Vanilla is much more than a dessert ingredient in Papantla, a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz once famous for producing the spice. Local artisans braid vanilla’s dark stems, and several restaurants offer a variety of vanilla-infused dishes. Irma Cortés Ramírez, a chef at Nakú, created Shrimp in Vanilla Sauce while experimenting in the Papantla restaurant’s kitchen. As a child in Papantla, she watched as her grandparents added vanilla to atole and to a chayote squash soup. The spice, she said, gives her shrimp dish “a sweet touch, a touch of love.”
Related Posts
Where to find fresh soba noodles in Los Angeles
“I’m going to tell you how to eat it.” The woman behind the counter at Sobar, a narrow restaurant on…
How Food Forward helps give leftover produce to Los Angeles’ hungry
It’s 4:30 a.m. on a Tuesday and the lights are blazing at Food Forward’s Pit Stop warehouse. Big trucks are…
The best food vendors and experiences for Coachella Weekend 2
The universal advice for all things Coachella is simple: Arrive early. All three days, I made my way to the…