Traveler Alert: Mole Highly Dangerous in Carry-on Luggage

La Jornada: Iván Restrepo*

In the world of Mexican cuisine, mole [MOH-lay] is the preeminent dish. Versions abound about where mole originated. One deeply held belief is that it was casually invented in the mid-seventeenth century at the Convent of Santa Rosa in the city of Puebla. Long before then, however, the Aztecs [Mexico City] mixed together different types of chile with tomatoes, cocoa and local spices. They called the result mulli [MUH-yee].

In Oaxaca, they maintain that the dish has been prepared there since long before the arrival of the Spanish. What is certain is that the mole is the best example of the gastronomic fusion between America and the rest of the world. This is because during Colonial times the original dish was enriched with the arrival of new ingredients brought by the Spanish from both Asia and the Mediterranean.

Mole is prepared in several states, but its best expression is found in Oaxaca. Among other reasons, it's because Oaxaca is the Mexican state with the greatest cultural, environmental and gastronomic diversity. Oaxaca has the largest number of microclimates needed to grow the ingredients that allow preparation of seven different types of mole. By microclimates, we have in mind the Central Valley, the [Pacific] Coastal Region, the Mixteca [inland, northwest], the Isthmus of Tehuántepec [Juchitán], the North and South Sierras and Tuxtepec [inland, north].

According to renowned Juchiteca chef [Isthmus of Tehuantepec], Doña Ofelia Toledo, the most sophisticated is the black mole, which is served with chicken or turkey and can require up to 36 ingredients. No less laborious is: amarillo [yellow] mole; coloradito [a shade of red], el rojo [red], chichilo, and verde [green, gets its color from fresh herbs] served with chicken, pork or beef. And a specialty of señora Ofelia, that starts with shrimp.

Another master of the stove, Doña Carmen Ramírez Degollado, prepares mole at El Bajío, her world-famous restaurant, from 35 ingredients that include several kinds of chiles, tortillas, ajonjolí (sesame), jitomate (tomato), nueces (pecans), almendra (almond), canela (cinnamon), pimienta (pepper), white bread, chocolate, pasas (raisins), cacahuate (peanuts), orégano, lard, clavos de olor (cloves), chicken broth and dried avocado leaves.

But it so happens that this delicious dish is a highly dangerous weapon that can be used to threaten the lives of air travelers. Surely someday we will learn from Wikileaks the reasoning that led the National Security Council of the United States and its Mexican counterpart to prohibit mole from being transported in carry-on luggage on flights departng from Mexico City, whether or not they are going to the United States or Europe.

All the alarms sounded when my carry-on luggage went through the security system at Mexico City Airport. I was the first to be surprised, thinking:

"They planted cocaine in it, or a weapon used exclusively by the Army, or a homemade bomb used by the Islamic State."

Seconds later, a young security agent wearing protective gloves wiped the zipper bag with a foreign substance. Then he asked me to open it. The reason for the alarm appeared: a kilo [2.2 pounds] of beautifully wrapped frozen mole.

Transporting this 'substance' in carry-on luggage is prohibited, the young agent told me. After I explained that it was mole paste and had been cooked for days, his immediate superior arrived to tell me the same thing: it is banned for being dangerous.

I explained that the only danger lies in consuming too much. And that, moreover, it is recommended that the mole be accompanied by a good mezcal for facilitating the process of digestion. I insisted that it was neither a cream nor a liquid, but a paste of some sophisticated processing and that it didn't appear on the lists of products banned for carrying with you on the airplane.

So I asked the "immediate superior" to summon the highest ranking person responsible for guaranteeing airport screening systems against dangerous objects. Nor could he explain to me about the dangers posed by mole. But he told me that it could go in baggage "checked" by the airline.

At the Interjet counters, they explained to me that mole doesn't appear as an object or substance prohibited in carry-on luggage. I then demanded that the agency responsible for airport security explain to readers the reasons for such a stupid measure, when other foods (tamales, tacos, tortas [sandwiches] and even comida chatarra [junk food]) can certainly go onboard. ... Spanish original

Update via Reader Comment: Dear Jane, almost across the street from the restaurant where we ate with you and Reed was a small shop selling handmade Mexican condiments, spices and Mole paste. And the saleswoman was very engaging. We had been enjoying chicken mole from the local restaurant on the corner of the Portola in Eronga [Erongarícuaro, Michoacán, near Pátzcuaro]. Now I don't need to say more. 

It was a tiny jar of paste we bought, of course. And, as your article would have alerted me, who WHO could have imagined, the dangerous "mud" would be confiscated after, yes a totally unbelieving, rational argument, insisting, "It's only Mole!" 

Obviously the drug runners' choice of the moment, inspired by master chef? Cheers. 

*Iván Restrepo is Director of the Center for Ecology and Development (Centro de Ecología y Desarrollo), Mexico City, whose focus is renewable energy and the environment.