Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1152989
t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 9 11 I have a peach tree at Backstreet that, luckily this year, gave lots of fruit, so I am now doing a white peach molé. We serve that with lamb ribs. I've challenged myself to make a different molé now every summer. Q | Is it critical to you to source your food locally? A | Local is very important. When you are part of a community, you have to look around and see what you can utilize and contribute—to make the food more a part of who you are and where you live. From time to time I even ask my neighbor across the street from Hugo's if we can use flowers from his beautiful magnolia tree. We use them for the tables for brunch on Sundays. It's a part of where we live, and that kind of relationship is very important. Q | Increasingly, consumption of processed foods has been shown to have major health consequences, contributing to diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers. Do you think people would be better off if they cooked more and ate less processed or packaged foods? A | Definitely, absolutely. It's a given as a Texan, because this state is so wonderful—it's big in every direction. You have the ocean over here, the Gulf of Mexico, where you can just go to Freeport and get some beautiful fish and shrimp. You can get watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, corn—all summer long—and you don't need to worry about processed food at all. We have a Mexican mar- ket and a farmer's market we visit frequently, where you'll find chicken and farm eggs, organic produce, beautiful flowers—it's not important for us to get processed foods. Q | What is your favorite food? A | Corn! It's something I enjoy eat- ing every day in many ways. There's corn on the cob, and masa is used to make tortillas, and once you have that, you can put everything in a taco, right? It's the same with Italian food, when you combine water and flour and you make pizza dough, you can put anything in a pizza. I think Mexican food is more popular than ever these days—even the great Thomas Keller [chef and proprietor of The French Laundry] recently opened a Mexican restau- rant in Napa. ➟