Celebrating Day of the Dead's delicious side

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Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos in Spanish, was always a novelty for me when I was growing up in Tijuana. Like Cinco de Mayo, it seemed more like a commercialized holiday than a real one. The only signs of the event were the colorfully decorated sugar skulls sold at stands along the border - a reminder to all the tourists that they had, in fact, been to Mexico.

I never realized that most of the fall and winter foods I cherished as a child were actually directly related to the holiday. Atole, the thick, sweet hot chocolate-like drink that I would buy while waiting to cross the border each morning, was actually a treasured Day of the Dead symbol. It's an offering to the deceased after their journey, but is also meant to warm the living, who keep vigil at the gravesides of their loved ones.

A seasonal version is made with cinnamon, vanilla and piloncillo, a type of unrefined Mexican brown sugar. As a kid I loved chocolate atole, called champurrado. Now that I live in the Bay Area, I make my mom's atole with additions I find at local farmers' markets.

It wasn't until college that I really started to learn more about Dia de los Muertos, when my niece began preschool in Tijuana. One of her first projects was to make an altar to her deceased loved ones at home, so my sister and I helped. We read the worksheets about the traditional concepts and offerings, but we also learned about our family's history.

We discovered later that we had taken the assignment too literally - our altar was inundated with cheesy, traditional offerings and didn't have enough personal memorabilia. My sister has since become a Day of the Dead expert, and now has two more children to build altars with.

Day of the Dead is a misleading name, considering the holiday actually spans two days. Some mistakenly believe the celebration begins with Halloween, but it actually commences on Nov. 1. The indigenous people of pre-Hispanic Mexico believed the souls of their deceased loved ones return to their families once a year so that their lives can be celebrated.

The first day of the holiday focuses on children who have died and is more somber than the second day, which commemorates the lives of deceased adults.

Even though it was an indigenous celebration well before the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 1500s, after Catholicism was introduced the official holiday was established on Nov. 1 and 2 to coincide with All Saints' Day.

Friends and family celebrate at cemeteries, where graves are adorned with the traditional flower of the dead - the bright marigold, or zempasuchitl. Decorated candy sugar skulls that represent the physical presence of death also bedeck the altars and gravestones of loved ones, and can be spotted in most public places around the holiday.

Brightly colored tissue paper cutouts, or papel picado, decorate cemeteries as well as the homes of the deceased person's family as a signal to the soul that festivities await them on earth. The most significant offerings, though, are the food and beverages that people put on the altars; the deceased's favorite beer, candy and street foods are put on display while those keeping vigil often enjoy more traditional foods.

At my sister's house in Tijuana, food, including many squash and pumpkin dishes, is the focus of the celebration. My sister doesn't have the patience, or a big enough backyard, to prepare the Yucatan-style tamale pie called muk-bil pollo, which means "to put in the ground" since it is baked in a pit. It has been an offering to deceased loved ones since before the Spanish conquest. Instead, she opts to pick up tamales from her local vendor.

I opt for gorditas, patties of dough that can be either savory or sweet. They can be eaten warm right off the griddle, drizzled with honey or eaten at room temperature.

Traditional pan de muertos is baked - a seasonal act in itself because baking in Mexico is reserved for cool weather. I've found the bread in bakeries in the Mission District, and it has been my only real reminder of home during this festive time of year.

I'll buy a few and then celebrate the holiday by putting my own spin onto some long-established recipes and adding my favorite Bay Area ingredients.