Editor's Note: Kathleen Furore turned to Tamale Museum founder John Rivera Sedlar for his take on Mexican food trends, and on how they will impact the Hispanic food and beverage industry-chefs and restaurateurs in particular-for years to come.

You're opening the Tamale Museum, which will focus not only on tamales, but also on all aspects of Mexican cuisine. Does it have to do with the increasing popularity of Mexican food in the U.S.?

The Tamale Museum will open in Los Angeles end of 2006. Even though it is called the Tamale Museum, it will feature and explore all aspects of Mexican and Latin ingredients and cooking. Related cultural issues-folkways, customs and traditions, fashion, music, nutrition, cinema, literature, contemporary and traditional art-will also be presented. Food is such a pervasive element of all societies that other cultural elements are perpetually being impacted. Part of our mission statement says that this new Latin food museum doesn't focus on just tamales, or on just food, but on related Latin subjects. All areas relating to artistic and intellectual achievement have a symbiotic relationship to the culinary arts and will at some point be highlighted in the Tamale Museum.

I decided to embark on the venture at this time because I think that Mexican food is entering a new epoch. Both the culinary professional and the home cook would benefit from a complete Mexican food experience that a gastronomic museum would be a unique position to provide.

This museum is a culmination of a dream I have held for a very long time.
Growing up in the Southwest, the delicious foods of my childhood were misunderstood and perceived to be a second-class cuisine. American's are opening up to the nourishing dishes and, full flavors of the Southwest and Mexico. Now is the time for a museum of this sort to open because of the increasing popularity of and interest in, Mexican-style foods in the United States, and in Mexico.

What do you see as some of the most important trends in Mexican/Latin cooking today? And how will those trends affect Mexican restaurants in the United States?

Some of the most important trends in Mexican/Latin cooking that I see happening today are a genuine interest in and curiosity about all the ingredients in the lexicon of the Mexican Kitchen. What are the ingredients? How do I prepare them? How can I update a dish so it fits into our customer demographic or our lifestyle?

As chefs and restaurateurs, we are at the forefront of education. By introducing unusual, traditional dishes on our menus or in our cookbooks we are keeping alive strong cultural ties and identities. Museums and restaurants are repositories of culinary culture.

Do you have any advice for restaurateurs who want to keep up with trends and add new items/ingredients to their menus, but are concerned their customers won't accept some of the more "exotic" menu offerings?

I advise restaurateurs to challenge themselves, their chefs and their clientele by introducing them to the story and ritual and tradition of the complexity of cooking techniques, and the boldness of flavor of this long underrated, world-class cuisine.

The degree to which restaurateurs and chefs challenge themselves and their guests is an individual commitment. Some professionals approach their restaurants or food venues as purely businesses in which to make money. Usually that type of operator offers status quo, recognizable, standard menu fare.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the impassioned food lover who travels extensively, reads related books and journals, attends symposiums and conferences. This is the same food lover who purchases the proper equipment, understands the story and the history of a specific recipe or food style, searches out the correct ingredients and educates at every opportunity. That is the type of operator that will raise the consciousness of Latin Gastronomy.