When you eat Mexican food, your brain releases endorphins and dopamine. Capsaicin, the compound in chili peppers, binds to pain receptors in your mouth. Your brain reads this as a threat and counters with feel-good chemicals. The burn in a good salsa triggers the same pathway as a runner's high.
This is all happening on top of a food tradition more than 3,000 years in the making. The tortilla in a chicharron taco exists because of nixtamalization, a process Mesoamerican cooks developed roughly 3,200 years ago. Corn kernels are soaked in lime water, which releases niacin, a B vitamin that corn otherwise locks away in an indigestible form. Without this step, corn-heavy diets cause pellagra, a B-vitamin deficiency that killed around 7,000 Americans per year at its peak in the early 20th century. Southern sharecroppers were eating corn without the process Mexico had preserved for three millennia.
In 2010, the UN added Mexican cuisine to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, the first year any national food culture had ever qualified. The application covered seed preservation, farming customs, ritual preparation, and thousands of years of cooking knowledge passed through communities.
The diversity inside that designation is hard to picture. Mexico has 59 varieties of heirloom corn, more than 60 distinct chili pepper types, and 32 states with cuisines different enough that Oaxacan mole negro (a dark sauce from dried chili and chocolate) and Yucatecan cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork in a smoky red spice paste) share almost no ingredients. Oaxaca alone has more than 20 types of mole. Mole poblano uses more than 20 ingredients, including several chili varieties, dark chocolate, and cinnamon, in a single sauce.
Chicharron fires three systems at once. Fat carries flavor deep into the palate. The crunch comes from pork skin dried, then dropped in 375-degree oil. The trapped moisture turns to steam, puffs the skin, and produces thousands of flavor compounds through the same browning chemistry that makes coffee and seared meat smell incredible. Then the salsa lands capsaicin on top of everything and the dopamine kicks in.
The "best food ever" reaction has a chemical basis. You are tasting dopamine from capsaicin, browning chemistry from pork fat at high heat, and a tortilla built on a process 3,200 years old. These flavors were engineered to do exactly this.
The story of Melanie, a Mexican ARMY, has touched thousands of social media users after learning of her passing and her family's decision to donate her organs, an act of generosity that will save and improve the lives of at least eight people.🥹💜
Originally from San Luis Potosí, the young woman had previously traveled with her mother to Mexico City to experience the group's concert outside the GNP Seguros Stadium. Even without tickets, they shared their passion for music by distributing "freebies"—items related to the band—to other members of the fan club known as ARMY. This past weekend, after her death was confirmed, Melanie was given a moving send-off at the hospital with a vigil of family members and her doctor, who, amidst applause and purple balloons—BTS's signature color—accompanied her to the operating room.
During this journey, her mother handed out the last mementos she had of her daughter to those present in the hallway, in a gesture that symbolized the young woman's last wish to share, whose heart was successfully transferred to the city of Monterrey for a compatible recipient.
“Past the edge of this winter's cold
Until the spring day comes again
Until the flowers bloom again
Please stay there a little longer, stay there” - Spring Day
Original post in Spanish; https://t.co/hN4iP5bMVV
estoy harta que el extranjero quiera destruir nuestras áreas protegidas y nuestros manglares para sus megaproyectos y que el gobierno de este país no haga absolutamente nada y que nosotros y nuestros animales nativos paguemos las consecuencias de esto
@uarmyhome_ En el 2020 en la era de Dynamite de repente me salía en spotify y me ponía demasiado de buenas la canción pero no sabía quién la cantaba y un día me salió de sugerencia en youtube el carpool karaoke de james corden y los amé y ya no pude dejar de verlos y escuchar su música 💜