I finally reached that age.
Leaving aside any double-entendre, now, about to turn 41, it’s time to say goodbye to chili.
My stomach, traditionally resistant to any kind of culinary attacks, did not resist the excesses of this holiday season and rewarded the little respect with which I treated it, with the unilateral decision to give me heartburns, a physical condition previously unknown to my body.
Our relationship was always controversial, but always full of great moments.
As any Mexican boy, I succumbed to its charms through spicy candies and hot potato chips marketed under a variety of flavors that increased with time.
Gradually I started admiring its power in the kitchen, accepting as normal customs that amaze foreigners, such as when they see it used not only in the highlights and entrances, but even in drinks and desserts. No Mexican or foreign dish can not be improved with the addition of some kind of sauce.
How can you not love and miss those molcajete handmade fresh sauces in the kitchen of my great grandmother?
How can I forget even the sauces that changed the taste of pollo loco in states as different as day and night?
Or go without mentioning the feasts in Los Molcajetes, a taquería in Pachuca, with its traditional avocado sauce, capable of raising the dead?
Or binging cold peppers prepared by my mother-in-law at Christmas?
Mexicans have this addiction to complement any meal from international cuisines with our tastes, it is almost impossible to avoid.
From adding jalapeños to hamburgers.
Using chiles toreados in soy sauce to spice Japanese food.
The addition of chili flakes, or bottled sauces, to pizzas.
For this reason, when we go abroad, we take any risks in order to carry our precious condiments on a long journey.
I remember how on a trip to Israel, I made fun of a colleague who had smuggled cans of jalapenos in his suitcase. A week later, all of us begged him to share them to make our meals more passable. In our walks through Tel Aviv, we found a store full of Mexican food products, we ran towards it with emotion, until we saw the steep prices. We had no choice but to continue our prayers for more.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears shed by overeating habaneros.
It’s time to say goodbye.

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