Oaxaca Street Food

5 dishes in Mexico

5 street foods from Oaxaca, Mexico: Tasajo, Chapulines, Memelas, Tejate and Mezcal. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.

Street foods of Oaxaca

Market Grill · Thin Dried Beef Tasajo The beef is butterflied so thin and wide that a single sheet can cover most of a grill, salted and partly dried before it ever touches the coals. Beef is sliced into large, thin sheets, lightly salted and sun- or air-dried for a short time, then grilled over charcoal until the edges char. Market grill stalls in Oaxaca's Mercado 20… Market Stall · Toasted Grasshoppers Chapulines Vendors sell chapulines by the scoop straight out of open baskets in the market, sized and priced in small, medium, and large batches like candy. Small grasshoppers are toasted on a comal with garlic, lime, and salt, sometimes with a hit of chile, until they turn dry, crunchy, and deeply savory. Market stalls throughout Oaxaca sell… Griddle Stall · Thick Masa Cake Memelas Unlike a flat tortilla, a memela is pinched up at the edge while still on the griddle, forming a small rim that keeps its toppings from sliding off. A thick disc of corn masa is cooked on a comal, spread with asiento (unrefined pork lard) and black bean paste, then topped with crumbled cheese, salsa, and sometimes shredded meat… Market Stand · Pre-Hispanic Corn Drink Tejate A thick foam floats on top of tejate thanks to cacao fat and ground mamey seed, and vendors ladle the drink from a large clay bowl without stirring… Toasted corn, cacao, rosita de cacao flowers, and mamey seed are ground together and mixed with water into a thick, foamy, faintly nutty drink served cold in a painted gourd bowl. Market… Street Stand · Agave Spirit Mezcal Sal de gusano, the salt served with Oaxacan mezcal, is made by grinding toasted maguey worms with chile and coarse salt. Agave hearts are roasted in underground pits, crushed, fermented, and distilled into a smoky spirit, then poured into small clay cups (copitas) at street stands and family-run palenques…

More of Mexico

• Yucatán5
• Veracruz5
• Jalisco5
• Sinaloa5
• Puebla5
• Baja California4
• Nuevo León4
• Michoacán4
• Guanajuato4
• Sonora4
• Guerrero3
• Chiapas3
• Hidalgo4
• State of Mexico4
• Tamaulipas4
• Mexico City5