Taste Mexico
México
Maize, chilli, lime and patience — a civilisation that still cooks in the present tense. Nixtamal is chemistry, not folklore.
Oaxaca's moles, Yucatán's achiote and sour orange, Sonora's wheat tortillas, Veracruz's seafood, Mexico City's late-night tacos: they share maize nixtamalised into masa, and they disagree about everything else. Tacos al pastor is a trompo craft — pork, achiote, pineapple — eaten on a corn tortilla. Carnitas is Michoacán pork cooked in its own fat until it shreds. Pozole is a hominy stew with a regional argument about red, green or white. Mole poblano is a long grind of chilli, nuts and spice, not a chocolate novelty. Birria tacos are a Jalisco goat-or-beef consommé that restaurants turned into a dunking ritual. Street food is a serious craft, not a casual afterthought.
19 recipes · 2 cuisines
Essential dishes
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More dishes
Further Mexico listings, including shorter editorial recipes and imported methods.
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Regional cuisines
Think you know Mexico food?
17 quiz dishes. Optional — Passport stamps still come from cooking.
Take the Mexico food quizFood history
Mesoamerican maize, beans, squash, chilli and cacao met Iberian livestock, dairy, rice and frying after the sixteenth century. The result is neither pre-Hispanic cooking frozen in amber nor Spanish food with salsa. Al pastor is a twentieth-century Mexico City story: Lebanese shawarma technique, pork, achiote and pineapple. Home kitchens still toast on the comal, grind salsa, and treat tortillas as bread, plate and utensil. Oaxaca's market moles and Yucatán's pit ovens are older crafts than any tasting menu.