MEXICO CITY – Sweet bread lovers in Mexico City have reason to celebrate as an initiative to recognize the city’s sweet bread as cultural heritage has taken a significant step forward. During the First Extraordinary Session of 2026 of the Interinstitutional Commission of Cultural, Natural, and Biocultural Heritage of Mexico City, the proposal to acknowledge “The knowledge and practices of Mexico City’s sweet bread” was presented and unanimously accepted.
A Year of Dedicated Work to Preserve a Tradition
This proposal, a culmination of a year’s work, was driven by the National Chamber of the Baking, Pastry, and Similar Industries (Canainpa) and the Secretariat of Culture of Mexico City. While unanimously approved, this marks just the beginning of a longer process, according to chef Mónica León, who was responsible for compiling the extensive dossier.
The journey began with the registration of the initiative with the Secretariat of Culture in July, followed by its presentation to the commission on August 7.
“It was unanimously approved so that the process can continue, meaning they will now support us in presenting this to the Head of Government to achieve a decree. We are waiting for it to be published in the Official Gazette of Mexico City for it to become official,” explained León.
Protecting a Rich Cultural System
The core objective is to safeguard the entire cultural system of Mexican sweet bread, recognizing the craft, collective memory, and tradition. This includes preserving the 2,400 registered varieties of sweet bread, of which an estimated 1,000 have already been lost.
“We realized that the cultural system was what needed to be preserved, all the knowledge and practices, everything involved in making the bread – from sourcing the right ingredients, like butter and flour, to knowing how to hydrate and knead it. But also the machinery, which kneader, which oven; this entire wheat, flour, bread chain had to be registered,” León elaborated.
She further noted the importance of the commercialization aspect: “And then we realized that commercialization is also part of the chain; it’s not just about making the bread, but now you have to sell it because it’s a business. So, the distributors, resellers, administrators, everything had to do with the sweet bread chain. And that’s what we collected in this extensive and dynamic dossier, a heritage of the knowledge of traditional Mexican bakery.”
The Genesis of the Initiative
The idea originated over a year ago when Chef León was working on a project to replicate breads depicted in Gustavo Montoya’s paintings. She approached Canainpa, an organization with 80 years of history, for information on pieces that are no longer consumed or known. This led to the discovery of the organization’s vast archives.
“The idea arose to create a bread museum and then to defend the pieces that are no longer made, but to investigate why they are no longer made. With all this information we were collecting about what a baker needs to make these pieces that are no longer sold, we said: this needs to be protected, it needs to be safeguarded, who do we need to go to? What do we need to do?” the pastry chef recounted.
Julián Castañón, president of Canainpa, and Olga Espinosa, general director, entrusted León with the research and the creation of the dossier. Subsequently, they approached the Secretariat of Culture of Mexico City, where they were advised on the required characteristics and construction of the document.
It became clear that a team of historians, food anthropologists, and heritage experts was needed, leading to the involvement of specialists such as Inga Hernández, Cristina Barros, and Professor Carlos Viesca.
They also discovered that it was not feasible to declare sweet bread as a whole as heritage because, for example, for UNESCO, each individual piece of bread would have to be registered, and in this case, there are 1,457 pieces. Therefore, they decided that the recognition should encompass the entire baking system.
“The first copy we submitted was an academic, cultural dossier, which showed absolutely everything related to the sociocultural chain. And the Secretariat of Culture told us that each state’s heritage is autonomous, so we had to limit it to Mexico City, where the 1,457 pieces originate. Now we still need to do Oaxaca, the ‘pan de yema’ is not there, nor is the bread from Michoacán, Mitla, Tlaxcala, so we decided we would do this by state,” León affirmed.
The Ongoing Process: Fieldwork and Community Engagement
Passionate about research and baking, Chef León, also known as Monini, began her fieldwork by visiting 12 to 15 bakeries in each of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, often alone. Later, she enlisted the help of her Monini’s Kitchen team, and together they completed the collection.
“The condition was that each bakery sold at least one piece of traditional bakery, that is, a ‘concha,’ a ‘moño,’ a ‘cuernito,’ a ‘cocol,’ even if they also sold other breads. We took photos, videos, and interviewed the bakers. At first, the bakers were surprised, they thought: ‘They want to steal my recipes, I don’t want to share information, I don’t want to be part.’ And everyone was respected. Others, once we explained, were delighted that this work was being done, proud to be bakers,” she commented.
The final dossier spans over 100 pages, encompassing a comprehensive investigation. It includes small bakeries, known as Tlalchicholas, which only sell traditional bread; Pulperías, which offer dairy products in addition to bread; and larger establishments.
“What we want is to remember how bread no longer tastes the same because, well, the industry changes, industrialization becomes contemporary, it’s not wrong, we don’t demonize or attack anyone, each to their own model. What we want to protect is that the baker has that knowledge in their hands, their fingers are their tools, the knowledge is in their memory, and for them to share this with the next generation is very valuable,” León explained.
Canainpa’s last registration was in 1999, which can now be updated, even though around a thousand pieces may have been lost along the way. The chef also seeks to integrate pieces like the ‘rosconcha,’ ‘concholatín,’ ‘manteconcha,’ ‘conchancla,’ ‘conchamacos,’ and ‘tortconcha,’ among many others, into the research.
“It’s Mexican bakery trying to find itself again, trying to position itself again in the modern world, and that’s good. It shouldn’t compete with traditional bakery; the ‘concha’ is a traditional piece, but it also coexists with the consumption of young people or those who like bread and want something new. The base is still traditional bakery with innovation and avant-garde,” she concluded.
Source: https://www.dallasnews.com/espanol/al-dia/mexico/article/pan-dulce-tradicion-patrimonio-cultural-mexico-22388895.php
