A little about the food at Mission Mexico - a sneak peek 'en la cocina' (in the kitchen)

'The Pan' (sweet bread) which the kids eat for dinner, plated up on the serving trolley.

Dinner time is the food highlight of the day for most of the younger kids here, they go nuts for 'the pan'.  If I have one more kid ask me 'Cun i hep wit da pun?' (translation - can I help with the pan?) I think I will stab them.  They start asking if they can help with the preparation of the next day's bread (which basically just needs to be plated up after the 'pan man' Alberto makes his delivery each day) as soon as the previous night's pan is eaten!  This is because, apparently, not all pan's are created equal and some are more delicious than others.  The golden child who gets to 'hep wit da pun' is thus able to 'hook up' his or her mates with the best ones...  Small things...

As you can imagine, I (Petrina) was not too impressed with the sugary white bread on offer for dinner.  Although this is very much a food practice deeply embedded in the Mexican culture (most eat a big meal for lunch and then just have a light sandwhich for dinner), and would be what most kids in Mexico would have, and is what they've been giving the kids at Mission Mexico for the last 10 years, I still couldn't help but feel uneasy dishing up the 'white death' every night.  Luckily, at the time of our volunteering there were also Naturopaths and a prospective Nutrition students volunteering, so together, the three amigas making up the 'diet police' managed to convince the couple that run the orphanage to start giving fruit for dinner.  This resulted in the oldest group of kids now get oranges and bananas at the evening meal.  Its a start anyway!

The Pan...waiting to be plated up.

Alberto the Pan Man making his daily delivery.

Above and below: Christmas day lunch for the kids, with soft drink as a special treat.  Plates, cutlery and drinking vessels all disposable, thank god!

The kids all eating happily...  Something interesting I noticed at Mission Mexico was that there was no fussy eaters.  You ate what you were given, because besides there literally being nothing else, there were no daytime snacks, so they were pretty much always ravenous at main meal times.  On a related but sadder note, we actually had to stop some of the kids from eating out of the bin and off the dirty plates etc., as some of them had come from homes where they didn't have nough food to eat, and it was still a strong drive in them to eat whenever and whatever they could get.  The couple that run the orphanage explained that over time, with consistent discipline in this area, they grow out of this primal drive.  Happy days!

 

 

Above and below: Normal weekday lunch for the kids, usually consisting of beans, rice and some kind of meat dish, always accompanied by chille and frijole.  If there was no chille one day when you delivered their plate, you were the worst person in the world as the kids go nuts for it!  Before eating, the kids need to have hair tied back, hands washed and shoes on (for which there is a mysterious black hole at the orphanage...somewhere in the world there is a lot of single shoes...).  The regular phrase being yelled out in association with 'A-comir' (time to eat) is 'busca su chanclas' (find your thongs).

One of the regular favourite dishes of the kitchen ladies - sopa de frijoles negros con queso y crema (black bean soup with cheese and sour cream).  Also was served with rice, chille and tortillas.  EVERYTHING is served with tortillas, even on the days the kids ate spaghetti and bangers and mash!