Oaxaca, Mexico

The culinary reputation Oaxaca has acquired is well deserved. Every day we feasted on some new and delicious grub, and what made it so fun was that each ‘restaurant’ was basically someone’s house that opened up to sell food. So, it was as if we were going from neighbor to neighbor for a home cooked meal! At the Sunday market in Tiacolula we gave cooking a shot ourselves at one of the many ‘grill it yourself’ stands.

The amount of chocolate in this city was unbelievable. There were chocolaterias on every corner and sometimes the same brand would have stores across the street from each other like Starbucks in Seattle. The best part about these shops was the endless amount of samples Each shop had its own variety of mole sauce, chocolate bars, and roasted beans. Locals would come in and buy beans by the kilo and the shop would grind it all up with almonds and cinnamon.

Another big culinary treat in Oaxaca is the Mezcal and Pulque culture. There are loads of farms in the hills around the city that you can pay visit to and learn about the agave distilling process, and there are even more Mezcalrias in and around the city streets for sampling! So far we have had the most amazing tequila in Mexico, but as for Mezcal, we haven’t yet developed a taste for it.