 The first time I tried a kibbi in my life was in Cozumel Island. Don Mario Dzul who came from Tixcocob, Yucatan, sold it to me. I didn’t ask, however I assumed that the delicacy I was discovering was an indigenous creation. Later I knew that kibbi is a typical Lebanese hors d´oeuvre. It makes sense: its main ingredient is wheat, which is not native of the American Continent.
But how come a Middle Eastern dish made it all the way to shown in crystal boxes, on shoulders or bikes of men and women all over the Yucatan Peninsula? Well, it happens to be that the kibbi is just one of the many recipes brought into the Yucatecan kitchens by Arab immigrants, from Lebanese and Palestinian origin specifically.
 Taboule is presented with the name of Arab salad with all and its additions such as cucumber and sour onions. Xni-pec salsa, typically Yucatecan, has its origin in the preparation of taboule. They use chard in substitution of grapevine leaf to prepare “Arab taquitos”. The extensive use of olives, capers, eggplants and sesame seeds in dishes such as stuffed cheese and poc-chuc, are contributions of Middle-eastern immigrants from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Now, if we take into account that when the Spanish arrived to these lands they already had 800 years of Arab influence, we will have to consider that most of the vegetables and spices, as well as many citric fruits they brought with them, were imported to the Iberic Peninsula by the Arabs in their time. Therefore the Mexican cuisines have profound roots the same in the Mayan jungles as in the Middle Eastern deserts, particularly the Yucatecan one.
 When you travel through the Yucatan you will surely admire its archaeological sites as much as its colonial cities, and you will be hungry eventually. Allow flavors to tell you another one of the secret stories of the Yucatan: that one of its immigrants.
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