Food

The other day I went to ship a package, and before I left the clerk wanted to make sure I had a copy of this:

This is a list of some of the things, mostly food items, that you can now ship out of Mexico. Actually, this has been the case for a few years, but maybe some of the information is new.

Anyway, I just thought you might be interested in the list:

• Breads – I know Mexicans would miss their sweet breads if they were overseas! So stick ’em in a Ziplock and you’re good to go.
• Dried Chillies – Obviously. You can ship up to 2kg.
• Ground or Dried Corn
• Masa, dried or prepared – This would actually be a flour or a mix, probably mostly tortilla mix. Speaking of which…
• Tortillas – Up to 3kg. Yes, they’ll be a day old or so once they arrive, which isn’t ideal. But when you’re getting real Mexican tortillas, made over the fire, just like Mama used to make…. mmmmmmm.
• Mole – You know mole, right? It’s a very complex … how do you even describe it? It’s basically a sauce, but with lots of ingredients, and so a very unique and rich and deep flavour. But there are many different traditional moles in different colours with different ingredients. Very yummy.
• Supplements – The only non-food one on the list, non-medical supplements. Mexico has some special ones.
• Salsas – Of course, salsa just means “sauce”. The tricky one here is that you can only ship salsas that don’t require refrigeration.
• Canned goods – Now you can get your store-bought Mexican chillies and salsas and beans and all stuff like that there. Up to 5kg.
• Teas – I try to get my Mexican friends into black teas, but most still go for tisanes and the occasional green tea.

That’s the list! And there’s a reminder on the bottom that, sadly, you can’t ship chickens or yogourt or sausages. And very sadly, no cheese. Mexican cheese is something I always miss in Canada.