England football fans in Mexico City this weekend, ahead of a crunch Fifa World Cup match against Mexico, will encounter a very different city from the one I did at the turn of the millennium. It was my first visit, and my then partner’s parents, both locals, advised against going out after dark for security reasons. When I returned to the city earlier this year – for the umpteenth time – the streets were far safer, and I noticed that people’s concerns had changed.
“Restaurants are reducing the chilli content in their food”, chef Nano Padilla told me. “In some cases, they’re removing chilli altogether.
