Why Chicago Chefs like Matthias Merges Are Working to Make Food Education as Important as Reading and Math
September 21, 2018
By: Cindy Dampier
Source: Chicago Tribune
First, there’s the tortilla — fresh, steamy, sprinkled with a few demure confetti flakes of green cilantro. The steam carries a roasty hint of cumin and chile to your nose, and if you are lucky, you catch a glimpse of the lacquered, crispy, porky goodness inside just before you dive into one of life’s great foods — the al pastor taco.
“Everybody knows the al pastor taco,” says chef Matthias Merges of Mordecai and Gideon Sweet. “We see it all around here. It’s a Mexican dish — but that’s just not true.” Nope, Merges says. In fact, when you take a bite of an al pastor taco, you’re biting down through centuries of migration, history, multiple cultures, language, family traditions and, even deeper, human emotion and the roots of empathy. The dish has its origins in the region around Lebanon and is closely tied to shawarma. Spices and the tortilla were picked up or adapted according to local ingredients along the way.