Happy New Year!

Happy and prosperous New Year from all of us at Borderlandia! We have dedicated this second edition of the magazine to the theme of the food of the Arizona-Sonora borderlands, with our upcoming taqueria tour of Hermosillo, the Sonoran capital city in February. It is an appropriate subject to present considering Borderlandia’s purpose of building understanding for our dynamic region and because sharing a table and breaking bread with a neighbor is really the starting line for strong, positive relationships. After all, it is so much more difficult to make assumptions and create conflict with persons of different cultures when someone has been invited to their table. It is for this reason, we are strong proponents of citizen-level culinary diplomacy.

As a foreigner to (but aficionado of) Sonoran culture, I have always been fascinated by the small details of Sonoran cookery and what those characteristics reveal about cultural heritage. For example, the inclusion of green olives in the red chile-tinged tamales of Sonora (nowhere else in the Mexican republic is this common), I have always likened to an acknowledgment of the Spanish/Mediterranean root to the modern culinary culture of the northwestern Mexican state enveloped in a package 100% Mesoamerican.

In this edition, we explore the culinary heritage of Sonora with our feature article and gain perspective on the meaning of the foods from the borderlands from a native son, Joe Wright. We hope you’ll consider joining us as a companion on the special tour we have planned for next month in Hermosillo. It is the result of a collaboration between us and our friends, the creators behind Tacos HMO: Guía Mínima, a minimalist guide book of the extraordinary family-run taquerías of the ciudad del sol. I can promise you it will be a gastronomic experience of a lifetime!