A woman's quest for the perfect tortilla, and what it says about newcomers' relationships with food

A tortilla is easy to find on P.E.I.

An authentic, fresh tortilla as it's been eaten in Mexican households since pre-Columbian times, not so much.

"They have many additives and the flavour — it's not good," said Diana Gomez, who's currently working as a baker in Charlottetown.

"It's very different. And if you want to make tortillas you have to prepare your own tortillas with flour. But the flour is the same, they have additives."

Gomez, who came to P.E.I. with her family four years ago, said she was craving that authentic Mexican flavour so much she decided to take matters on her own hands. Last year, she planted her own maize in a shared garden plot to make her own flour from scratch.

This kind of personal experience inspired Gomez to research how other Mexican newcomers to the Island maintain a connection to their traditional culture through cooking, and how the immigrant experience may change their dietary habits.

Gomez wrote an anthropological study based on her research after interviewing other migrant women on P.E.I. Her report will be presented at a Latin American sociology congress she is participating in later this year in Mexico .

"I understand now that the culture is dynamic," she said. "The food is nourished by other cultures and by the environment ...

"Our options about what to eat can't be the same, because the environment is different, our resources are different, we have many cultures around us, we have many options."

Most people Gomez interviewed told her they still made Mexican dishes at home, though they often have to pick up ingredients that are pricier or of lower quality, or just replace them with something else.

Karina Cervantes has been on P.E.I. for only about a year. She's a resident care worker who lives in Victoria-by-the-Sea.

"I'm getting familiar with more of the stores around me so I can prepare like chilaquiles, enchiladas, things like that. The food that I used to cook back in Mexico," she said.

While Cervantes said she can find some stuff in large grocers and more specialized stores, she said sometimes she has to be creative — particularly when it comes to vegetables and other plant-based ingredients. 

For example, having to substitute chayote, a green, pear-shaped gourd with the not-so-green, very much potato-shaped potato for certain soups.