Isabel Arriaga Lozano carefully fills a small pastry with a savoury mix of meat, potatoes and chilli pepper. She is crafting a paste (pronounced PAH-stay), a beloved Mexican snack with a rich history.
Originating in the mining town of Real del Monte, also called Mineral del Monte, in the Mexican central state of Hidalgo, the paste was introduced by British miners in the 1820s and has since become a local culinary tradition.
Each year, food enthusiasts converge on Real del Monte to celebrate the International Paste Festival, honouring its delicious heritage.
Although many are unaware of their surprising origin, a graveyard at the top of a cobbled hill holds the clue: around 700 graves sit covered in moss and lichen with distinctly English names.
These are the graves of the hundreds of miners who travelled to Mexico in 1824 to work in Real del Monte, extracting silver, copper, zinc, gold and mercury.
