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.
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