Why I’m Obsessed With Mexican Food and What I Think Good Food Should Be

I’ve been pondering why I became so obsessed with Mexican food. Obviously, I love tacos. I can spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about tortillas, chillies and salsa. But that isn’t really the whole answer.

For me, Mexican food represents something much bigger about what food should be:

Food with roots. Made with care. And built for joy.

I grew up in Eastern Europe, where, shall I say diplomatically, excessive public enthusiasm can look suspicious. So, Mexico felt very different to me. There was warmth. But also noise, humour, generosity and people sitting together. Food is being shared, then yet another taco is arriving, and another drink being poured.

And importantly: people seemed to be enjoying themselves.

That kinda stayed with me.

It is one of the reasons why I eventually created Fiesta in Tbilisi. I wanted to create a place where people felt a little happier when they left than when they arrived.

And I think good tacos help, and so do margaritas. Maybe, a Batanga! 🙂

The Craft of Mexican Cooking

But the deeper I went into Mexican cooking, the more interested I became in the craft behind what seemed like simple food.

Don’t you think a taco can look ridiculously simple: tortilla, filling and salsa. Bang!

• But you need to make the tortilla properly. And to do that, you first need to understand what nixtamalisation does to corn. 
• Build a salsa rather than opening a bottle. And that’s where you toast and rehydrate different chillies. 
• Slow-cook something properly. 

Suddenly three simple components contain an enormous amount of technique, history and knowledge.

That is another part of what attracts me to Mexican food.

It is real food without being boring food.

And by “real food”, I mean something that has NOT been industrially engineered until its connection to the original ingredient, place and person who made it becomes almost impossible to see.

To me, there is an enormous difference between transformation with a culinary purpose and processing simply to make something cheaper, longer-lasting or easier to manufacture. For me, good food still has a recognisable relationship with its ingredients. Somebody cared about making it.

Tradition matters. But food shouldn’t become a museum.

This is another thing Mexican cooking has taught me. I don’t believe respecting a cuisine means freezing it at some imaginary moment in history. Mexico itself is full of evolution, regional differences, migration, new ideas and outside influences.

So my own cooking follows the same principle:

Respect the roots. Understand the logic. Then allow yourself to create.

That is why I can cook traditional-inspired tacos one day and something very Mexi-terranean the next.

• Innovation without understanding becomes a gimmick.
• Tradition without evolution can become a museum.

I want the interesting space between them.

I think that Globalisation can actually make food better

There is an irony here. Industrial globalisation can make every supermarket, and eventually every city, look strangely similar.

But another kind of globalisation gives someone like me, a Ukrainian cooking in Georgia, access to Mexican masa harina, dried ancho chillies, books by Mexican cooks, techniques learned from people thousands of kilometres away and conversations with cooks around the world.

I love that. It means I can really cook Mexican food even though I’m far from Mexico.

Global curiosity. Local reality. Respect for where the food came from. And ultimately, food should bring people together.

This is probably the biggest reason Mexican food has stayed with me. Tacos aren’t built for formal occasions. They are much better at tables full of happy people reaching over each other for salsa. And mind you, I do not even own a suit. 😉

After all, good food can be serious without taking itself too seriously.

That is what I am trying to explore here – Mexican cooking, ingredients, tortillas, salsa, natural wine, experiments, traditions and ideas about what good food can be.

And Fiesta in Tbilisi is where a lot of those ideas become physical:

• You can actually eat the tortilla.
• Try the salsa.
• Eat our tacos.
• Have the Margarita.
• Enjoy my local natural wine.
• Meet somebody.
• Stay for the music.
• Maybe dance.

That is the point. And cooking tacos is my happy place – this is where I source joy and create it for others, too. And for me, this is beautiful.

I remember a few years ago I have saved the following quotes:

The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.

Flow is mysterious. It is like a muscle: the more you train it, the more you will flow, and the closer you will be to your ikigai.

I somehow completely get it now with a flow of cooking Mexican food.

My Good Food Manifesto

Food with roots. Made with care. Built for joy.

If that idea resonates with you, follow along.

Tell me, please: what does “good food” mean to you?

For a final word, here is yet another quote that I love:

Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who love you.

I wish you would find both.

And in the meantime, have a very joyful day!

My pillars: [Taco Craft | Salsa Magic | Proper Tortillas]

Natural Wine & Tacos? I give a resounding Yes to the evolution of taco dining experiences. See my thoughts on Taco Trends in my What’s a Taco? article.

Here are also my most used and loved tools and ingredients for a joyful Mexican cooking:

Masa harina for tortillas: Masienda, Bob’s Red Mill, Maseca

Chillies: Chipotle, Ancho, Guajillo, Tajin

Delicious Habanero Sauces: Mexico Lindo

My go-to jarred Chipotle hot sauce: Cholula

Tools: Tortilla Press, Ninja blender, Global knives.

Masienda store on Amazon – for the best masa harina for your taco tortillas