Ask Questions Before Your Chile is Roasted

Excerpt from Birthing From Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz

When autumn comes to New Mexico the aroma of green chile being roasted fills the air.  Locals buy big burlap sacks of chile which are poured into a big drum that turns over a fire until the chile is charred (which then allows the skin to be peeled off).

Chile is mild, medium, hot and very hot!!  Locals know enough to ask, “How hot is your chile?”

One day a newcomer to New Mexico stopped at the Grocery Emporium on Girard Boulevard and bought a bag of roasted chile.  The aroma made her mouth water all the way home.  Using her chile, she prepared a traditional New Mexican dinner.  A few bites into the meal, her eyes began to water and her tongue burned painfully.

The following day she marched up to the chile roaster and began complaining that the chile he sold her was too hot.  “Look lady,” he replied, “I just roast and sell chile.  If you don’t like your chile hot, you should’ve asked me about it.”

Like the chile customer, you need to ask your birth attendant exactly what he/she is selling.  Birth attendants and hospitals sell a “product” day in and day out.  It’s your responsibility to learn more about their product (philosophy and services), and decide whether or not you want to wind up with a bag of it.