Pilsen’s Mole De Mayo Festival Celebrates Signature Mexican Dish

mole de mayo
With dozens of ingredients, festival organizer Jaime Garza says mole reflects the diversity of the people and culture of Mexico. ESDC & Mole de Mayo
mole de mayo
With dozens of ingredients, festival organizer Jaime Garza says mole reflects the diversity of the people and culture of Mexico. ESDC & Mole de Mayo

Pilsen’s Mole De Mayo Festival Celebrates Signature Mexican Dish

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Mexican cuisine is vast. There’s a lot more to it than just tacos.

This weekend, the Mole de Mayo festival in Pilsen celebrates one of Mexico’s signature and most complex dishes: mole.

Mole is a curry-like sauce that’s typically made for special occasions like weddings, baptisms and quinceañeras. Mole is complex. It contains dozens of ingredients and can take several days to make.

“It just has so many flavors. It reflects our people and our culture,” said Jaime Garza, who helped organize the festival. “It’s so diverse. It’s as diverse as the dish is.”

The three-day festival, which starts Friday and ends Sunday, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with art and music. At least 15 restaurants will be competing for “Best Mole Award” and “People’s Choice.”

On Sunday, Benjamín Anaya will be hosting a bilingual conversation entitled, “The Present and Future of Mole in the Global Era.”

Women artists and chefs will be celebrated at this year’s festival, Garza said.

“Women have always played an integral role in the Mole de Mayo festival and especially this year, we’re happy to spotlight women artists, musicians, performers, mole masters and entrepreneurial establishments,” Garza said. “It made perfect sense to bring Little Village native and award-winning visual artist Maria Gonzalez to create this year’s festival brand imagery.”

The festival will also feature lucha libre, or Mexican wrestling, on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, there will be performances by local musicians as well as musicians from Mexico, Peru, Colombia and New York. Check here for a full list of performances.

María Ines Zamudio is a reporter for WBEZ’s Race, Class and Communities desk. Follow her @mizamudio.