Food holds the power to bridge cultural divides. Food, as a means of storytelling and community building, allows people to transcend borders and foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures. Baja Mediterranean cuisine (Baja Med), a northern Mexican culinary tradition, represents the art of fusion food, which serves as a bridge for the preservation of historical community practices. I question How Baja Med cuisine plays an important role in breaking stereotypical barriers and How it promotes sustainable practices rooted in the region’s cultural heritage and education.
Through out various contexts and interpretations we are able to see how Valle de Guadalupe, Tijuana’s history, and the role of the Placencia family shapes a new perspective on border fusion food and tourism. As someone who lived in Tijuana for two years and grew up crossing the border almost every 3 weeks to either see family, go to the doctors, or just spend some time away from the reality of 115-degree heat in Las Vegas, I was able to see how important food was and is within and past borders.
Tijuana, whose name comes from ‘Rancho Tía Juana,’ (Ranch Aunt Juana) was the name for the land given to Santiago Arguello Moraga back in 1829. Tijuana has always been a city shaped by movement and cross-cultural exchange, so welcoming guests was always in the nature of Tijuana. Its hosting culture, rooted in hospitality and openness, ties back to its agricultural beginnings and ongoing efforts toward sustainability. These elements converge to create a dynamic food scene, where the farm-to-table movement not only supports the local economy but also reinforces a deep sense of place, identity, and environmental responsibility across Baja California. Thus seeing so many exchanges of cultures in this area not only enriched the culinary experience but also reflected the development of the local gastronomic culture today. This influence introduced new cooking techniques that resulted in vibrant flavors unique to Baja Med cuisine like tempura and frying fish in batter to make fish tacos which was mentioned previously.
As someone who lived in Tijuana for two years and grew up crossing the border almost every 3 weeks to either see family, go to the doctors, or just spend some time away from the reality of 115-degree heat in Las Vegas, I was able to see how important food was and is within and past borders. Borderlands, particularly the space between the U.S. and Mexico, represent much more than a geographical divide. Politically, they are a site of intense control, surveillance, and negotiation, where policies directly impact human lives and mobility. But socially and culturally, the borderlands is a space that blends two worlds, creating a unique identity. In these spaces, cultural practices, such as food, language, and traditions, transcend the physical boundaries drawn by governments.
The borderlands become a site of resilience and creativity where people navigate and reinterpret the significance of borders. This dynamic, fluid understanding of the borderlands highlights how food, for instance, becomes a medium through which communities assert their identities and resist the impositions of national and political boundaries, redefining what it means to belong to both sides. Food catalyzes cultural interchange and community preservation by diving into the region’s increasing culinary tourism and the marketing of local goods in response to the growth of Baja Med gastronomy. Furthermore, this specific borderland food study investigates the sophisticated culinary processes and preparations utilized in Baja Med cuisine to display the region’s plentiful ingredients and understand the attraction of consumer experience in a restaurant. Baja California’s Mediterranean-like climate, with its long, dry summers and mild winters, makes it ideal for growing a variety of crops, from grapes and olives to vegetables and herbs. The coastal waters also provide an abundant source of seafood, with fresh fish, oysters, and shellfish being central to many Baja Med dishes. These natural resources, combined with the region’s favorable climate, allow chefs to highlight locally sourced, sustainable ingredients, which form the backbone of the borderland’s evolving culinary identity.
Baja California and a history with food
What sets Baja Mediterranean cuisine apart in the gastronomical world is its historical, cultural, and economic importance: bringing people together in the most extraordinary way. Baja Med—short for Baja Mediterranean—is a term that has unknown origins but is thought to be coined by chef Miguel Angel Guerrero. Baja Med defines the contemporary Baja California’s seafood culinary scene. The Mediterranean portion of Baja Med is due to the similar climate of both geographical areas, which allows for similar access to olive oil, vineyards, herbs, and fresh fish1. Due to the nature of culinary mixes between traditional Mexican, Asian, and European cuisine together, it establishes Baja Med as a fusion food from the name. The land of Baja California, in northern Mexico, clearly reflects the influence of all three major culinary traditions, and shows how they shape the food in both Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe today due to it being one of the youngest mexican states.
(me and my dad with Chef Miguel Angel Guerrero back in 2020)
About 90 minutes from San Diego, Valle de Guadalupe, or the “Mexican Napa Valley”, was established in 1834, though it was originally known as “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe” due to the settlement of Spanish missionaries. Although the mission was short-lived in the area, the site was in possession of the then governor of Baja, California at the time before it was sold to Russian immigrants who had migrated down from Los Angeles. There were only around 500 settlers in the valley which allowed the Russians to lay their town by planting olives, grapes, and other grains/vegetables3. Because of this, they were able to vineyards in the valley in the 1920s. Once again, the Russian Immigrants moved around because the Mexican President at the time, Lázaro Cárdenas, dedicated the land to low-income Mexican people and thus, many Russian immigrants went back to California in the late 1930s3. In the end, some stayed but their stories still remain and are shown through the big agricultural presence of what is now Valle de Guadalupe.
Around the same time between the 1920s to the 1930s, Tijuana was at its economic prime. Influential historical figures such as Bugsy Siegel, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, and Gloria Swanson were regular visitors to Tijuana’s restaurants and bars because of the city’s combination of cuisines and the freedom it provided from prohibition.
With more people talking and more Hollywood stars crossing, Tijuana’s tourist economy boomed, boosting the city’s culinary profile, with the introduction of dishes and drinks such as the Caesar salad and the Margarita. This rich history laid the groundwork for the emergence of Baja Med cuisine, where the fusion of diverse culinary traditions became central to the region’s current evolving food culture.
Fusion food can be defined as the blending of culinary worlds to create new, hybrid dishes. However, it is important to recognize that fusion foods can symbolize broader issues. In the case of Baja California, Chinese immigrants arrived in Mexico in the 1870s, fleeing the discriminatory Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in the United States, which barred their legal entry into the country. This Chinese migration to Baja California not only contributed to the region’s agricultural development but also influenced its culinary landscape, as Cantonese-specific recipes were adapted using Mexican ingredients, giving rise to a unique fusion of flavors. Similarly, Japanese migration to the region during the early 20th century led to even more fusion of various cultures and flavors. This left an indelible mark on Baja’s gastronomy, with the introduction of techniques like tempura frying, which became a hallmark of the now-iconic Baja-style fish tacos.
(not like those at “Baja” fish tacos that they serve at the Yale dining halls….)
Baja Med as identity and sustainability
The beginnings of Baja Mediterranean cuisine may be traced back to the pioneering of the Placencia family, whose history is part of the region’s rich cultural tapestry of Tijuana and Ensenada—the neighboring city, where Valle de Guadalupe is situated. Baja Med’s roots may be traced back to its ‘grandmother’ Nana Chela, who worked in a casino in the 1930s and was exposed to hospitality. She had a passion for local foods and traditional culinary methods, which influenced her family’s recipes and a love for food. Giuseppi’s, founded in 1969 by Juan José Placencia, Chela’s son, is recognized as Mexico’s first pizzeria. It was the first restaurant to combine Italian flavors with local Mexican ingredients, which set a bar for fusion foods within the family. As their empire grew, the Placencias continued to push boundaries, constructing Villa Saverios in 1988, mixing Baja and Mediterranean themes and pioneering the way for Baja California’s current success with Baja Med style cuisine10. While currently, Tijuana is renowned for its vibrant street food scene, featuring mariscos, birria, and an array of taco varieties, the city also boasts a long-standing tradition of fine dining, with the Placencia family at its epicenter for nearly three decades with Javier Plascencia as one of the main chefs to bring Baja Med recognition to where it stands today.
Here’s a photo of me and my friend back in 2018 a day after my birthday at Guiseppi’s. I remember this pizzeria was the first time I ever had a Mexican pizza (Beans, Chorizo, Pepperoni, Bacon, Jalapeños, Cheese, and Onions) and it was divine, (it’s either that or everything tasted good cause it was my birthday and I was with my family and friends who were closest to me at that time). Ever since living in Tijuana, Javier Plascencia has been someone I looked up to. (My godfather—who was working with Plascencia at the time) got me a signed version of his cookbook and got him to take a photo with me for my birthday that year because I just wouldn’t shut up about how much I really enjoyed his restaurant Mission 19).
There’s an interview that was made with the New York Times, where Javier Plascencia talked about how he mixes traditional Mexican cuisine with ingredients from Baja California’s coastal Mediterranean environment, like olive oil, octopus, and arugula. Plascencia’s style of cooking and working around a restaurant, similar to that of famed Tijuana chefs such as Miguel Angel Guerrero, Jair Tellez, and Martín San Román, is boosted by the dramatic presentation, admiration for Tijuana street food’s rich tastes, and a farm-to-table mentality which his grandma brought. A great example of how Plasencia celebrates the region’s richness is at his world-renowned restaurant, Mision 19. They operate by obtaining everything within a 120-mile radius that includes local Baja farms, vineyards in the Valle de Guadalupe, and even farmer’s markets in San Diego, representing the region’s vast “local” land12. The menu showcases the distinct cooking methods and preparations of Baja Med cuisine, such as duck skewered with licorice and guava dust, risotto topped with salt-cured nopalitos and charred octopus, and the signature slow-cooked short ribs bathed in a mission fig syrup on a black mole sauce. These creations highlight not just local fish and marine products, but also indigenous ingredients, like pine nuts and abalones. They also incorporate cultural practices, commemorating the region’s rich culinary heritage and promoting the Valle de Guadalupe’s great wines which now account for about 90% of Mexico’s wine production.
The commitment to maintain tradition and authenticity is reflected in the role of Baja Med cuisine as an expression of local identity linked to the importance of immigration. The combination of Asian immigrant influences and Mexican interpretations has created a gastronomic identity that reflects the diverse cultural traditions of this region. A great example of how cuisine is being used as an expression of local identity in practice is with chef Sabina Bandera. Now I could get into how Asian immigration into Baja California brought forth new techniques in Mexican cuisine, but in this case, Chef Bandera uses traditional methods of cooking fish (like the Aztec/Nahautl method of cooking fish with just pure lime) which has allowed her to gain the fame of “queen of seafood” through making 14 types of ceviches and more on her menu. On that note it is important to understand that indigenous people still live in Baja California, but a lot of their culinary practices are seen in Mexican cuisine all around the country, from aguachiles and salsas to carne asadas and tortillas a mano. One thing that Chef Bandera does is that she uses everything and anything that is found in the ocean in Ensenada—where she has her cart located—fish, shrimp, octopus, clams, mussels, sea snails, sea cucumbers, fish pate, anything you can think of. She is the second generation in charge of this cart and has been making waves for female chefs in the industry all while having a smile on her face but most importantly she does it as a love language to welcome people into trying new flavors and how much the nearby sea can bring.
Chef Miguel Angel Guerreiro said in an interview with KPBS that promoting the local economy and community is a common goal for Baja Med chefs. Guerrero emphasizes the tradition of sourcing produce from nearby areas, including the fish of the day, to create a menu that emphasizes local flavors and characteristics. Sustainable agriculture and fisheries are essential not only for preserving local natural resources and ensuring the long-term viability of traditional food practices but also for maintaining the deep historical connections to this region. This philosophy is embodied by renowned chef Javier Plasencia, who employs a 125-mile radius rule at his Tijuana restaurant, Mission 19. By sourcing ingredients from within this radius—spanning Baja California and parts of San Diego—Plasencia aims to showcase the unique flavors and identity of the borderland. As he explains, the rich soil of Baja California is key: ‘When you say local in Tijuana, you are talking about Tecate, Ensenada, Rosarito, and parts of San Diego. It’s a very big local.12 His use of local ingredients not only emphasizes sustainability but also connects the cuisine to the region’s agricultural and cultural heritage. Similarly, Plasencia’s Michelin-star restaurant, Animalón, in Ensenada, was created as an ode to the land of Ensenada and welcoming guests. Nestled under a 200-year-old oak tree, the restaurant embraces nature and celebrates the beauty of what it means to be in a place like Baja California. Here, Plasencia welcomes guests into an immersive dining experience, honoring the region’s rich traditions.
Baja Med’s support of the local community goes beyond economic opportunities. It will also play an important role in strengthening small communities, many of which have been marginalized in the Baja California region. By celebrating these dishes and relying on local ingredients, chefs not only provide economic opportunities for farmers, fishermen, and artisans but also showcase the historical importance of local heritage. Baja Med chefs’ commitment to using local produce and seafood creates a deep connection to the land and people, preserving traditional farming and fishing practices passed down from generation to generation. This inclusive food celebration not only commemorates the diverse cultures that have made up the region but also ensures that their contributions are recognized and appreciated, creating pride and unity among all members of the community, large and small.
Baja Med cuisine has emerged as a popular culinary champion on the international stage, taking people beyond Mexico’s borders. The growing number of restaurants serving Baja Mediterranean cuisine outside of Mexico means that the popularity and influence of Baja Mediterranean cuisine is growing as chefs and restaurants around the world embrace the unique flavors and innovative cooking techniques of Baja. An example of this is the opening of a restaurant by Chef Sarah Thompson called Casa Playa. Currently attracting people by saying phrases like “Playa Brings Coastal Cuisine of Baja California to Encore Las Vegas”. This culinary phenomenon not only delights the palate, but also challenges preconceived notions and assumptions about places like Tijuana. Despite past perceptions of danger, instability, and a tarnished reputation for drug-related violence, the allure of Baja Med cuisine is once again drawing people across the border. The resurgence of interest in Tijuana may be proof of the power of food as a catalyst for cultural and economic integration.
As perceptions shift, barriers dissolve
Baja Med cuisine emerges as a beacon of hope, demonstrating how culinary innovation and cross-cultural exchange can foster understanding and unity in an increasingly interconnected world. At the heart of this culinary renaissance are the influential chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary experts who have championed Baja Med cuisine and propelled it onto the global stage. Among them, the late Anthony Bourdain stands as a towering figure whose exploration of diverse culinary traditions helped shine a spotlight on lesser-known cuisines and culinary destinations. Bourdain’s foray into Tempura, for instance, provided a compelling narrative of the evolution of Baja Med cuisine—from its humble beginnings rooted in street food culture, epitomized by the cheap fish carts dotting Tijuana’s streets, to its elevation to haute cuisine status, exemplified by upscale establishments like Mission 19 catering to the discerning tastes of the upper-middle class, Baja Med is shown all around this region for everyone and by everyone.
Baja Mediterranean cuisine strongly represents the ability of food to cross borders and unite diverse cultures. Growing from regional culinary roots to international fame, Baja Med weaves together Mexican traditions and flavors using the techniques of Asian and European immigrants. In addition to its unique gastronomic identity, Baja Med promotes sustainability, supports local communities, and preserves its valuable culinary heritage. By sourcing local food and championing small producers, we preserve local agricultural heritage and create economic opportunity. The international growth of Baja Med challenges Tijuana’s situation, inviting everyone to discover its culture and flavors. Due to Baja Med cuisine, people started dismantling the negative perceptions of Tijuana and tourism started rising again, since to the food that has brought forth many layers of the cultural understanding and history of this region. As Baja Med cuisine gains more international influence and as its chefs continue to experiment with new flavors and techniques, consumers will seek authentic experiences that celebrate the region’s food and culture. Ultimately, Baja Med shows the power of food, celebrating diversity and human connection through a shared appreciation of taste and tradition past borders.
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