Some of the dishes served at Ciudad are authentic to cuisine’s of the Latin world, while others are new creations based on authentic ingredients. The ingredients themselves may be new to you, while for others, they could be your daily bread. This glossary may inspire you to pick up something new at the market--or to simply make reservations!

Here's an amazing--and true!--slice of culinary history. While we may not approve of the politics behind Christopher Columbus' voyage to the "New World," and the next few hundred years of results, cooking around the world blossomed because of it. The New gave the Old tomatoes, potatoes, corn, chiles, green beans, pumpkins, squash, peanuts, chocolate, and vanilla, as well as turkey, pineapples, papayas, and guava. Yes, that means that until a couple hundred years ago, the Italians knew no tomatoes, the Irish and all of Europe, no potatoes; the French no "French beans;" the Szechuan, Thais, and Indians, no chiles. And the Old gave the New cows (and dairy products), pigs, chickens, wheat, citrus, onions, garlic, olives, radishes, grapes, pomegranates, nut and hard-pit fruit trees, as well as bananas (an Asian original that found its way over through the Canary Islands, a Spanish colony), cinnamon, and cilantro. Until those same few hundred ears ago, the New Worlders ate guinea pigs and bugs for protein; knew no cheese with their beans; and were far from creating the delicious and intricate tamales part of almost every South American cuisine, stuffed with pork and dried fruits, with elaborates sauce that often feature ground nuts; or the simple fish tacos sprinkled with lime juice and a handful of chopped radishes and cilantro that make a trip to coastal Mexico such a joy! From Africa came taro, yams, yuca, okra, breadfruit, melons, and palm oil--the cooking medium that gave rise to fried foods now part of many "traditional" cuisine’s all over the world, from fritters (empanadas, doughnuts, croquettes, even felafel) to Southern fried chicken.

By now you may be thinking that, given all this relatively recent exchange of foodstuffs, there are no real, lasting culinary traditions anywhere. You're right. It's one big melting pot. Fusion cooking has been around for a long time!