penn appétit EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MANAGING EDITOR EDITORIAL STAFF
CREATIVE DIRECTOR DESIGN STAFF
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Byrne Fahey Asher Sendyk Parker Brown, Jie Guo, Nina Friend, Carissa Brones, Will Constan, Janie Kim Garett Nelson Irena Xia, Becky Abramowitz, Leah Sprague, Vivian Zhong, Claudia Li, Amber Song, Sherry Huang, Nina Spitofsky, Tiffany Wang Danielle Pi Katie Zhao, Stephanie Loo, Leah Sprague, Aaron Guo, Virginia Seymour, Angi Ji, Gomian Konneh Vera Kirillov Caroline Guenoun Allison Millner
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Isabelle Bral, Ashley Castillo, David Eskenazi, Katie Harlow, Caroline Li, Edward Park, Jenny Sui, Jaclyn Ying
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Maggie Molen, Parker Brown
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Jessica Landon, Ilayda Onur, Cooper Robinson
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fall 2015
Elena Crouch, Chase Matecun Max Schechter, Will Constan, Tina Kartika, Isabel Miro, Chloe Kaczvinsky, Kajsa Djarv Sally Shin
“You have four proteins from which you pick two, five salsas from which you select three, and three cheeses from which you choose one.” How many potential combinations do you have for dinner?” Q: When is food like SAT math? A: When you’re ordering Mexican stateside. All too often the cuisine often presents as a meat, a veggie, and a swath of guac/sour cream upon a tortilla either wrapped or fried. The numerical breadth of choice, however, overstates the real variety inherent in these dishes. Be it a machaca taco, a carnitas tostada, or a chilorio burrito, I think it’s fair to say that they ain’t so radically different. Popular Mexican food is—don’t get me wrong—über-tasty, but formulaic. And as a result, we see that it is routinely stomached but rarely celebrated. In this edition, Penn Appétit set out to explore Mexican fare beyond these pedestrian preparations. With a little digging we’ve discovered that there’s a wealth of recipes that don’t fit this mold. Penn freshman Antía Vázquez prescribes chiles en nogada, a dish of mincemeat and walnut sauce as visually stunning as we were skeptical (but which I can now assure you, since sampling, is beyond delectable). Our editor Nina Friend tells the tale of South Philly Barbacoa, a humble operation on 11th Street churning out aguas frescas and comsomé the likes of which would even make Mr. Bayless jealous. At Penn Appétit, we eschew the Taylorism of the Chipotle lunch line. We instead opt for fare like a well-spiced mole poblano and vibrant vasos de pepino, dishes intimately tied to the Mexican experience, dishes that give us a reason to adore this cuisine once again. That being said, we still include our own take on the more conventional. We don’t stoop to a quesarito per se, but do throw in recipes for huevos rancheros, enchiladas, and the like. Because, at the end of the day, the pleasure from a quality pescado taco, however trite, is truth. Best,
Camille Jwo Caroline Guenoun
Asher Sendyk
Léa Kichler
penn appétit
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