When I was growing up in Texas, Mexican sweets were EVERYWHERE.  From paletas (popsicles) to moreliana cookies, I couldn’t get enough.  My mother used to shop at a supermarket chain called “Fiesta” and she always allowed me to try one different piece of candy each time we went through the check-out line.  The hard truth: there were so many, I could never try them all.  So you can imagine my excitement when I opened Fany Gerson’s “My Sweet Mexico: Recipes for Authentic Pastries, Breads, Candies, Beverages,and Frozen Treats,”  here at my desk in Boston.  Fany, a pastry chef based in New York and Mexico City, has worked and developed desserts for restaurants like Rosa Mexicano and Eleven Madison Park in New York City.   I caught up with her recently to learn more about her first cookbook.
 
PRK:  Fany, you now split your time between New York City and Mexico.  Does food help you maintain some sort of continuity between the two places?
FG: Absolutely. Food in Mexico is intimately linked to our culture and our culture is very family oriented so I really miss that living here [in NY].  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and everyone eats at home; you make a point to sit and talk about your day. My friends here in the States are mainly Mexican or Latin and I think we all miss that element of the culture and food is definitely what connects us to home and each other.
 
PRK: How did you go about collecting all of these recipes? The desserts are from ALL over Mexico, not just the capital.
FG: My dad helped to guide me…he is an anthropologist.  Basically, I created index cards for each of the Mexican states and then I noted which regions were famous for what.  Then I figured out whether I should visit those places during certain festivals and once I finished, I created this master calendar.  Mexico City was my base but I traveled a lot.  And things would always come up….sometimes it turned into a scavenger hunt.  People would tell me about a certain person who made a certain dessert and I’d hunt them down. Continue reading →