Oaxaca: the soul of Mexican cuisine
In the markets and kitchens of this southern Mexican city, some of the world's most complex and ancient cooking comes alive.
If Mexican food has a spiritual home, many would place it in Oaxaca, the southern state and city whose markets, kitchens and traditions preserve some of the most complex and ancient cooking in the Americas.
Oaxaca is the land of mole, the labyrinthine sauces that can contain dozens of ingredients — chillies, chocolate, nuts, seeds, spices and fruit — slowly toasted, ground and simmered into something far greater than the sum of its parts. The region is said to have seven classic moles, each a distinct world of flavour, from the dark, chocolate-tinged mole negro to the bright, herbaceous verde.
Beyond mole, the city's markets overflow with the building blocks of its cuisine: fresh and dried chillies in every shade, stacks of tortillas made from heirloom corn, string cheese, chapulines (toasted grasshoppers seasoned with lime and chilli), and the smoky agave spirit mezcal.
Much of this cooking is rooted in Indigenous Zapotec and Mixtec traditions, carried on largely by women who grind corn and spices by hand on stone metates as their ancestors did.
To eat in Oaxaca is to taste history and place at once. Whether in a grand restaurant or at a market stall, the food tells a story of corn, chillies and patience, and of a culinary culture that has made this corner of Mexico a pilgrimage for anyone who loves to eat.