25 Mexicans: Deyanira Aquino, ethnologist

By Margot Lee Shetterly Original Print Publication: November, 2007

25 Brilliant, Innovative and Visionary Mexicans

You know who President Felipe Calderon is, and also recognize his nemesis, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from the tense 2006 presidential election. You know who Carlos Slim is and, if you live in Mexico, chances are you write him at least one check a month. You can read former President Vicente Fox's new book in English. Actress Salma Hayek just had a baby. You swooned when actor Gael Garcia Bernal (who is Mexican) played Che Guevara (who wasn't). But aren't you bored of seeing the same old names in the headlines?

That's why we decided to apply some fresh thought to the idea of the "top" list. We looked North and South, solicited input from editors, journalists and people "in the know" around Mexico, gathered a long list and went into the war room. We wanted interesting people who added dimension to our sense of what Mexico is and can be. It got heated, but in the end we came out with 25 amazing people, most of whom you've probably never heard of. Once we had the list we had to chase our busy subjects down. Our team went out to interview and research the nominees, and we got some of the most talented photographers around to take their portraits. The resulting group of 25 scientists, economists, journalists, chefs, artists, conservationists, entrepreneurs, producers, activists, philanthropists and athletes are presented here for your consideration.

From September 23-27, La Teca will be preparing a special tasting menu for the Polanco restaurant Vinomio. Click here for more information.

Image:Alejandro Zarate

“I always wanted to be an anthropologist,”says Deyanira Aquino. La Teca– short for la juchiteca, a woman from Juchitán, Oaxaca – is blessed with the kind of beauty that renders her age both mysterious and irrelevant. Her eponymous restaurant, five minutes north of the bustling center of Oaxaca City, is neither fancy nor expensive; six small tables cram the dining room and the big table in the garden behind the house seats ten.

Oaxaca’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec – inspiration for one artist (Frida Kahlo), birthplace of another (Francisco Toledo), famed for its matriarchal society– is rich in arts, culture and food. Aquino apprenticed in the kitchen ofher grandmother, a woman with culinary skills renowned in her village, but it wasn’t until 1994, after a 30-year career as a school administrator, that she decided to cook full time.

The food at La Teca has nothing to do with fusion. Rather, Aquino brings regional, largely pre-Hispanic recipes and cooking techniques into the 21st century. Garnachas (slow roasted tortillas filled with chopped meat), tamales with yellow mole and plantain stew tantalize patrons (including the famous singer Luis Miguel) while La Teca herself, stunning in typical Isthmus attire, coquets about the room.

These days, her inner anthropologist is on a mission to recover traditional Isthmus recipes. She is currently working on a book that will present the cuisine of her childhood to a new generation of istmeños and oaxaqueños, as well as to the rest of Mexico and the world. She dreams of opening branches of La Teca in Mexico City, Puebla and Monterrey.

“Preserving our customs is the most important thing to me,” she says. “Young people need to know their traditions. If we don’t take care of the past, we’ll lose it.”

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