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Laura Ronzòn Herrera, 81 years old — Veracruz, Mexico
Laura is a 81 year-old Mexican granny of six grown-up grandchildren and her kitchen is a real mess. Jars of spices are stacked up in every corner, clean dishes (and dirty ones, too) are piled up on the sink, there are vegetables everywhere and loads of empty beer bottles in the corner next to the rubbish bin, which is full and without a lid. In short, it is possible that when you enter her house you’ll lose your appetite. However, as soon as she starts to cook, you’ll just need to close your eyes and forget about the mess to allow the smell to take control of your senses. The aroma of frying vegetables mixed with spices and the sweet smell of banana tree leaves taken off the boiling water will give you back your appetite. Laura is not so concerned about appearances, whereas substance is what is important. And, indeed, her dishes are delicious, even if not so beautiful!

Vegetarian Tamal
Difficulty: medium
Time: two hours
Ingredients for 4 tamales:
-2 carrots, 1 potatoes and 1 chayote
— about 30 beans
— oil, salt, pepper
— banana tree leaves
— 4 white corncobs or alternatively 1/2 kilo white corn flour

First of all, you need to prepare the “masa”, the white corn paste that you can see in the middle of the ingredients in the photo. Take off the grains of the white corncobs and collect them on a dish. Then, crush the grains with a mortar or any other suitable tool in order to obtain some flour.
Once you have obtained (or bought) the flour, mould it with water, two spoons of oil and two teaspoons of salt. In the past, people used to add a spoon of quicklime to the mould because they thought it made bones stronger (if you believe in it, you still can do it). Work the mould with your hands until it gets thick, but soft enough to be rolled.
Now, chop all the vegetables in 1cm cubes and boil them in some water for 20 minutes. When ready, drain and place them on a dish.
Get the banana tree leaves. Lay them separately on the table and place a handful of masa in their centre, giving to the paste the shape of a small boat. Inside each masa boat, put two spoons of boiled vegetables and close it. Wrap everything in the banana leaves and double the ending of the leaves to keep them close.
Boil your tamales for 1 hour and serve them. If you like it, you can eat them with hot sauce or simply topping them with some chilli powder.