If there was a noble prize for gastronomy I am sure Diana Kennedy would have won it a long time ago. For more than 50 years she has traveled relentlessly covering the smallest towns to document our culinary traditions. Her research combines her love for Mexican cooking, her passion for botanics and her environmental activism. Throughout the years she has rescued recipes from our ancestors and documented traditions that over time could be lost forever. She is definitely the person in Mexico who knows more about Mexican gastronomy and its ingredients.
I was able to interview Diana some years ago. When I asked her how she got ready for a trip she said….”Every time I leave my house it is an adventure. First I make sure my truck has gas, I put in my “catre”, my sleeping bag, and a bunch of things in the back of the truck…. and that’s the way I do it.”
Her life has been an adventure. She met her husband in Haiti. He was a war correspondent and she had migrated to Canada and was in Haiti on a holiday when a revolution erupted. They met in the lobby of the hotel. They married and Paul was sent to Mexico as a news correspondent for the New York Times, where Diana came in contact with Mexican food. They returned to NY and Paul died. After his death, and motivated by Craig Claiborne, she started teaching Mexican cooking classes and published her first book. In 1969 she returned to Mexico, where she now lives permanently since 1972.
This summer I attended a book presentation she did in Austin as part of the IACP meeting. Her new book is called “Oaxaca al Gusto”. The book focuses on the food from the culinary rich state of Oaxaca. She has been working on it for the last 14 years. She looked vibrant. It was a real special treat to sit down and listen to her stories, learn about ingredients I had never heard of, follow her personal journey documenting our culinary roots. She is full of amazing gastronomic discoveries. At the end we had a small tasting which included a deliciously simple chicken broth packed with flavor, a “tostada” with dried shrimp and a small “tamal” wich was amazing.
In Austin I also met Patricia Bernal and Sergio Yazbek, who are currently filming a documentary on the life of Diana Kennedy. There is a new joint project between Diana and the National University (UNAM) to use her research to complete the data base of Mexican botanics. I am amazed, she never stops.
I remember asking her about her research and work, and she answered “there is a lot of work still ahead, I need time and money to make those trips. I like to do research, I love meeting people, learn what they grow, how they harvest it, all those things that most people don’t know… the different flavors, the unknown things in the kitchen. That is what I like.”
What I like is her new book. It is a “must” in any serious cook book collection.
Dash of Spice and Life 
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