And speaking of awards for outstanding Hispanics, I am happy to report that Mr. Juan Contreras, owner of Juan & Maria’s Empanada Stop of Rochester, NY, has been named Hispanic Business Person of the Year by the local Rochester Hispanic Business Association.

In accepting the award, though, Mr. Contreras humbly turned the credit to his hard-working wife (aptly named Maria.)

“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Mr. Contreras told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

The couple started out selling about 10 or 20 empanadas a day at the Public Market, and have increased that to more than 800. On Memorial Day, they sold 1,025.

You gotta love marketers, always so concerned with giving us -Latinos- a taste of our home countries.

This time the good deed comes courtesy of Nash Finch Co., the Minnepolis $4.6 billion-annual-sales wholesaler that is taking its Avanza Supermarkets to the growing Hispanic population of Omaha. According to a story this week in Progressive Grocer magazine, “The remodeled store will include more than 400 produce items […] a bakery featuring selections of Latino pastries and rolls; and Hispanic cheeses.”

So, while someone comes forward to inform me what Hispanic cheeses are all about, I’m off to make myself a quesadilla with a good, old queso de Oaxaca.

Smile, say cheese and have a great Hispanic Weekend!

Aren’t Mexicans lucky? Not only they will now have access to Ugly Betty, but they will be able to enjoy the show while savoring a delicious… tacostada from Taco Bell!

The company, a unit of Yum Brands, this week said it will return to Mexico after a failed attempt 15 years ago, in hopes of establishing up to 300 franchises in the country. But don’t think it will get away with murder: Taco Bell has said that what they call “tacos” here in the U.S. (those hard-shell yellow things probably made in China) will be called “tacostadas” south of the border … see? it’s because we know what a taco looks like!

Steve Pepper, Taco Bell’s general manager in Mexico, insists the company doesn’t pretend to insult Mexicans by selling its products as “typical.” In fact, Mr. Pepper informs us the menu will use the word “spicy,” not “picante,” –which coming from a guy called Pepper should give the information some kind of credibility.

Ay, ay, ay, yo no quiero Taco Bell!

What happens when a Seattle-based chain of French kitchenwear stores partners with an Oklahoma-born chef specialized in “authentic” Mexican cooking? … You end up with a cookware collection called “Viva la Mexico” [sic]. Not Vive le Mexique! nor ¡Viva México!

In its most recent effort to promote ethnic stuff, Sur la Table (don’t be fooled by the French-sounding name) is pitching cookware and recipes by Rick Bayless, the Oklahoma chef specialized in Mexican food and author of several books, including Mexico, One Plate at a Time and Salsas that Cook.

As for Sur la Table, the Mexican collection includes a Molcajete for $179.95, a “reversible comal” for $79.95 and a $499 blender. Also available, things not even Mexicans knew existed: a tortilla warmer ($29.95), a chili roaster, an avocado slicer (and to think I’ve been slicing avocado with a spoon!) and my personal favorite: a $49.95 tin sign that says -what else?- Mi Casa es tu Casa.

¡Viva la diversidad!

Lucky travelers between Mexico City and Paris on Air France flights can now chose from a succulent menu that includes chicken breast in white pipián sauce, chicken supreme stuffed with almonds and sesame seeds in an olive and capers sauce a la Mexicana, or lightly-spiced Chipotle meatballs… All this, while they sit back and enjoy Julie Taimor’s several-hours-long movie Frida on their in-flight entertainment systems.

The treat is part of Air France’s “las fiestas de Frida,” a marketing initiative that kicked off earlier this month and will run through September 30.

Oh… I forgot a petit detail: the special Frida treatment –launched to celebrate the centenary of an artist whose ideals were mostly on the left of the political spectrum– is reserved for First Class passengers only.

¡Wonderful enchiladas!

Hormel Foods has enrolled a bunch of marketing students from Chicago’s DePaul University to help find answers in how to market to Hispanic consumers.

According to –who else?– Pork News, 12 DePaul students were enlisted to analyze a dozen of Hormel brands that are not currently active in the Hispanic market and identify “growth opportunities.” This, of course, to give the kids a chance to prove their marketing skills. “We easily could have assigned this project to an established research company, but we wanted to see what these promising students could discover,” a Hormel executive said in a statement.

I have no idea what these kids came up with, but I can only hope they could talk the company into reconsidering the name of one of its most popular “ethnic” salsas: Chi-chi’s. Or, at the very least, recommend a more spicy –and suitable– pitch to make the most out of such a kinky brand. How about a celebrity spokesperson? (think Lorena Herrera, Verónica Castro or La Tetanic) And don’t worry if they are not real; the salsas are also pretty fake.

(And in case you don’t know what Chichis are, you can always click here).

Funny things happen to Mexican food when it has to be explained to “unacculturated” gringos. And I can only applaud the creativity (I would even say, the poetry) behind some of those efforts.

The owners of Santa Fe restaurant in tiny Tarrytown, NY, pitch their eatery as the only place in town serving “authentic Mexican food” (i.e. no burritos, chili con carne and your Taco Bell-type fare). But serving the real thing has its challenges, especially when you have to deal with an overwhelmingly white crowd.

The owners of Santa Fe found a way around it and left things in a nondescript manner for the uninitiated: cochinita pibil becomes “Mayan Barbecue,” in the English-language portion of the menu, while menudo is merely described as a “delicious Mexican spicy soup” (no word on the tripes.)

After all, if you want to try the real thing you’d better be ready to venture into grasshopper territory. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with the usual tasteless Tex-Mex food, such as the one served at The Alamo (in the picture) whose owners at least have a sense of humor … and history! (Click on the picture to read the restaurant’s slogan)

Marketing, advertising and PR execs danced their troubles away last night to the rhythm of Latin music ensamble Yerba Buena at Manhattan’s Helen Mills Theatre.

Latin2Latin’s CEO Mindy Figueroa and former Edelman Multicultural chief Rosa Alonso took on the dancing floor showing attendees what dancing is really all about (There is no doubt Puerto Ricans and Cubans know how to shake it! –even if they are top executives in their fields).

The occasion was Unilever’s launch of Vive Mejor, a major digital, print, TV and retail Hispanic marketing program targeting Spanish-dominant women in the U.S.

Cuban celebrity chef Chef Pepín also took on the dancing floor showing attendees that he’s as capable as a dancer as he is as a cook. At hand were some of Unilever’s top marketing executives and members of the multicultural team of Edelman, which is doing PR for the consumer products giant. The party might not have been as high-profile as the ones last week during the TV upfronts but I have never seen so much dancing energy while there was still light outside!

One of my favorite things about New York City is, of course, its diversity.

This morning, while walking back home from my daily pilgrimage to get coffee and papers, I saw my local Halal-food vendor on the corner of 27 and Lexington, and realized -for the first time- that his cart is sporting one of those Telemundo/Mun2 umbrellas. While reaching for my purse to get my camera (I didn’t have it on me) a taxi stopped right by the food cart and, shockingly, I realized it was also sporting a Mun2 logo on top!

I could not help but stop to chat with both gentlemen, the cab driver and the halal-food vendor (I know: I gotta get myself a job). Do you guys know what Mun2 is? I asked. At first, they both looked at me in astonishment, wondering what the hell I was doing there and why I cared about such a thing. They both looked alternatively at the taxi cab and the umbrella and finally said ‘no,’ they really didn’t know what Mun2 was. (The halal-food vendor said the umbrella is real useful during these warm days though).

Oh well, after all, neither the Pakistani cab driver nor the halal-food vendor are among Mun2’s target audience, so I guess the outdoor effort is still good for people who are idle enough like myself to notice it.