During our four days in Monterrey we tried to explore and learn as much about our host city and its people as possible. At dinner one evening, our ever present guide, hostess and interpreter, Patricia shared with us one custom that we all found quite charming...

In Mexico, tortillas are served wrapped in a cloth napkin within a basket, not like the plastic-lidded tubs we use in the US.

It is the custom to always take a tortilla from the center of the stack, as this is where they are the softest and warmest. To do so you lift the top tortilla and take one from below it. Thus the top tortilla is touched by everyone but always left behind. Finally it is the last tortilla in the basket and by then is usually cold and hard, having been bypassed by everyone for the fresher tortillas below it. Cold, hard and discarded it lies seemingly unwanted at the bottom of the basket.

So whenever someone is feeling used, unwanted or unloved, they are often referred to as a "top tortilla." GM