s landmark Tex-Mex restaurants, La Fonda on Main, be sure to pick up a cookbook by restaurant owner Cappy
Lawton. Enchiladas: Aztec to Tex-Mex offers
an in-depth exploration of one of Mexico’s most popular foods — a food that, as Lawton puts it, “embodies thousands of years of Mexican life.” The cookbook explores how enchilada ingredients have evolved from pre-Colum- bian to modern times, and showcases more than 60 traditional and contempo- rary recipes for enchiladas, salsas, salads and sides.
SAN ANTONIO WELCOMES THE WORLD: (clockwise from left) In a 2015 ceremony, four historic San Antonio missions were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site (left); Mission San José’s stone grist mill once ground 60 pounds of grain per hour (top right); flags at the Institute of Texan Cultures celebrate the many peoples represented in the Lone Star State.
Mission San José
6701 San Jose Drive San Antonio, TX 78214 (210) 932-1001
nps.gov/saan
Institute of Texan Cultures
801 E César E. Chávez Blvd San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 458-2300
texancultures.com La Fonda on Main
2415 North Main Avenue San Antonio, TX 78212 (210) 733-0621
lafondaonmain.com
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