Yet while they are all delicious and traditional, they by no means encompass the whole of Mexican cuisine.

Marylin Tausend’s “Savoring Mexico” integrates Mexican culture, history and food in an imaginative compilation of recipes and reflections on Mexican cooking.

Traveling from remote villages to the capital of Mexico City, Tausend describes the evolution of a cuisine influenced by lore, religion and the Spanish. She offers a view and collection of Mexican recipes that emphasizes not only its food and culture — but savoring Mexico itself.

She begins the book with a dazzling picture of the city of Oaxaca — aglow with brightly lit market stalls and the fading purple sky above an old Spanish cathedral.

Although some might consider this a book of Mexican recipes, what sets this book apart from others is its careful attention not simply to the food of Mexico, but the simultaneous exploration of its culture, people, history and life.

The book is a culinary journey across Mexico that parallels Cortez’ passage of conquest through the New World.

Mexican food as it is known today began with the arrival of the Spanish. They brought with them new foods and spices from the East such as garlic, rice and sugarcane. And in the convent, nuns created new specialty dishes of moles and desserts for visiting foreigners.

The outdoor market teems with color and noises — piles of rich yellow mangoes, crowds of locals talking and laughing, rainbow bushels of the essential chile or the swishing sound of measuring dry beans.

In Mexico City, near the center of the Aztec Empire, the market still brings close to 25,000 people everyday, all shopping, bargaining, eating or selling.

Walking through the market, one might see young girls balance flat baskets of nopal, the paddles of prickly pear cactus. Legend tells of how one of the seven tribes of nomadic Indians was told to settle where they saw an eagle perched on a nopal.

With a snake clutched in its talons, the eagle landed on a nopal in Tenochtitlàn, near present-day Mexico City. The settlers of the city became known as the Aztecs, living in peace for nearly 200 years before the arrival of Cortez.

Vendors sell aguas frescas — fruit drinks that refresh any weary traveler or thirsty buyer. Within the market, one can try hibiscus drinks or horchatas, a rice cinnamon drink sometimes mixed with coconut.

Adults and children alike enjoy the food stalls, munching on tamales steaming from the basket or cobs of corn rolled in crumbled cheese, chile powder and lime juice.

Panaderías, or bakeries, are filled with trays of sweet smelling conchas or hojaldres. These Mexican pastries are perfect with a cup of coffee or morning chocolate.

In Guadalajara, stalls selling birrierìas —slow cooked lamb that was traditionally steamed in buried underground pots — line the roads for eager customers. Grilled duck with tamarind, avocado soup, mangoes flambéed in tequila and saffron rice with clams are just a few of the dishes she presents.

The recipes tease the reader, showing golden empanadas cooked just right or skewers of freshly grilled shrimp and fish. Codorniz en Salsa de pétalos de rosas is quail in rose petal sauce, a delicate blend of flower and spice that originates from Oaxaca.

The rose petal sauce is made by blending rose petals, beet juice, chestnuts, garlic, honey and butter. After roasting the quail, the sauce is drizzled over it and garnished by fresh pose petals.

For cilantro soup, onions and coriander complement the distinctive taste of cilantro, and tortas ahogadas, or drowned pork sandwiches, are made with sweet crusty bolillo bread rolls and then covered in sweet salsa.

Arranging the book by dish, Tausend works her way through soups, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, and ends with drinks and aguas frescas. She writes of tomatilla salsa, mango salsa, arbol chile salsa, showing the difference of flavor and preparation.

And the desserts, including flan, emperor's cake, pecan cheesecake and mint ice, top off a book delicious with the flavors of Mexico.

About Marilyn Tausend