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flor de calabaza (squash blossoms)

This week's Twitter war began innocuously enough: On May 8, Portland-based food blogger and restaurateur Nick Zukin, who owns a Mexico City-style snack shop called Mi Mero Mole in PDX, inquired via Twitter where to find jarred flor de calabaza (squash blossoms) on a recent trip to Orange County. When no one in particular piped up with a particular location, Zukin (@extramsg) lamented that the item was easier to find in Oregon than in Southern California.

That statement attracted the attention of food blogger Bill Esparza (@streetgourmetla) and O.C. Weekly food editor Gustavo Arellano (@gustavoarellano), who responded that the statement was patently false, and that Zukin wasn't looking hard enough. Food-based barbs were traded, words like pendejo and gabacho were thrown around, and Zukin was compared unfavorably to a character in a Portlandia sketch. Zukin then pulled out the Rick Bayless card by suggesting L.A. was lacking a Mexican food expert on the level of the Chicago chef, a statement that definitely touched a nerve with two of our city's foremost authorities on the cuisine. The back and forth battle continued for a couple hours, like a electronic version of this year's Australian Open finals.

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