My week of Fridamania in Mexico City

“Today you’re going to eat art,” says Federico Valdez, a chef at the School of Mexican Cuisine, before presenting a sunlit, three-course feast inspired by Frida Kahlo. The starter is a lightly spiced Mexican take on pirozhki and the main, served with pulque, is billed as “Frida Against the World” – a giant stuffed chilli in a nutty, beany sauce, finished with halved figs because, Valdez says, “I wanted this to be hot and horny.” He wants the food to capture Kahlo’s life, her loves and even her first lesbian affair.

I’m in Mexico City with a Tate delegation as jacaranda trees bloom purple across the boulevards, following Kahlo’s footsteps ahead of Frida: The Making of an Icon at Tate Modern in London, a show of more than 30 works that seems destined to be a summer blockbuster.

Self Portrait With Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, painted in 1940 after her painful divorce from Rivera, is among the pieces on display, and Tobias Ostrander, the curator, says: “The exhibition is like a movie.

Mexico, Mexico City

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