Missing the flavors of Mexico

LONDON – What does a girl have to do to get a decent Mexican meal in London? I’m still trying to figure that out.

Mexican food isn’t just one of my favorite foods. It is in my blood.

I have never lived in Mexico, but I grew up with my mother making the dishes her family taught her to make and so on.

Needless to say, my expectations for Mexican food are high. Within a few weeks of being in London, I started to crave anything that resembled the spice blends I was used to eating at home.

Unfortunately, I once talked myself into thinking I was participating in the feminist movement by not learning how to cook, which clearly worked out.

Thus, I was stuck with the option of cooking a foolproof quesadilla. This held me over for a while, but I knew I needed to seek professionals.

I started to do some research on the Mexican community in London, and my research wasn’t going well.

Luckily, I stumbled upon Mexican food while at Camden Lock Market, a large open-air market near my flat. The neon Mexican food sign drew me in, and for a second I didn’t care what I had to pay – I just wanted to eat.

That feeling died once I tasted the food and learned that the people behind the “Mexican food” stand weren’t from anywhere near Mexico.

I’m not sure what I ate that day, but it wasn’t Mexican food. The rice tasted like a bad attempt at making any kind of rice, and the chicken tasted like it had been reheated in the microwave a couple of times. I ended up throwing most of the food in a Dumpster.

But I found hope in a restaurant that had an interesting “About Me” section on its Web site. It seemed like the owners had been living and breathing Mexican food in Southern California and Mexico.

I was really excited to try it out. But the day I was going to eat, they were just about to close and I could not order. My friend who came along with me pointed out we had already eaten there before.

A few weeks back, we had eaten at this burrito place called Tortilla that seemed a few steps behind the burrito chains in the United States. This was the same restaurant.

This wasn’t the Mexican food I was looking for. Feeling defeated and still missing Mexican flavor, I decided to stick to my homemade quesadillas.

Maybe when I get home I’ll finally get around to asking my mom how to cook real Mexican food.