Cocina Chontal (Tabasco, Mexico)
Housemade chocolate is used in the mole at Cocina Chontal.| Credit: Lenin Arevalo
It was one of those pinch-me moments: Sitting in the middle of the San Isidro de Comalcalco jungle in Tabasco, Mexico, in a dining room with brick floors and wooden tables, the campfire smell of a wood-fueled comal just outside the door. An adorable teenage couple at another table giggled and fed one another as a neighborhood dog stood at the door hoping for scraps. The light was golden and magical and I asked myself, How did I get here? Cocina Chontal is on the outskirts of the Zona Arqueológica de Comalcalco, a Chontal Mayan site containing the remains of the westernmost city of the Mayan civilization. Chef Nelly Córdova Morillo is a former lawyer who grew up eating traditional Chontal cooking on her grandparents’ farm. Her restaurant celebrates the pre-Hispanic cuisine of the region, serving traditional dishes made with traditional ingredients cooked over wood harvested from the surrounding landscape. This means “tortilla Chontal,” a type of fresh-masa quesadilla served with a dark green salsa that tastes of the forest, alongside frothy pineapple agua fresca. Dark, complex mole poblano smothers moist turkey and comes scattered with sesame seeds. Scarlet shrimp are piled atop a base of warm masa, fresh and vibrant and stupefying in their deliciousness. I spent multiple days and flights and car rides getting to this one meal, and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. cocina-chontal.negocio.site
“Right now, my team and I are working to adapt for the future and the new world of tourism. At the moment, we see more opportunities than challenges for our township. When the global situation improves, I am looking forward to visiting india and sampling all the street food I can!”
– ABIGAIL MBALO-MOKOENA, 4ROOMED EKASI CULTURE, CAPE TOWN
