Liliana Palma Santos’s parents would take the family from Los Angeles back to their homeland: the small rural town of Tlacolula and squash grew alongside other native vegetables and sampled maize of all shapes and colors at the Sunday market her childhood memories inform the menu and ethos she noticed GMO flour replacing native corn in tortillas and rescuing native and heirloom corn varieties became a cause for many Mexican chefs chefs have opened restaurants celebrating native corn But the craze has unintentionally harmed locals “Native corns have been elevated to this kind of gourmet place aren’t able to access their own goods anymore.”  Palma Santos celebrates local corn varieties with the goal of still serving at least 50 percent customers from the community referring to the colorful corn cobs sold by Indigenous Zapotec women at the markets Palma Santos visited as a child All of the ingredients are locally sourced and purchased from other Indigenous families in the region and everything from the tortillas to the moles and salsas is made from scratch The small restaurant serves a variety of traditional Zapotec dishes at reasonable prices some of them using recipes from Palma Santos’s grandmother who’s been selling street food for more than 40 years.  The star dish is her grandmother’s memelas: thick oval tortillas coated with lard and slow-roasted, topped with refried beans, green or red salsa and quesillo or queso fresco. Last year, her cousin Florina, who is the restaurant’s chef alongside Palma Santos’s husband, experimented with adding spinach, beet, chapulines turning them into “rainbow tortillas” that people can not only eat but learn how to make at in-house cooking classes Check the restaurant's Instagram for their hours The easiest way to get to Tlacolula is by taking a bus or a shared taxi (you’ll recognize them because they’re burgundy) at Oaxaca City’s baseball stadium. The ride is about 45 minutes. You can find Criollito using Google Maps or you can ask to go to the rural hospital next to the restaurant.  Palma Santos strongly recommends making a reservation for big groups either by leaving the restaurant a message on Google maps or messaging directly through Criollito's Instagram page You can also ask about joining a cooking class or learning about the art of tortilla-making (from harvesting the corn to grilling the finished product).  Palma Santos is also a travel agent who centers the knowledge and businesses of Zapotec peoples. She manages an airbnb in Tlacolula, and you can DM her on her personal Instagram page if you want to join her Oaxaca tours Featuring Torres Strait Islander cuisine and Australia's first indigenous bar The only restaurant serving indigenous foods from the Amazon The dishes at this restaurant by The Sioux Chef celebrate indigenous heritage and other Lakota dishes at the brick-and-mortar incarnation of his popular food truck Tokyo’s only Ainu restaurant serves Indigenous food from northern Japan This restaurant offers the original California cuisine First Nations’ foodways are front and center at this food truck-turned-brick-and-mortar A professor and three Tri-Co students recently visited the leaders of a city in Oaxaca, Mexico, to present their Zapotec Talking Dictionary designed to help revitalize a native language on the verge of disappearing Carolyn Anderson '14 was nervous about that early-May visit to Tlacolula de Matamoros She and the rest of the Tri-Co team were proud of their work on the dictionary but unsure of how it would be received But those nerves vanished as soon as Assistant Professor of Linguistics Brook Lillehaugen displayed the dictionary on her phone "[The Tlacolula leaders] started smiling," says Anderson but they all took the time to squint at the small screen and try it out You could see their faces light up as the phone was passed around the room." The Zapotec language family is comprised of approximately 40 languages The variety spoken in Tlacolula de Matamoros is critically endangered with only about 100 elderly speakers remaining. Key causes include economic and ideological factors that push native-language speakers to adopt Spanish Assistant Professor of Linguistics Brook Lillehaugen presents the Zapotec Taking Dictionary via smartphone On the front line of the movement to revitalize native languages is K. David Harrison, associate professor of linguistics and co-leader of the National Geographic project Enduring Voices He views languages as "the primary conduit for human culture." "Each of the Mexican indigenous languages contains millennia of human experience, wisdom, and practical knowledge about the natural environment," Harrison tells National Geographic News Harrison determined the need for a talking dictionary for the Zapotec language already set to teach a course on Zapotec language last fall "I hoped it would be a way to bring Zapotec voices into my classroom," she says Eight students from Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore (including Caroline Batten '14 an Honors English literature major from West Newton Mass.) helped build the dictionary from the ground up says Lillehaugen - conducting the research to expand it and collaborating with members of the Zapotec community to enhance it The town council of Tlacolula de Matamoros invited the Tri-Co team to come present its work on the dictionary and discuss further collaboration which will include a Tri-Co student returning this summer to offer a Talking Dictionary workshop to the community was the Tlacolulans - including the mayor - marveling at the sight of their heritage on big screens and phones but they are quickly crossing the digital divide and eager to create digital tools and resources for their language," says Harrison "It's a great example of how endangered language communities are leveraging new technologies to maintain their heritage languages." As important as technology is to the revitalization effort another of Anderson's highlights was decidedly retro She relished the opportunity to go into the Colonial Zapotec archives to see and touch centuries-old texts "It was incredible to hold them in my hands and see the little details that don't stand out in the PDFs that I've been working from: the decorations on the letters "I feel a strong connection to these texts to the thoughts and emotions and relationships of real people that they reveal." So much of the work in revitalizing languages is "spreading the message that these languages are important and worth caring about," she adds that's something that people can point to as proof that the language matters." A four-year grant from the National Science Foundation allows him to bring students and faculty colleagues to join the study of the South Pacific linguistic and biodiversity hotspot it’s about raising awareness and understanding,” says van den Bogaerde who will teach two linguistics courses and forge interdisciplinary connections at Swarthmore this year The Communications Office invites all members of the Swarthmore community to share videos, photos, and story ideas for the College's website. Have you seen an alum in the news? Please let us know by writing news@swarthmore.edu. one of the casual little cafés serving home-style dishes such as pozole with hominy and pork and chicken smothered in one of Oaxaca’s moles was a sacred drink in the Mesoamerican era a sweet corn-based brew—both of which are best paired with a tamale or a taco grabbed on the go In El Pasillo de las Carnes Asadas (the aisle of grilled meat at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre) you’ll find stall after stall of vendors selling thin cutlets of cecina (chili-rubbed pork) and tasajo (beef ) Pull up a chair at one of the long communal tables and place your order; it’ll be cooked on demand and served with sides of pico de gallo Try the seasonal flavors of ice cream—cheese with basil or cactus pear—at the Museo de Nieves Manolo (Alcalá 706) The cajeta (caramelized goat’s milk) ice pop at Paleteria Popeye you will go back the next day (Parque El Llano) Los Pacos (Belisario Dominguez 108-1; 52-951-515-4795) and Casa Oaxaca (Garcia Vigil 407; 52-951-514-4173) are two favorite places to buy prepared mole Ask for it to be vacuum-packed in plastic for the airplane It freezes well once you’ve arrived back home a small boutique jammed with a wide selection of traditional embroideries and woven textiles and bags (Plaza de las Vírgenes; 52-951-51-642-65) you’ll see baskets of grasshoppers fried with garlic and chilies They give dishes like guacamole a nice crunch Quesillo is a local version of string cheese that’s particularly good in quesadillas Watch vendors at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre and the Central de Abastos market stretching it into long ribbons before winding the yarn-like strands into giant balls Oaxaca is famous for its masa-based dishes including tlayudas (jumbo-size tortillas topped with refried beans and meat) and tamales (the Oaxacan ones are flatter than usual and are wrapped in green banana leaves instead of corn husks) You will find tasty examples at Central de Abastos It’s worth the 30-minute drive to the town of Teotitlán del Valle to eat at Restaurant Tlamanalli owned by Abigail Mendoza Ruiz and her sisters with dishes similar to what you might expect from a (very accomplished) home kitchen (Av Juárez 39; 52-951-524-4006; entrées from $30) The Juarez Market in downtown Oaxaca is a must-see especially if you are visiting in July during Guelaguetza a festival that celebrates the traditions of the seven regions of Oaxaca with dancing One of the most famous rituals is the voldares featuring five men who climb to the top of a tall metal pole while wrapping their support ropes round and round to the sound of flute music played by the lone man left on top four dancers dangle upside down by their feet and unwind in graceful ever-widening circles until they land feet-first on the ground type of mezcal at Los Danzantes Mezcal Reposado is a favorite straight with wedges of orange dipped in sal de gusano Located just outside Oaxaca City, Susana Trilling’s cooking school, Seasons of My Heart, teaches students everything there is to know about making mole. She also guides trips into the mountains and makes her own delicious version of classic pressed chocolate. up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse We understand that time is the greatest luxury which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.