Mill and Tortilla Shop

My mom was from Samahil and she's the one who started the mill.

She was in a tough spot and couldn't find her footing.

She rented a mill and always made corn tortillas — she never used Maseca. She taught us to work from a young age.

The corn we use at the mill comes from Campeche and Sinaloa. Out in the Yucatecan countryside, corn is already scarce — nobody wants to grow it anymore because they don't get a fair price for it. My corn is natural, very nutritious: it's fiber, it's energy, it's the foundation of our traditional Yucatecan food. The tortilla is what people eat most.

I sell more than 100 kilos of tortillas a day. People come from this neighborhood and from other ones too — I don't have delivery drivers.

I like to get the masa just right, because once you do, everything else turns out better.

Here it's my sister, two other women, and me. We've known how to use the mill since we were little kids — I learned to work it when I was 7.

My dad used to work at mills for a man, and when that man died, his son left the mill to my mom, who at the time was doing laundry and ironing for that family. She accepted and learned — my dad taught her a little, since we had a mill in San Antonio Cinta.

Back then there was the Chamber of Mill Owners. They would gather at a house where all the mills were registered and paid a monthly fee. They provided legal advice and support from the town council, or help with whatever requirements came up. It was a private organization. At the meetings they would set the price of tortillas, but that was back when there was a corn subsidy. When the subsidy was eliminated, the price shot up — before, the tortilla price was regulated, they gave us low prices, and that kept things affordable. Later, the mill owners reached an agreement among themselves to set a middle-ground price. I could sell my tortillas for 50 pesos, but I still need people to buy them — you have to set a reasonable price.

The tortilla is part of our daily life, of our culture.

When it's time to make pibes, people look for 100% corn masa — pure corn for Hanal Pixan. It's my biggest sales week of the year. The mill fills up with orders, and it's a full week of selling 100% corn masa.

My competition is 2 Maseca tortilla shops and the motorcycles that come into the neighborhood selling Maseca tortillas. A lot of people buy them for convenience. But the people who really know their corn — they don't. They come from other neighborhoods to buy at the mill. We also sell traditional Yucatecan sweets, tostadas, totopos codzitos, julianas, peanuts, cookies, pepita candies, and other snacks.

Juan Koyoc / Mérida, Yucatán

Maseca is a brand of ultra-processed industrial flour with additives, used to make "tortillas."