Mérida celebrates its culinary roots through the Pueblos del Maíz 2022 festival on Friday and Saturday.
The festival will host more than 30 exhibitors. Among the activities is a screening of the film “Journey into Yucatán” by Symphonic Planet. Also, “La Siembra” and the “Trovadoras del Mayab” will perform, and photo exhibit called “Milpa Times” will be on view. Bicycle tours and a series of conferences on corn by the Seed Guardians Collective, Traspatio Maya and Kool Kab are also planned.
There will also be milling and urban gardening workshops and activities for children. A full schedule is below.
Mérida is the second city — after Tuscon, Ariz. — to host the festival. Next, San Antonio, Texas; and Puebla, Mexico — will join in before the month is over.
Corn has formed the food and nutritional base of the population of Yucatan for millennia. Its strength and presence through the centuries, from generation to generation, give it a privileged place in the worldview and in the story of the creation of the Mayan people. According to the Popol Vuh, all human beings are “children of the corn.”
A commemorative corn-based beer will be served, brewed with a secret recipe made by the four participating cities.
Tucson, San Antonio, and Mérida, Mexico, are all UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy, and Tucson, Mérida, and Puebla, Mexico, are members of the Délice Network.
The festival, in the Chapel of Santa Isabel at La Ermita and in the San Sebastián neighborhood, is from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. each day. A schedule is below, and more information is on the city’s Pueblos del Maíz page.
