The Rarified Perfumes of San Miguel de Allende: Part Four of Four

By Aaron S. Reisfield

In previous installments of this series, we’ve looked at the experience of perfume at altitude here in San Miguel de Allende. And considering the central role of olfaction in gustation, and given that travelers visit here often to experience the cuisine, it follows that we might take up the matter of perfumes of the plate. And as I enjoy the culinary traditions of Central Mexico as much as the next foodaholic, I don’t mind reflecting on San Miguel as a destination on the global food map with respect to our high elevation. 

First of all, visitors here, unaccustomed to the reduced oxygen availability, sometimes suffer from mild neurological hypoxia. We understand that this might potentially blunt their perception of gastronomic perfumes. And then we might also invoke the airplane-cabin tomato-juice effect when accounting for the experience of cuisine here on the Mexican Altiplano. After all, airplane cabins are commonly pressurized to roughly simulate the barometric pressure of San Miguel (yes, this is true). But in reality, people acclimate to altitude, as full-time residents here surely have, and our tamales and pozoles and cazuelas and moles have not evolved merely to cut through dulled senses. Rather, such high-elevation cooking is a biocultural expression, the result of reciprocal accommodation between nature and culture over long spans of time.

(Quick tip, remember that steam is not as hot at our altitude than at sea level, so be sure to cook your tamales for longer here in San Miguel than you would in Puerto Vallarta!)

I’d like to backtrack a bit and revisit the local flora here on the Mexican Altiplano with respect to their essential oil content. It’s worth noting that the classic Mediterranean climate, characteristic of the region in southern France renowned as essential oil country, is almost the climatic opposite of ours. There, winters are mild and wet, encouraging the proliferation of plants’ vegetative tissues and roots. The summers that follow are hot, dry, and long, conditions ideal for the copious production of volatile oils. In contrast, plants adapted to our local climate face entirely different conditions of seasonality. Here, our winters bring occasional freezes and frequent droughts, which encourage dormancy rather than growth.

Then, what follows is a stretch of hot and dry weather that typically lasts for less than three months, not enough time for much oil production. After that comes our rainy summer season, which is so wet that oil production is actually discouraged.

Still and all, our local flora includes a good number of aromatic plants that invite our interest.

Consider this: local perfumes are agents of Nature, fragrant exudations of plants that are biologically compounded, concentrated, sequestered, and eventually sent on their way, released into the environment as dispersive organic emissaries, vapors serving as envoys, specifically crafted for transmission by flight mission, to carry situational information about this place, San Miguel de Allende.

With this conception in mind, I should like also to advocate for a greater appreciation of our endemic perfumes and locally distilled volatile oils and hydrosols.

Aaron S. Reisfield resides in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where his endeavors involve the creative arts and perfume. Previously, he has collected plants throughout montane Mexico and served as a Visiting Scholar in Botany at The University of Texas in Austin. He has published a book series, The Perfume of Life trilogy, premised on the idea that the story of life on Earth is best related in the language of molecules—the language of perfume. He founded Avant Garde Aromatica, a program of workshops, salons, and guided studies in the poetry and science of plant perfumes. He distills plants for their fragrant oils and waters, and is producing the line of artisanal extracts called Impossible Oils and Waters.

Find more of his writing on his distillations page www.facebook.com/theperfumeoflifetrilogy and the page for his book series, The Perfume of Life trilogy www.theperfumeoflife.com