Last winter, I challenged myself to make a batch of tortillas once a week, indefinitely. I had been looking for an opportunity to do something I love that also had the potential to grow into a small enterprise. For a while, I thought keeping bees and making honey were the project I had been looking for. Since working for a single source honey company in Ecuador in the Summer of 2014, I have loved bees for their important role in keeping our ecosystems healthy, and for the tasty semi-transparent goodness they produce. I still hope to keep bees one day soon, but without land of my own to house my would-be insect friends, I ran into a number of logistical issues that made the barrier to entry into apiculture too high for the present moment.
And so, one day while driving home from work, it hit me. I should start a tortilla business. The idea came over me all at once, but I think it stems from a number of factors. Unpacking that moment of intuition, I have come up with a list of reasons:
- I love Mexican food. Everything from breakfast tacos to a nice mole, Mexican food and the Tex Mex fusions that were dreamed up here in the U.S. have captivated my taste buds. A trip to Mexico City last February sealed the deal for me. Dining in Mexico with Mexicans was one of the most defining culinary experiences of my life. I ate Mexican food with such taste and diversity – I was truly blown away. I left D.F. with a totally new understanding of how diverse Mexican cuisine is, and the desire to learn how to make these foods with the integrity and depth of flavor that I experienced there.
- The opportunity to fail. My first batch of tortillas were borderline inedible, and even now, 6 months later, I have so much more to explore and grow. I love the idea of being free to fail, and to build a skill set around trial and error. I find the pressure to never fail in the corporate environment stifling and counter-productive; tortilla making gives me an outlet and a defense against the perfectionism I sometimes feel at work. There is no shortcut to perfection with tortillas – only through repetition and creativity does one succeed in producing a top notch tort. Actually, I think everything is like this. Perhaps I am not only learning how to make a tortilla, but how to develop a skill in general.
- Tortillas bring people together – I can’t eat all of these fluffy circles by myself, and my tortilla making was never meant to be for my own consumption. It is my hope that the tortillas I make provide a context or at least one of the props for people to gather together, to look each other in the eye, and to enjoy one another’s company. Tortillas to me are one of the best foods for gatherings – you get to use your hands, pass a ton of different plates and bowls around, and build all sorts of delicious dishes together. Tortillas were not made to eat alone.
- Easy to turn into a business. Whether I sell tortillas at a farmer’s market, start a full time business, or just make tortillas for my friends, tortillas, unlike other pursuits, are easy to turn commercial. The ingredients are inexpensive, and you can get immediate feedback on the product. The goal is not to make millions on tortillas (though I am down for that), but to learn what running a small commercial endeavor is like, to show people just how tasty a tortilla can be, and to bring people together, like I mention above.
So there it is, folks. I am excited about continuing to make tortillas. We will see where it goes. If you are interested in hearing more about my tortillas or live in Austin, Texas and would like to give my tortillas a try, feel free to shoot me a mail at petestortillas@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.
Tortillas etc. 