How Did Mexico City's Restaurants Become the Villain?
The capital’s red-hot food scene has been made a scapegoat for gentrification. That’s a big risk for its tourist-friendly image.
And a hearty “¡Buen provecho!” to you, too.
Photographer: Silvana Flores/AFP/Getty Images
“Go back to your country,” shouted the angry mob, hurling threats and insults at terrified diners.
A recent protest against gentrification and foreign visitors in Mexico City suddenly turned violent, leaving 46 establishments vandalized and shaking both residents and tourists. The formal excuse may have been protesting against rising rents and unchecked commercial development in the city’s trendiest neighborhoods — but the result exposed a more sordid reality: Mexico may not be the oasis of tolerance and friendship to foreigners that we all have thought.