My work focuses on food, culture, travel, and history in Mexico City and beyond. I write from an on-the-ground perspective to tell people-focused stories.
NATURE (Patent Pending)
As Mexico enters into the USMCA agreement this year, the fight for small farmers and the protection of native seeds is just beginning.
COVID-19 and Mexico's Water Crisis
Tania Rosales, 37, lives with her family in the Reyes La Paz area of Mexico, just outside Mexico City. Their neighbourhood’s water comes from a local well. ‘At 8pm every night the water in our home is cut off – and there isn’t a drop until 8am the next morning,’ she says.
Making Their Stand: Mexico City Street Food Vendors Grapple with Covid-19
Before the pandemic, the night shift that Juan and Hugo work at a 24-hour taco stand in Mexico City’s Del Valle neighborhood did a booming trade. Nowadays a trickle of evening diners stop by for a taco, but the crowds of last year are mostly gone. It’s a common scene across the city, where those who can are mostly working from home (and no longer reliant on street food for a cheap meal) and the number of tourists, who were increasingly coming to samp
Progress by the Pour
Four female winemakers in one of Mexico's most conservative regions are bucking stereotypes and changing the face of winemaking in Mexico.
With all this year's upheavals, pan de muerto is a Day of the Dead constant
Time-honored pan de muerto recipes are part of what keep Mexicans connected to the intimacy of the Day of the Dead holiday, and there is nothing like being in the kitchen to give you a sense of home in surrealistic 2020.
Has the ubiquitous cheek kiss been lost to the coronavirus?
I never thought I would miss the obligatory cheek kiss...until it was gone.
A Mexico City beekeeper seeks to change perceptions about bees
A city beekeeper is using her influence to try and encourage beekeeping and the love of bees in Mexico City and beyond.
Mexico City's Chinampas: 700 Years of Feeding the City
Less than a mile away from an endless stream of Mexico City traffic,
I am at the water’s edge, staring into the face of a grazing dairy
cow. In a bright blue boat with a flat bottom, I listen to the chirp of
nearby cranes and wave good morning to children being paddled
to school in canoes.
Candelaria: When 1,000 Dressed-up Dolls Come to Mexican Mass
When I walked into the mass and saw twenty mariachis in the middle of the crush of parishioners I chuckled to myself, wondering what I had been thinking.
I know Mexico well at this point. Not so well that cultural quirks like Candelaria don't still draw me in, but well enough to know that no Mexican holiday is ever complete without music, dancing and of course, fireworks. Sure enough, there were workers setting up the firework tower outside and a fair-like atmosphere in the street.
For vendors without savings, credit or support, aid group to the rescue
Due to the COVID crisis in Mexico City, a mutual aid group has formed to help local residents withstand the economic and social impact of quarantine.
Lesson from the pandemic: pollution problem more than cars on the road
The Covid pandemic has revealed that Mexico City's pollution problem goes much deeper than simply lots of cars on the road. This piece explains why the Valley of Mexico has such particular social, political and geographical elements that add to the toxic mix.
Foundation has found ways to help kids get an education in Chiapas
A 20 year foundation is working Chiapas to redesign how marginalized kids get educated and the access to that education through a scholarship program and work with local teachers.
The Complete Step by Step Guide to labeling Alcohol
Commercial content written for a packaging design website
Bread of the Dead: Jamaica Market’s Pop-Up Pan de Muerto Stands
“Caliente!” Juan calls out, and we all duck to avoid the steaming hot pan as it floats across the kitchen. Each day for the three weeks leading up to Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead holiday, Tito Garcia, the stand’s owner, and the rest of the crew, will make hundreds of pan de muerto sweet rolls, as part of the Jamaica Market’s holiday romería.
Staying Afloat: One Family Farm’s Pandemic Struggles in Xochimilco
Like a lot of us, the Galicia family was looking forward to 2020. Farming along the city’s southern canals for generations, they are stewards of the chinampa agricultural system, one of the oldest on the planet.