Melora Koepke

Running my hands over the smooth and
 nubbly turrets of green nopales, the cactus pads that Chuck Hughes is trying to de-needle on camera like an habitué, I follow along as he picks up the items on his grocery list: yerba santa, an aromatic that tastes like nutmeg and mint, and huitlacoche, bulbous black mushrooms that cling to old corncobs like rotting teeth from a witch’s gums (but are particularly delicious).

Hughes is filming Chuck’s Week Off in Mexico City, and I’m along for the ride. When he invited me into the heart of Mexico – the location of the show’s first season – I didn’t hesitate. But now, after the crew’s late night of fresh-lime margaritas and ceviche in Condesa, the 3 a.m. wakeup call for a shoot in Central de Abasto (the Distrito Federal’s massive food market) is a reality check. Watching the market wake up like a giant slumbering anthill, I realize it’s almost too early even for the farmers, as the hardworking diableros are only starting to bring in their teetering loads. Read article here.