Category Archives: Oaxaca

  There’s a moment each year in Oaxaca when the city transforms. Markets overflow with mountains of bright orange and yellow flowers, their distinctive scent filling the air. Streets become rivers of color as petals are scattered to form paths leading from cemeteries to homes. This is the season of cempasúchil—the Mexican marigold—the flower that…  

  In humble kitchens throughout Oaxaca’s Central Valleys, the rhythmic sound of hands patting corn masa echoes a culinary tradition thousands of years in the making. Women prepare tlayudas, the large, thin tortillas that are the foundation for one of Oaxaca’s most iconic dishes. Behind them, clay pots of black beans simmer over wood fires,…