The Stigma of Corn

I was amused to read Barbara Hansen’s review of “Que Vivan Los Tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity” in Cookbook Watch (Dec. 30). I can attest to the fact that the stigma of eating corn is unfortunately alive and well in many parts of Mexico.

When I was visiting Mexico City a few years back, I was dining in a downtown restaurant and ordered mole poblano. Upon requesting tortillas, I was horrified when the waiter informed me that the restaurant served no tortillas at all, but I would instead get a French roll with my repast.

Hansen also mentions the inconsistencies of the spelling of Hernan Cortez’s name. It is not the proofreader’s mistake, as she seems to think. Cortez signed his name either Hernan(do) or Fernan, as can be seen in the letters he wrote to the king of Spain describing the conquest of Mexico (Cartas de Relacion). The F and the H in Spanish were still interchangeable in the mid-16th century. It wasn’t until the 17th century that Spanish became standardized.

ELIZABETH E. CASILLAS

Los Angeles

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