Waiting to buy tortillas at the neighborhood Tortilleria
Tortillas are a staple of the Mexican diet. Some estimates suggest that the average Mexican eats more than a half a pound of tortillas daily. It is also estimated that tortillas account for more than half the daily calories and protein of Mexico's poor.
I think in some parts of the world (India, China) rice is the main ingredient in many diets, so it would appear that tortillas are the "rice" of Mexico. Personally -- for myself -- tortillas have won the day over rice and I use them for wraps instead of bread. I'm currently taking a class on Geography in which the professor claims feeding the world is doable. He also said the world's population has about topped out, claiming there are mathematical principles in place that will not allow numbers to climb above 10-14 billion. Nevertheless, that's a lot of tortillas & rice. Can it really be done? Is it healthy? I wish we had a neighborhood Tortilleria in Fairview, as freshly ground, "hot-off-the-grill" flat corn/flour tortillas (buttered, of course) and coffee could be a morning ritual. On the other hand, the poor have hard lives, and I cringe when thinking about all the organically grown fresh fruits, vegetables and supplements that are often missing from their diets. How do we find the resources to provide these? This past year I discovered sprouting. This is one way to get organic vegetables for pennies. Mercola claims fresh sprouts are 30 times more nutritious than the mature plant, so we routinely sprout broccoli, clover and lentils in our kitchen, providing the best of the best all year and costing next to nothing. No garden, no fertilizers or compost, no dirt... it's quick & easy, and we've been doing it for about a year. I often place fresh sprouts in a tortilla and have that for a "sandwich." I think the cost must be 1/100th that of buying organic vegetables, and storage is remarkably compact - even after being sprouted. I think this is worth exploring for the orphanage and other poor families who have access to potable water.
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