THE DAILY IF
article 05

Lost letter from Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to the King of Molucco, found in an Indonesia family archive! (story contributed by Mr. Luis Fernando Alva, Second Secretary/ Cultural Attache, the Embassy of Mexico, Jakarta)

This invaluable document holds the key to the origin of the ancient friendship between Mexico and Indonesia. After authentication, it will be displayed in both countries.

Mexico, City, August 12 1684

His Excellency the King of Maluku,

With great joy and satisfaction my humble person, full of gratitude, needs to mention your Excellency the attentions and gifts that your highness has sent to these lands so far from your islands. New Spain has become used to the Asian luxury: ivory, silk and porcelain have adapted to our land so well your Grace would believe they have been here for many centuries.

Among the oh, so many precious products we receive from Asia, spices are my favorites.

Thanks to the “Nao de China” fleet, we receive know that Maluku is a rich Kingdom with many blessings from our Lord, and that the finest spices grow in your generous soil: fragrant pepper, aromatic cinnamon, sweet anise, delicious nutmeg and refreshing tuba and mango. So sweet and delicious that beautiful girls are often called “mango” in this land.

This Kingdom of New Spain is certainly privileged for having your Highness as a friend and be able to enjoy those treasures, more valuable indeed than gold, since they make our souls happier and our lives healthier. It is the conviction of this servant of God that cooking makes our intelligence sharper, and that had Aristotle cooked, he could’ve written a lot more.

I have received a good portion of your famous pepper and cinnamon. I felt so surprised by its quality and flavor that I hesitated before trying to cook with them. So I invited my colleagues in other convents to develop dishes worth of these ingredients.

I sent some samples to Puebla, to my sister in God, Andrea de la Asunción, since she wants to welcome our new Viceroy, Tomás de la Cerda, Conde de Paredes y Marqués de Laguna, with an extraordinary dish. She is fusing ingredients from these American lands with ingredients from Spain, but I suggested her to use some Maluku spice to add aroma and joy. She will let me know about the result of her research. She plans to name her new dish: Mole, a fusion of the food of three continents.

For my part, I am working on some bread, sweets and desserts that will make our gatherings more delicious and delightful. I am sure that cinnamon, nutmeg and anise will be accepted by our people, who enjoy a good meal and need to make it a pleasurable moment.

Along with these letter, please find dried examples and seeds of some of Mexican ingredients that grow in Mexico and that could be of your famous good palate and taste: chili, tomato, avocado, chocolate, guanabana, jícama, and corn. Please, I beg you, Your Highness; sow those seed on fertile soil so our kingdoms will start a friendship that lives for centuries.

Your Humble Servant,

Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez

(a.k.a) Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz