MAIZE AND MEXICAN HERITAGE: AN EVENING AT THE DEPANNEUR WITH IVÁN WADGYMAR

A Muse Bouche | Jordan Fee

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In the final weeks of 2019, just days before we all sunk into holiday-hibernation, a friend and I took a leisurely stroll to an unknown location. That is to say, my friend knew where we were going but I did not. The entire night had been set up as an end-of-semester surprise, and I had no serious expectations as to what we were getting into.

Around 6pm, we arrived at our destination: The Depanneur, which is located at 1033 College Street, just a few blocks west of Ossington Avenue. Lovingly referred to by patrons and owners as “The Dep”, this space is one-part kitchen, one-part restaurant, and one part-forum. As I write this article, I find it quite difficult to define just what is The Depanneur. Perhaps, it is best to simply refer to their website, where the space is described as “a place where interesting food things happen.”

Inside of The Depanneur (Source)

The event attended by my friend and I was part of a larger Table Talk series. For each of these events, the owner of the Depanneur, Len Senater, invites a local culinary personality to speak to guests about a topic that is of particular interest to them. The talk is then accompanied by a series of plates and dishes that reflect the ideas and themes found within the talk.

The personality invited to speak at this particular event was Iván Wadgymar, who is the owner of a tortelleria (ie. a place where tortillas are made) called Maizal. Originally a restaurant, Maizal has scaled down to become a one-stop shop for hand-made tortillas and totopos (think the best chips you’ve ever had). Although hard to find, the business is located on Ossington Avenue, in the kitchen space behind the bar Baby Huey. 

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#ActFast TUE Dec 3 — Table Talk: Iván Wadgymar on The Past and Future of Maize Maize, the staple grain of many pre-Colombian civilizations, is now one of the most widely cultivated crops on Earth. But along the way, so much of what made corn culturally central and sacred is under threat of being erased by the soulless commodity products flooding the global market. Artisanal producers like Iván Wadgymar are returning to the heritage varietals and traditional processing techniques, along with zero-waste agricultural practices. This produces a higher quality, more authentic, and far more delicious product that honours this precious gift of nature and culture. ----- Dinner by Len Senater This menu showcases the versatility of maize in Mexican cuisine Tostadas – crispy tortillas topped with squash, beans, chorizo (optional) & garnishes Pozole Verde – a pre-colombian soup of whole nixtamal corn (hominy) in a green chicken broth w/ tomatillos, green chiles, cilantro and pepitas Tamales Dulces – festive dessert tamales filled with dried fruit and garnished with cajeta caramel Chocolate Atole – a cornflour thickened beverage with vanilla and Mexican cacao. #GF #vegan options available ----- Doors open at 6pm, talk starts at 7pm Includes dinner and coffee or tea. $35 (includes HST) BOOK NOW https://thedepanneur.ca/event/table-talk-ivan-wadgymar-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-maize/ This Table Talk is presented in collaboration with Artery Every space is a stage. Artery lets anyone bring creative experiences to life, in places you may not expect. ----- Iván Wadgymar is a tortillero and molinero who runs Maizal, a tortilleria that evolved from a Mexican restaurant into an end-to-end producer of artisanal corn masa, tortillas & totopos. They grow heritage maize locally, nixtamalize it in traditional ways and produce products that seek to reconnect to centuries of cultural tradition and wisdom. ----- Every month The Depanneur invites a local food personality to talk about something that interests them while Dep founder Len Senater cooks dinner for everyone. Find out more on Table Talks at The Depanneur https://thedepanneur.ca/table-talk/

A post shared by Len Senater (@thedepanneur) on Nov 25, 2019 at 11:36am PST

Originally, hailing from Mexico, Wadgymar was careful to emphasize the importance of what is known as maize to Mexican culture and heritage. Although corn and maize are both varieties of the same species Zea Mays, the corn that we consume in North America today is generally prized for its high-sugar content, whereas maize is much more prized for its starch. This means that maize holds greater potential health benefits than corn, and that it can sustain humans for a longer period of time.

However, Wadgymar explained that one cannot simply eat maize like you would a piece of corn-on-the-cob. Instead, maize needs to be dried and then boiled in an alkaline solution (most commonly water and limestone). This solution breaks down the cellular structure of the corn and produces a thick porridge called nixtamal, which is highly nutritious in nature. This can in turn be used to make masa, which is the dough that can be made into those tortillas and totopos that I mentioned before.

A Traditional Tortelleria (Source)

According to Wadgymar, both nixtamal and masa have integral to the agri(cultural) history of Mexico for thousands and thousands of years. In fact, the process of nixtamalization (ie. the process through which dried maize is turned into nixtamal) has been dated back to 1500 B.C. This means that this process could have been just as important for pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican societies as it is to people like Wadgymar today.

In keeping with this extensive tradition, Wadgymar has travelled to Mexico to collect indigenous species of maize and brought them back to Canada to be cultivated here. Much of the maize grown for Wadgymar’s tortelleria is produced on a farm north of Toronto, and he is very careful to follow the steps taken by his predecessors to produce the highest quality masa possible. 

More recently, Wadgymar has also taken the opportunity to plant varieties of corn that are indigenous to North America, thereby constructing a bridge between the Mesoamerican cultures that relied on varieties of Zea Mays as a major food staple. He has even gone on to describe the food that he makes as “indigenous Mexican cuisine”, thereby embedding himself firmly in the traditions of his home country. 

When this talk began, I believed that I possessed a strong understanding of what the many varieties of corn represented in todays agricultural system. For many, corn is representative of some of the worst aspects of contemporary agriculture, from habitat destruction, to animal feed lots, to monocultures whose scale exceeds comprehension. However, Wadgymar’s talk revealed a completely different world, one that is defined by local communities, intangible cultural heritage and generational wisdom. In just a few short hours, Wadgymar flipped the script completely and showed each of the guests how maize can represent some of the strongest and most resilient aspects of food culture.

I would highly recommend that anyone reading this article check out the Depanneur’s website to see all of the exciting events that they have planned for the coming months (these are not limited to the Table Talk series!). Furthermore, if you want to taste the product of Wadgymar’s hard work, make sure to stop in at Maizal for some tortillas! I promise that you will not regret it.

Finally, if you’d like to find out what me and my friend ate on this wonderfully informative evening, follow this link: https://thedepanneur.ca/event/table-talk-ivan-wadgymar-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-maize/ to find out.