Joel Miyamoto
Eric Leake
Writ 1133
March 30, 2013
My
Life’s Spice
This
weekend I had the great opportunity to spend a few days with my family. I was
glad to hear that they wanted to come up to visit me since I hadn’t seen them
for a little over three months. Before they left our home in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
they asked if there was anything that I wanted them to bring up for me. The
only thing that I could think of was Hatch Green Chili.
As
a native New Mexican, green chili has not only been a savory ingredient used in
many dishes throughout the state, but it is also a symbol for pride and joy for
the region. To many people outside
of my state, green chili may seem like just an ordinary crop but to many New
Mexicans it is an essential element within our culture. Green chili is one of
the very defining pieces of New Mexican tradition and heritage as well as an
essential part of the New Mexico’s identity.
In
my hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, there is no restaurant that does not carry
some sort of dish that contains green chili. From the famous burger joint,
Bobcat Bite, to the Pink Adobe family owned restaurant, all of these food
establishments incorporate green chili into their meals in one way or another. The
ingredient can be sliced and placed atop a juicy burger, blended to make a chip
sauce, dried to make dry rubs, or boiled to make green chili stew. Green chili
is at the very core of the culinary style of my hometown. It defines the very
essence of the food culture within the state.
For
anyone that comes to visit New Mexico, conversations will always start on the
topic of green chili. Someone will always be asking if you have tried such and such’s
green chili or tried a specific dish an a certain restaurant. Green chili forms
a bond between the people of New Mexico, and it is something that we can all
share our experiences on and connect over.
Green
chili is something that reminds me, and any New Mexican, of home. The warm and
spicy scent of green chili over a freshly prepared chicken enchilada is such an
ingrained scent in my mind that I can recognize it anywhere. It is also one of
the dishes that my mom has made for me over the span of my entire life. For me,
green chili and home are synonymous. Most of my memories of my house, family,
friends, and school all involve green chili in one way or another. From my mom
making me my first green chili bacon breakfast burrito to my friends and I
talking over our latest soccer tournament over some green chili hamburgers.
Green
chili is such an important and essential part to what I call home because it is
something that I have always been around. Growing up in New Mexico, I was
always exposed to it. During harvest, supermarkets across the city would have farmer’s
selling green chili right on the parking lots. The smell of green chili would
spread like wild fire across the entire city. It was as if some had dunked all
of Santa Fe into a bath of green chili. There is no way of escaping it. Green
chili is just something that has captivated the people of New Mexico and has
stayed in our midst through out our lifetimes.
Green
chili is also something that I am proud to know. New Mexico is home to the
hatch green chili, which had come to be recognized as some of the best green
chili in the country. For this very reason, it is something that we New
Mexicans are very proud of. Our pride for green chili is what gives it such an
important role within our lives and culture. It is something that we have grown
to love as children and will continue to love in our adult life. The memories
that we form at home with our friends and family are ones that we will always
remember, and green chili is the food that amplifies our joy and emotions.
