Trial and error

So in the 19th century, a lot of Chinese immigrants started settling in Guatemala. I’m not sure why, but this newspaper article says it could be that the construction of trains happening at that time attracted Chinese immigrants that had already worked in the US during the gold rush. Regardless, by 1920 the census noted 990 legal Chinese residents in the country, tho it was probably higher due to unregistered immigrants.

Over time, this community continued to grow and they also, naturally, brought their cuisine into the country with Chinese restaurants gaining popularity. These restaurants, much like they did in the United States, combined local ingredients and tastes with traditional recipes.

This all led to chao mein (chow mein) becoming well know and loved as a staple of Guatemalan cuisine. I remember my own grandmother going to the local market to buy bags merchants made with vegetables chopped in long strips for making chao mein. There are many versions, like the chao mein tostadas which place it on top a crispy corn tostada, with cheese and cilantro on top:

Some common ingredients include: carrots, onions, celery, peppers, güisquil/chayote, and finally soy sauce and/or Worcestershire sauce which is usually just called salsa inglesa (english sauce). Ingredients are often renamed in Latin America for simplicity and based on common associations. In fact, soy sauce is sometimes also called salsa china.

You can actually see the recipe for Guatemalan chao mein in the back of the soy sauce container next to the Worcestershire sauce:

Mexico amends its constitution to cut the maximum workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030 and gives 13.5 million workers the legal right to ignore their boss’s calls, messages, and emails after their shift ends, in the most significant overhaul of Mexican labor law in a generation.

So two religios leaders in the town, Thomas Stanley and William Mompesson, got together and came up with a plan. They would put the entire village of Eyam under quarantine. And they did. For over a year nobody went in and nobody went out.

They put up signs on the edge of town as warning and left money in vinegar filled basins that people from out of town would leave food and supplies by.

However, they did successfully prevent the disease from spreading to the nearby town of Sheffield, even then a much bigger town, and likely saved the lives of thousands of people in the north of England through their sacrifice.

Here’s the thing. One third of the residents of Eyam died during their quarantine, but the Black Plague was known to have a NINETY PERCENT death rate. As high as the toll was, it wasn’t as high as it should have been. And a few hundred years later, some historians and doctors got to wondering why.

Fortunately, Eyam is one of those wonderful places that really hasn’t changed much in hundreds of years. Researchers, going to visit, found that many of the current residents were direct descendants of the plague survivors from the 1600s. By doing genetic testing, they learned that a high number of Eyam residents carried a gene that made them immune to the plague. And still do.

And it gets even better than that, because the gene that blocks the Black Plague? Also turns out to block AIDS, and was instrumental in helping to find effective medication for people who have HIV and AIDS in the 21st century.

In addition to finding out where in Africa her ancestors were abducted into slavery, Mary Moran discovered the meaning of the Mende song: a processional hymn for the final farewell to the spirit, it was sung in Senehun Ngola by women as they prepared the body of a loved one for burial.

Also, there's an apparently sanctioned link to the full documentary about tracing the song.