September – Beginnings

This month marks the beginning of the school calendar in many countries; it is also the unofficial end of the summer, with temperatures and weather in general changing rapidly.  In Mexico, in addition to these beginnings, the first day of September always brings the State of the Nation speech by the president.  Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was declared winner of the presidential election last year by a great margin, and his initiation came with the promise to begin a new era in the country; he declared that less corruption in the public sector, the end of the war against drugs, more jobs, more security, and the defense of the Mexican culture were amongst his priorities as a new leader.  Today, his first State of the Nation address will report on these and many other issues in the country.  He will deliver his speech from the National Palace in downtons Mexico City (pictured above, from my trip to Mexico last spring); strangely, AMLO has decided not to broadcast on National television, but through his presidential website and YouTube channel, and the satellite signal of the event will be available through the Radio and Television Materials Digital Information System (click here for the Secretariat of State link); he said the National TV broadcasts were a “thing from the old regime”, and that this way, people may listen to his raw message, and re-transmit and distribute it themselves if they have the means.  This is an even stranger thing to say, since there are still many rural areas in the country with no internet service (??), but it sounds like it will be more than a sporadic measure, at least during his term of six years.

Last year, I mentioned that September is the “patriotic month” in Mexico; in addition to the State of the Nation address, there are several national holidays on the list, with Independence Day (September 16) at the top.  The culinary opportunities to celebrate this month and Independence Day are endless, and I am already dreaming in green, white and red – the colours of the Mexican flag – which become omnipresent as a theme in the kitchen and at the Mexican table during this month.