Carmen Chávez was born in Purandiro Calderon, Michoacan, México. When she was eleven years old, her parents sent her to México City with an aunt who owned a tortilla factory. She worked there for eleven years.

According to Carmen, tortillas made in this old-fashioned way are not really fattening, and have health-giving vitamins which are removed by modern mechanical processes. We can vouch for the fact that Carmen's tortillas taste better than anything that ever came from a machine.

According to a story told in Mexican - American households, Cortez, the conquistador met with an emissary of the great Moctezuma and proceeded to extol the glory of his sovereign, Charles V. "My emperor is so wealthy that he eats off a special golden service which only he may use," said Cortez. "My emperor, Moctezuma," replied the Aztec, "uses a different spoon for each bite." Moctezuma's spoons, las cucharitas de Moctezuma, were, of course, corn tortillas.

Since earliest times, thin cakes of corn have been a staple of the Mexican diet. Made of kernels that have been lightly soaked in a lime mixture and then ground on a stone metate to form a dough or masa, fresh tortillas traditionally accompany each meal. In many households they are still patted out by hand, and for countless centuries the soft slap, slap of tortilla making has been a familiar domestic sound wherever Mexicans have gone. Nowadays, of course, there are tortilla factories all over Mexico and the United States, and many homes have tortilla presses. However, the handmade tortilla is still considered by many to taste better and be more wholesome.

The tortilla is a versatile food. Fresh and hot, it is used as an edible spoon and pusher. Slightly stale, it is dipped in a rich sauce to form a base for enchiladas. Fried, it becomes a taco shell, a platform for a tostada, or a chip with which one can scoop up beans or salsa. The raw masa can be mixed with cheese or chile and cooked to form other dishes. Among these are the locally favored flat enchiladas, which are not enchiladas at all, but fried cakes of a special masa served in a red chile sauce.

Of course, there are many different kinds of corn tortilla. The ones demonstrated here at Tumacácori National Historical Park are called gorditas chicas, or "little fat ones". They aren't really suitable for enchiladas, but are delicious when split, lightly fried, and served with various meat fillings.