Mi Tierra Latina

Three small things happened to me in the last two weeks that reminded me that for all of Vancouver’s world-class cuisine, we’re still missing things. 

The first was stuffing my face full of tacos in New York, a cantina that only served pork, but done nine different ways. Tail, cheek, you name it. The second was slurping up mole and the best tamales at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in San Francisco. Third was reading my second El Salvadorian restaurant review after only 25 pages in the late, great Jonathan Gold’s LA restaurant review book Counter Intelligence (yes, I read reviews of restaurants for cities I don’t live in).

Vancouver has world-class food, but it’s not controversial to say we’re missing out on the variety, scope and complexities of Latin American cuisine that America has. Yes, we have a few great spots, like Machete Ancestral Food, but high-quality cuisine from all the regions of Mexico, Latin and South America? Not so much. 

Luckily, there are a plethora of Latin American grocery stores, like Mi Tierra Latina Store to transport you south.

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