Quality Ingredients with a Colorful Character^®

About Zintzuni Cocina Mexicana

MISSION STATEMENT

Zintzuni Cocina Mexicana brings a taste of Mexico to the greater Sacramento metropolitan area. A delicious blend of old and new world Mexico, Zintzuni features a variety of popular Mexican dishes with recipes that originated in traditional street markets to others that have been passed on from generation to generation. The menu is prepared from fresh authentic ingredients found in customary Mexican cuisine. Zintzuni, will delight the senses with rich Mexican flavors, Zintzuni is sure to please.

WHAT DOES ZINTZUNI MEAN?

Zintzuni comes from the Purépecha language (tribe in central Mexico), meaning “Hummingbird”. The Purépecha capitol city is known as Tzintzuntzan, meaning “place abundant in hummingbirds”. It has also been proposed that the meaning of Tzintzuntzan is “Place of the Messenger Hummingbird”. There are also those who believe that Tzintzuntzan is an onomatopoeic name echoing syllabically the noise that hummingbirds make when flying.

WHY IS THE HUMMINGBIRD IMPORTANT TO THE PUREPECHAS?

Purépechas considered hummingbirds to be sacred and to be messengers from the afterworld or manifestations of a dead person’s spirit. The Hummingbird was an animal representation of their divine guardian, Tzintzuquixu, “Hummingbird of the South”, God who guided them in their legendary pilgrimage towards the South. A Purépecha king even existed named Tzintzuni, “Hummingbird”.