Though the agents of Madrid burned or destroyed countless indigenous manuscripts and artifacts in Mexico, not even their sharpest swords or fiercest fires could vanquish the culinary genius of the people they “conquered”. Vanilla, chocolate, avocado, chile. Can you imagine a world without these miraculous flavors? I would prefer not to. But, thankfully, a central beauty of our existence is that we can imagine the world in different ways. And we can dream up a day when the blood stained flags of empire burn away to ash in the desert’s evening wind, the poblano chiles whispering sweet songs as the coals begin to char and awaken their deepest, dormant flavors.

Who has truly won the game of conquest if chile has captured the palates of continents, while the conquistadors have long since reverted to ash and dust, their very names swept away in the sands of time?

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