Rachel Laudan

One objection that comes up time and again when people discuss my theory about the Islamic origins of mole poblano is this: how come, if mole was introduced by the Spaniards, it is now the celebration dish in small villages all over Mexico?
Perfectly good question. And I think there is an answer to this [...]

I write this in large part in response to Colman Andrew’s interesting comment on my post on a recipe using Catalan picada. In it he concedes that mole has pre-hispanic origins but suggests some kind of interaction between Catalonia and the convents of Puebla where by legend the nuns invented the archetypal mole, mole poblano.
I [...]

A couple of days ago, following a suggestion of Adam Balic, I made a dish from Catalonia that uses techniques and ingredients that are very similar to those used in making Mexican mole. It also followed up on a conversation with a young woman in Catalonia earlier this year. She launched into [...]