Taqueria Distrito Federal’s daily menu includes tacos, burritos, tostadas, quesadillas, tortas, and several platters featuring sausages and meats. We tried the tacos and a torta, but read some interesting background information on tamales, burritos, tostadas, and quesadillas.

The history of the tamale actually is quite long:

Tamales originated in Mesoamerica as early as 5000 to 8000 BCE. Aztec and Maya civilizations as well as the Olmeca and Tolteneca before them used tamales as a portable food, often to support their armies but also for hunters and travelers. There have also been reports of tamal use in the Inca Empire long before the Spanish visited the new world.

The burrito, or large taco, originated in Mexico and translates to “little donkey,” probably because the burrito resembles either the ear of a donkey or resembled the packs that donkeys carried. Wikipedia discusses the history of the burrito:

Mexican popular tradition tells the story of a man named Juan Mendez who used to sell tacos in a street stand, using a donkey as a transport for himself and the food, during the Mexican Revolution period (1910–1921) in the Bella Vista neighborhood in Ciudad Juárez. To keep the food warm, Juan had the idea of wrapping the food placed in a large home made flour tortilla inside individual napkins. He had a lot of success, and consumers came from other places around the Mexican border looking for the “food of the Burrito,” the word they eventually adopted as the name for these large tacos.

Burritos are a traditional food of Ciudad Juárez, a city in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, where people buy them at restaurants and roadside stands. Northern Mexican border towns like Villa Ahumada have an established reputation for serving burritos, but they are quite different from the American variety. Authentic Mexican burritos are usually small and thin, with flour tortillas containing only one or two ingredients: some form of meat, potatoes, rice, fish, beans, asadero cheese, chile rajas, or chile relleno.

The tostada is simply a toasted taco (the traditional taco is soft, not hard). Some say the tostada was developed as a way to use stale tacos. The tacos were deep fried to make them crunchy again. However, now tostadas are entrees in their own right, and often are served like a pizza and open-faced.

Finally, the quesadilla (or cheesy tortilla) is traditionally is a folded tortilla filled with oaxaca cheese and cooked until the cheese melts. The American version of the quesadilla (the two flour tortillas with various fillings in between them) is actually the Mexican sincronizada, which is two flour tortillas with cheese and ham sandwiched to them. The version of the quesadilla most Americans know is the Tex-mex alteration of the sincronizada, which is filled with beans, various types of meat, sour cream, etc.

We tried the tacos at the Taqueria Distrito Federal and they were  small, but the perfect amount of food (since we were served several tacos). The toppings were avocado, cilantro, radishes, cucumbers lime, etc., giving them a fresh taste. They had a variety of fillings, including:

• Al Pastor (Beef and pork)
• Carnitas (Pork)
• Carne Asada (Grilled steak)
• Chorizo (Mexican sausage)
• Lengua (Beef tongue)
• Barbacoa Chivo (Goat)
• Barbacoa Res (Beef)
• Pollo (Chicken)
• Costilla Puerco (Baby Pork Ribs)
• Tripa (Beef tripe)
• Chicarron en salsa verde (Pork skin in green sauce)

We also learned some interesting facts about the taco. The taco predates the arrival of Europeans in Mexico and there is evidence that tacos were originally eaten with small fish. The Spanish called this indigenous food the “taco,” although the reason why is unknown. Although originally the taco was eaten with fish, today’s fish and seafood tacos were created in Baja, California. Also, tacos dorados (“golden tacos”) are what are also known as flautas or taquitos and are traditionally Mexican and Puerto Rican. The original taco was soft and the creation of the hard taco (with its infamous U-shape) was first discussed in 1949 in a cookbook. However, it did not take off in popularity until New York restaurateur Juvenico Maldonado patented a machine for mass-producing the hard taco in 1950.

We were particularly interested in trying the torta, which we were unfamiliar with. A torta is a is a Mexican sandwich served on a French roll with various fillings. The torta is not native to Mexico, and according to Chelsie’s Mexican Food blog, the French influence during the 1800s made bread from flour a Mexican staple and lead to the rise of bread as a staple and bakeries, or “panaderies.” We ordered the milanesa de res torta, which is a meat fillet that is breaded and fried. This dish is common in South America, although less common in Mexico, and also is not a native dish. This dish was brought to South America by Central European immigrants and is similar to weiner schnitzel. We found the sandwich tasty and the milanesa to be surprisingly lean. Our sandwich was also served with lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, etc.

Our combos also came with a choice of beverage and could choose from aguas frescas, soda, and Jarritos. Aguas frescas translates to “fresh cold waters,” and originated in Mexico. These drinks are typically sweet fruit flavored drinks, but can also be made with various seeds and be creamy. Taqueria Distrito Federal offers horchata, tamarindo, marañon, coco, and jamaica. Horchata is milky and contains cinnamon and vanilla, often made from rice. Tamarindo, one of the most popular flavors, is made from the cooked tamarind and is one of the sour fruits. Marañon translates to cashew apple, the fruit that the cashew comes from. Jamaica is hibiscus, referring to the flor de Jamaica. We tried the jamaica, and found it fragrant and very sweet. We also tried the soda, which turned out to be Mexican Coca-cola (which contains cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup) and comes in a bottle with the nutrition facts crudely affixed to the bottle. Mexican Coca-Cola did taste a lot better than American Coca-Cola, which justifies this New York Times article on the “Cult of Mexican Coca-Cola.” They also had a variety of Jarritos, which is a brand of soda in Mexico (“jarritos” means “jugs” and comes from the Mexican tradition of drinking liquids in jugs). Jarritos are less carbonated than American sodas and currently are the most popular soft drink among Latinos. Jarritos began by offering a coffee flavored soda, and soon moved to tamarind and now offers a variety of fruit flavored sodas.

We ended our meal with dessert of the day, which was also a part of our combo. The dessert that day was flan (we also heard it is always flan), which was a tiny slice but actually the right size since we were pretty full. Flan was originally French, and must have come to Spain and thereby Mexico that way.

Note: They do not serve alcohol here. We brought our own tallboy of Tecate in a brown bag. They didn’t say anything to us…so either they did not notice or did not care.

TOTAL: about $9.50 excluding tax/tip (for a combo that includes entree, drink, and dessert)

Panama’s first-ever narrative feature film, produced by the Igar Yala Collective, a group made up primarily of rural and urban Kuna youth. This contemporary coming-of-age story introduces two young Kuna: a boy raised by his grandfather in his ancestral homelands and a girl who has never been there.

The movie starts at 7 p.m. The movie is free, but you must register online. We’ll follow up on the festival after the 14th.

UPDATE

One of the most complicated aspects of examining the food featured at Mitsitam and Native Amerian cuisine in general is the influence of other regional cuisine on Native American cuisine, as well as the regional variations within the food throughout the Americas. Although the festival was called The Power of Chocolate, we did not see any chocolate samples and the festival mostly focused on a few tables explaining how chocolate grows and is cultivated (some focusing on children) and live dancing.

Mitsitam was out of many of the foods around 5 when we arrived, but we were able to sample some of the cuisine there (although not the chocolate soup, venison, buffalo, or wild rice salad). The restaurant is on the ground level of the museum and has a high end cafeteria buffet feel to it. The menu items are grouped by region, which is kind of interesting. The plates of food are mostly small, similar to tapas, with the exception of some larger entrees. After selecting the food we wanted to eat, we paid and were able to find a seat by the window. The cafe has large windows that look out onto the fountains, which is nice.

Native American cuisine is extremely varied due to environmental aspects. Mitsitam’s cuisine focuses on several regions and arranges the food items by region, which makes it easy to understand the context of all the different dishes. The Northern Woodlands features ingredients like oysters, maple syrup, pumpkins, wild mushrooms, venison, turkey, cranberries, dandelions, sunchoke, watercress, wild rice, duck, corn, and winter squash. South America features escabeche, hearts of palm, fish, salsa, chicken, coconut, ceviche, tamales, peanut sauces, pork loin, tomatoes, squash, amaranth, jicama, guava, flan, and blue corn. The Northwest Coast features ingredients like clams, salmon, steak, roots, blueberries, sweet potato, birch bark syrup, wild mushrooms, tomatoes, wild rice, pumpkin, and bison. Meso America includes burritos, plantains, chili sauce, spinach, tortillas, mole, squash, pumpkin, guacamole, corn chips, carrots, cotija cheese, and pepitas. The Great Plains food items include buffalo, pinto beats, fry bread, chayote, cinnamon, honey, berries, heirloom beans, wild onion, pinion cookies, popcorn balls, and sarsaparilla. The cafe also has a wide range of desserts and the menu changes seasonally. Based on what we read on Native American food, these items reflect typical food items that were eaten by Native Americans. Wikipedia also has a lot of information on Native American cuisine.

Mitistam reflects the wide range of food in native cuisine and the different staples that come out of lifestyles based on hunting, fishing, gathering, farming, and the use of domesticated animals. We ended up trying only a few things because each plate was rather pricey, even with the discount. Also, a lot of the food items were unavailable because of the high demand thanks to the festival.

We started out trying a chocolate arepa, which was warm, savory, and had a rich chocolate flavor. The sweetness was not overpowering and it tasted similar to a pupusa without any filling. We learned on Wikipedia that an arepa is a bread made from corn that is popular in Columbia and Venezuala. The corn patty is unleavened and flattened, either by grilling, baking, for frying. A lot of variation exists from region to region on the consistency, color, size, thickness, garniture, and fillings of the arepa. Wikiepda notes that “Arepa is a native bread made of ground corn, water, and salt which is fried into a pancake-like bread. It is either topped or filled with meat, eggs, tomatoes, salad, cheese, shrimp, or fish.” Our arepas seemed to be more Venezuelan than Colombian since they were about 3/4 of an inch thick and were “arepa dulces,” or sweet arepas, which are common in Venezuala. Although most arepas are savory, ours tasted delicious.

We also tried the empanadas with chocolate sauce (an empanada is stuffed bread or pastry). We were curious about the history of the empanada and learned that they are Spanish and Portuguese in origin. The name comes from the verb empanar, which means to wrap or coat in bread. The Spanish empanada is usually larger and more circular, but cut into smaller portions for consumption, while the South American empanada is smaller and more half moon shaped. The empanada was brought to South America by colonists. Empanadas vary tremendously from region to region. Their fillings can include meat, potatos, or sausage, etc. We looked up whether there are sweet empanadas, and found that these typically exist in the Columbian city of Leticia, where they are often filled with tropical fruit. These sweet empanadas exist in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti, in addition. We couldn’t figure out which region ours was from, but they were small and reminded us more of a wonton than an empanada. Ours were savory, with the exception of the chocolate sauce they placed on it, which was syrupy (not like a mole sauce).

We were especially pleased that the cafe had fry bread, which we love and is hard to find in this area. Fry bread is distinctly American and was first made in the 1600s. It is a flat dough deep-fried and then topped with various ingredients. Mitsitam features the Indian Taco, which we thought was their invention. However, we learned from the taco entry on Wikipedia that “Indian tacos, sometimes known as Navajo tacos but served in various parts of the American West and Midwest, are made using frybread instead of tortillas. They are commonly served at pow-wows, festivals, and other gatherings.” Their Indian Taco is $11 and consists of buffalo chili, pinto beans, picklled chilis, lettuce, tomatos, and cheese. We found it to be extremely filling and delicious. We also liked the fact that we got to try buffalo. We also learned that fry bread (also written as “frybread”) has such a large role in Native American cultures that it was named the official “state bread” of South Dakota in 2005. We also tried the fry bread with honey, which is another way fry bread can be served (also powdered sugar can be used instead of honey). This was also pretty yummy. We ended up getting an agua fresca, which are refreshing beverages of various concoctions that originated in Meixco, but now are popular all over the Americas. Ours was milky, mild, and sweet. We probably ended up having agua de horchata, which is a type of agua fresca that is made from either almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tigernuts. The drink originated in Valencia in Spain and then spread to Latin America, so we don’t know how typically native it is. Ours was tan and milky, so we think we got more of the Mexican variety, which often is made from rice and has a cinnamon flavoring.

We would have liked to have tried more food items, however the food was fairly filling and some of the more interesting dishes were sold out. We were offered a sample and were able to try amaranth; we recommend asking for samples if it seems possible. Amaranth is a grain that is cultivated in Asia and the Americas. It was one of the staples of the Incas and known as kiwicha in the Andes. Compared to other grains, amaranth was very tiny and had a harder texture. Amaranth, although not well-known, was incredibly important to native cultures like the Aztecs, who used it in their ceremonies and created compositions of the gods using the grain and honey. It also apparently is referenced a lot in literature and music.

TOTAL: ~$30 for lunch for two people