Festivities & Flavours: Celebrating Mexican Heritage
september, 2025By Chef Fernando Stovell
September in Mexico is unlike any other month. Streets flutter with green, white, and red ribbons; the scent of roasting chiles and freshly baked pan dulce drifts from mercados; and the sound of laughter and guitars spills from every corner café.
It is El Mes de la Patria—the month when we celebrate our independence, our culture, and the flavours that tell our national story.
For a chef, there is no richer moment to cook in Mexico. The markets are at their most generous—late-season corn bursting with sweetness, vibrant squash blossoms, earthy chiles, sun-ripened tomatoes, and tropical fruits glistening under the market lights.
1. The Poetry of Chiles en Nogada
Every stall is an invitation, every basket of produce a promise. Families across the country gather in kitchens to prepare cherished recipes that have survived centuries, each dish carrying the memory of generations.
A personal highlight this time of year is Chiles en Nogada—a dish as poetic as it is delicious. With its tri-colour presentation—green parsley, white walnut cream, and ruby-red pomegranate—it mirrors the Mexican flag and embodies the nation's spirit.
Created in Puebla in 1821 to honour Agustín de Iturbide, it is still lovingly prepared today, unchanged yet endlessly expressive. In my kitchen, I like to roast the poblanos slowly over mesquite embers to draw out their sweetness, then fill them with a picadillo enriched with fruit and spices, before bathing them in a silky nogada made from freshly cracked Castile walnuts.
2. A Pilgrimage to Cholula, Puebla
Last September, Maricarmen and I travelled to the magical town of Cholula, Puebla—a place where time seems to slow and food is cooked with an almost spiritual devotion.
We were invited into a small family-run comedor tucked beside the old convent. There, Doña Teresa prepared mole poblano the traditional way, roasting each chile and toasting spices over a clay comal before grinding them by hand in a stone metate.
The air was thick with the perfume of cinnamon, chocolate, and ancho chiles. Sitting at a simple wooden table, we tasted a sauce so complex and soulful it felt like an entire history lesson in a single bite.
That meal reminded me that dishes are not just recipes—they are living, breathing archives of culture and place.
3. Tradition Through an Anglo-Mexican Lens
This September, I want to honour that feeling—sometimes by preserving tradition exactly as it is, other times by reimagining it through my Anglo-Mexican lens.
You might find me folding charred corn into delicate tamales perfumed with hoja santa, or slow-braising pork in recado rojo until it melts into the sauce, ready to be spooned into fresh blue corn tortillas.
4. An Invitation to Celebrate
I invite you to join me in this month of celebration. Set your table with colour, fill the air with music, and cook something that speaks of Mexico's heart.
Whether it's your grandmother's treasured recipe or a dish you've just discovered, make it with pride, joy, and love.
Throughout September, I'll be sharing recipes inspired by my travels, my heritage, and the dishes that have shaped my cooking—perfect for your own fiestas.
Let's raise a glass to the flavours of Mexico, and to the people and places that keep them alive.
In Celebration:
The Wisdom of Frida
"Not the least hope remains to me… Everything moves in time with what the belly contains."
Frida Kahlo
In these words, Frida captured the essence of what September means to me—that our deepest connections to place, memory, and identity flow through the foods we share and the tables where we gather.