Lost in Mexico

In Part II of this three-part series, I venture out of the high-end chef bubble, and into some very real, and very heated debates about the cultural appropriation of Mexican food. Is Enrique Olvera right that food belongs to everyone, or is that just a free pass for powerful chefs to exploit the culinary traditions of minority groups? What responsibilities do foreign chefs like Rick Bayless have to the indigenous communities that they took their recipes from? And then there’s the really hard question for Mexico, and all countries with tortured histories of colonization: Does the appropriation of indigenous food unify people from very different backgrounds? Or is it exploitative—a way for elites to cherry-pick parts of indigenous culture for their own use—while leaving systemic inequalities intact? This episode is ostensibly about food, but it’s also about so much more. Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

Vicente Fox was President of Mexico from 2000-2006. In this wide-ranging interview, he opens up about his campaign to legalize marijuana and curb the power of drug cartels, his concerns about Mexico's democratic future under President López Obrador, and the migrant surge at Mexico's northern and southern borders. And I pressed him on some of the contradictions in his record, which made for some revealing, if slightly testy, exchanges. To check out a video of the interview, head to our Lost in Mexico YouTube channel!YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC7shxS083jK8MwU0S7UqyPwInstagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

Mexican food is complex, delicious, and ... divisive. In this three-part series, I dive into the raging debate about the cultural appropriation of Mexican food, asking Mexicans from across the spectrum—high-end chefs, traditional indigenous cooks, and anti-racism activists—what they think about outsiders profiting from their traditional dishes. This series challenged so many of my assumptions: about how racism plays out in a context very different to the U.S., about the Western obsession with individual genius, and about what respecting another culture actually means. In this week’s episode, Part I, I speak to Mexico’s most famous chef, Enrique Olvera, who has been accused of cultural appropriation for selling mole developed by indigenous communities from the State of Oaxaca in his slick Mexico City restaurant. Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

In this special episode, I speak to Mexico's most famous chef, Enrique Olvera, owner of two of the world's top 25 restaurants—Pujol in Mexico City (ranked 12th) and Cosme in New York City (ranked 23rd). Chef Olvera opened up about a number of controversial issues, including the alleged cultural appropriation of Mexican cuisine by white chefs in the United States, the prohibitive cost of his restaurants for many Mexicans, and the possible reelection of Donald Trump. And he had a surprising take on Tex-mex!Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

Telenovelas are ridiculous, over-the-top, and absurdly entertaining. But if you're thinking that they are just frivolous fun—think again. Telenovelas have had an outsized influence on Mexico, from helping to bring down the world’s most notorious drug lord “El Chapo” to increasing the sales of birth control. But as Mexico changes, telenovelas are struggling to keep up with a new wave of daring television. I speak to Mexico’s first openly gay telenovela actor, Rebelde's Christian Chavez, one of its brightest new stars, Dario Yazbek Bernal, and the lead writer of Netflix’s La Casa de las Flores, Mara Vargas Jackson, about how their work is shattering taboos in Mexican television.Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

What does it feel like to be deported from the place you've spent your entire adult life? This episode, I speak to Jesus Ortiz, who was ripped away from his family in the United States and forced to return to Mexico. Jesus has an incredible personal story, but his experience reveals just as much about American immigration policy and Mexican attitudes towards outsiders. Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com

When my husband and I quit our jobs and moved to Mexico City, we didn't expect to be locked down in a tiny apartment at the center of Mexico's COVID-19 outbreak. In this episode, I hit the streets of Mexico City to ask people why staying at home isn't an option. Instagram: @lostinmexico.podcast and @nita.rao0112Facebook: @lostinmexicoWebsite: www.lostinmexico.com