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, releasing the aroma of earth and time.
The knowledge passes through generations—grandmother to mother, mother to daughter—preserving techniques that transform simple ingredients like corn, beans, and quesillo into expressions of cultural identity. Though the components may seem basic, Oaxaca’s history, survival, and celebration of life lie within these flavours.
This scene captures the essence of why Oaxaca is revered as Mexico’s culinary heartland. In this place, food transcends mere sustenance to become a living museum of cultural heritage, agricultural innovation, and resilient traditions that have endured for millennia.
The Crossroads of Flavor
Oaxaca’s reputation as Mexico’s gastronomic epicenter isn’t a modern marketing invention but a recognition of unique geographic and cultural factors that have shaped its cuisine for centuries.
Nestled where the Sierra Madre mountain ranges converge, Oaxaca encompasses remarkable biodiversity across seven distinct regions—from cloud forests to tropical coastlines, from arid valleys to misty highlands. This geographical diversity translates directly to the plate, offering a natural pantry unmatched in its variety.
This convergence has created what many consider Mexico’s most complex and varied regional cuisine—one that relies not on elaborate technique but on profound understanding of ingredients and flavors cultivated for generations.
The Three Sisters: Ancient Foundations
At the heart of Oaxacan cuisine lies an ingenious agricultural tradition that sustained civilizations long before European contact: the cultivation of corn, beans, and squash together in a symbiotic growing system known as the Three Sisters.
In this agricultural system, corn provides the structure that holds up the plant sisters, beans climb the corn stalks and add nitrogen to the soil, while squash leaves spread across the ground, preventing weeds and retaining moisture.
This agricultural wisdom—planting companions that support each other’s growth—translates directly to nutritional balance. When consumed together, these three foods provide complex carbohydrates, essential amino acids, and vital nutrients that form a complete protein profile.
In Oaxacan kitchens, this ancient trio appears in countless preparations:
- Corn transforms into tortillas, tlayudas, tamales, atole, and the hominy used in pozole
- Beans become everything from simple pot beans (frijoles de olla) to purées and festival dishes
- Squash offers versatility through its flesh, flowers, and seeds (pepitas), which are ground into sauces or eaten toasted as snacks
A simple meal of beans served on a tlayuda with roasted squash represents the same balance of foods that sustained Zapotec ancestors for generations. There is profound wisdom in this simplicity.
Beyond the Three Sisters: Oaxaca’s Culinary Treasures
While corn, beans, and squash form the foundation, Oaxaca’s cuisine builds upon this base with ingredients that reflect its status as one of the most biodiverse regions in Mexico:
The Seven Moles
Perhaps nothing represents Oaxaca’s culinary complexity better than its famous seven moles—complex sauces that can contain anywhere from a dozen to over thirty ingredients. Each represents distinct regional traditions and occasions:
- Mole Negro: The most famous, featuring chocolate and multiple chiles, often served at celebrations
- Mole Rojo: A brick-red sauce with ancho chiles and a subtle sweetness
- Mole Coloradito: “Little red mole,” balancing fruity and earthy flavors
- Mole Amarillo: A yellow mole featuring herbs and sometimes hoja santa
- Mole Verde: Fresh and herbaceous with tomatillos, herbs, and sometimes pumpkin seeds
- Chichilo: A rare, intensely savory mole made with charred chile seeds and avocado leaves
- Manchamanteles: “Tablecloth stainer,” incorporating fruits like pineapple and plantain
Each mole tells a story of place and occasion. Some are everyday sauces, others reserved for life’s most important celebrations. But all reflect a complexity from deeply understanding how ingredients transform each other through careful preparation.
The Treasures of the Earth
Beyond these foundations, Oaxaca offers culinary treasures found nowhere else:
- Hoja Santa: A fragrant leaf with notes of anise, root beer, and mint that wraps tamales or flavors sauces
- Epazote: An herb with a distinctive flavor used in bean dishes both for taste and its digestive benefits
- Chapulines: Toasted grasshoppers seasoned with chile, lime, and salt—a pre-Hispanic protein source still enjoyed today
- Quesillo: Oaxacan string cheese, pulled into impossibly long strands and wound into balls in the markets
- Tejate: An ancient drink made from maize and cacao, often called “the drink of the gods”
- Chilhuacle Chiles: Rare, indigenous peppers grown almost exclusively in Oaxaca, essential for authentic mole negro
- Mezcal: The smoky, artisanal spirit distilled from agave plants, with variations reflecting terroir like fine wine
The Markets: Living Museums of Food
To truly understand Oaxaca’s culinary soul, one must visit its markets—particularly the sprawling Central de Abastos or the more manageable Mercado Benito Juárez in the city center.
Here, the abstract concept of biodiversity becomes a tangible reality. The market stalls overflow with a wide variety of chiles in fresh, dried, and smoked forms, along with mounds of herbs that are not commonly found outside of regional Mexican cuisine. Visitors can find baskets filled with different corn varieties, ranging from deep blue to sunset red, as well as chocolate ground to order with customizable spice blends. Additionally, there are handmade cheeses sourced from nearby villages and clay pots and comales (griddles) crafted using traditional techniques that have remained unchanged for centuries.
The market is often described as the university of Oaxacan cuisine. Here, chefs and home cooks gather to learn from vendors who have preserved these ingredients and techniques for generations.
For UnTourists, markets offer more than shopping opportunities—they provide windows into the living traditions that sustain Oaxacan culture. UnTours arrangements often include shopping alongside local cooks and learning to select the perfect ingredients before preparing traditional dishes.
A Meal in Time: What UnTourists Experience
For travelers experiencing Oaxaca through UnTours, each meal becomes an opportunity to connect with history, culture, and community. A typical culinary journey might include:
Breakfast
Morning might begin with chocolate de agua—drinking chocolate prepared with water rather than milk, whisked until frothy and often flavored with cinnamon or vanilla. Alongside, perhaps memelas—thick corn patties topped with asiento (pork lard), beans, quesillo, and salsa—or enfrijoladas, tortillas bathed in a smooth black bean sauce and topped with crumbled cheese and cream.
Breakfast in Oaxaca is never rushed. It’s a time to plan the day and connect with family. The food is substantial because traditionally, it fueled a day of physical work in the fields or marketplace.
Comida
The main meal of the day comes in the afternoon, often beginning with a soup like sopa de guías—made from squash vines, flowers, and corn—followed by a main dish that might feature one of the famous moles or perhaps tlayudas, sometimes called “Oaxacan pizzas”: large tortillas topped with asiento, beans, quesillo, avocado, and meats, folded and grilled over wood fire.
During comida, families come together. Even in modern times, many businesses close so people can return home for this meal. It’s when the most elaborate dishes are served and when the strongest social bonds are reinforced.
Evening
As day transitions to night, lighter fare prevails. Perhaps tamales Oaxaqueños wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks, filled with mole negro or coloradito. Or a visit to the Jardin Socrates for empanadas de amarillo—large folded tortillas filled with yellow mole and chicken or flor de calabaza (squash blossoms)—best enjoyed with a nicuatole, a delicate corn-based dessert with the texture of panna cotta.
Evening meals are often social occasions. Friends gather for mezcal and antojitos (small bites). The focus shifts from nourishment to connection.
Preserving the Soul of a Cuisine
While Oaxacan cuisine has gained international recognition—UNESCO declared Mexican cuisine an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—its future faces challenges and opportunities.
Climate change threatens the diversity of native corn varieties. Urbanization draws young people away from agricultural traditions. The seduction of convenience food challenges the time-intensive nature of traditional cooking.
Yet a powerful movement is working to preserve these traditions. Organizations like the Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú support seed saving and indigenous farming practices. Renowned chefs showcase Oaxacan ingredients in ways that bring both pride and economic opportunity to local producers.
And increasingly, travelers seeking authentic experiences become part of this preservation effort. By valuing traditional foods, learning their stories, and supporting the communities that maintain them, visitors help ensure these traditions remain economically viable.
When travelers ask about the nixtamalization process for corn or want to understand why chiles are toasted a certain way, it reminds local cooks that what seems ordinary to them is extraordinary. It helps communities see the value in maintaining traditional practices.
A Living Tradition
As the sun sets over Oaxaca’s Central Valleys, kitchens fill with the aromas of toasting corn and simmering beans. Children observe as their mothers and grandmothers demonstrate how to turn masa into tortillas, maintaining an unbroken chain of knowledge.
Some worry these traditions will be lost to modernization. But seeing how children’s eyes light up when they help in the kitchen and how visitors from far away come to learn traditional cooking methods, it becomes clear that these flavors—these connections to the past and each other—are too important to disappear.
In Oaxaca, cuisine isn’t a static artifact but a living tradition that continues to evolve while maintaining its essential soul. Each meal offers nourishment, a taste of history, a celebration of biodiversity, and an invitation to connect across cultures and generations.
For the fortunate traveler who experiences Oaxaca not as a tourist but as an UnTourist—living locally, connecting deeply—these flavors become more than memories. They become transformative experiences that change how we understand food, culture, and our connection to both.
UnTours’ Day of the Dead experience in Oaxaca includes hands-on culinary workshops, market tours with local experts, and opportunities to share traditional meals with families during this significant cultural celebration. Learn more about our 2025 journey here.