The “Jarochos” of Veracruz are as colourful as their cuisine and their turbulent history. Their territory is long, thin and faintly curved, rather like a green chilli; there are volcanoes, rainforests, steamy coastal plains, differing climates, tropical fruit plantations and smoke-dried chillies.

"Enfrijoladas" are Mexican street food at its simplest but most satisfying and comforting, drawn from poverty cooking – the ingredients are cheap and plentiful, staples to be found under every shabby market awning and in every Mexican household, particularly the pot of beans.

A salad, a filling for tacos, quesadillas, poblano chillies or even empanadas, a topping for tostadas and a stuffing for large fish – the Mexican “salpicón” is versatile and multi-faceted, fresh, light, tangy and boldly flavoured.

16th September is Mexican Independence Day and I am celebrating this momentous occasion with a quintessentially Mexican dish: “frijoles refritos”, otherwise known as refried beans. This description, however, is a misnomer as the beans are only fried once.

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Wander around any Mexican market and you will be struck by the countless chickens on the butchers’ counters. There seem to be hundreds, if not thousands, and it is difficult to believe that there is a demand for quite so many of them!

Tostadas are rather like an open sandwich: a crisp, crunchy tortilla topped with anything from refried beans to smoked tuna and halibut, shredded pork and chicken to scrambled eggs with chorizo - as with most Mexican antojitos, the topping is up to the cook, and what is in season and available.

Tacos are perhaps the best known Mexican dish outside the country, and the simplest to prepare. The easiest way to describe them is as a corn tortilla wrapped around a filling – but this does not even begin to illustrate their diversity and exuberance, let alone their potential for complexity.

The “sope” family is vast and convoluted, difficult to track, but whatever a sope’s origin, regional designation or topping may be, it is definitely a member of the clan. Name aside, it is simply a container or tartlet made of masa which acts as a base or plate for a delicious, savoury topping.

Quesadillas, the Mexican version of a toasted cheese sandwich, are a crisp, crusty, golden envelope made from a corn tortilla, filled with rich, savoury cheese which is all gooey, melting and oozing out around the edges.