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Traditional food · Mexico
Mole from Puebla, trompo tacos in the capital, cochinita from the Yucatán, fish from the Pacific coast and the drink named for a city in Jalisco: Mexican dishes, sweets and drinks tied to the places that made them famous.
In the photo: El Arco, Cabo San Lucas
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
Mexican cuisine rests on corn, beans and chiles, with the tortilla present at almost every meal, and over the centuries it added ingredients and techniques brought from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In 2010, UNESCO inscribed traditional Mexican cuisine on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, based on a dossier that used the traditional cooks of Michoacán as an example.
Many dishes are common across the country, but several have a place of origin. In Puebla, tradition links mole poblano and chiles en nogada to the kitchens of the city’s convents. In Mexico City, tacos al pastor were born from adapting a technique brought by immigrants from the Middle East. In Oaxaca, mole negro is the darkest of the moles that make the state famous.
In the southeast, the Yucatán Peninsula has cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote and sour orange and cooked in an earth oven, and the marquesita, Mérida’s famous street sweet; Campeche has pan de cazón, and Tabasco, pejelagarto grilled over coals. In Chiapa de Corzo, pepita con tasajo is the dish of the January Fiesta Grande. In the center, Guanajuato has enchiladas mineras, and Michoacán the carnitas of Quiroga.
In the west and north, Guadalajara has the torta ahogada, and the city of Tequila gives its name to the agave distillate protected by designation of origin. In Baja California, Ensenada and Tijuana are associated with fish tacos and the Caesar salad. Nuevo León has cabrito al pastor, Guerrero pozole verde, Sinaloa aguachile, Veracruz huachinango a la veracruzana, and Mexcaltitán, in Nayarit, pescado zarandeado.
Each specialty here is linked to a principal place, according to the sources. That does not mean it is eaten only there: most can be found across much of the country, with family, regional and seasonal variations.
20 flavors
Layers of corn tortillas with black beans and shredded cazón, cooked with epazote, topped with tomato sauce and habanero chile. Despite the name, it does not contain wheat bread. It is considered a symbol of Campeche cuisine.
Salted, dried beef — tasajo — cooked in a thick sauce of ground pumpkin seeds, with tomato and rice. It is the celebratory dish of Chiapa de Corzo, served especially during the January Fiesta Grande, the Parachicos festival.
Tacos of pork seasoned with a chile adobo, roasted on a vertical spit (the trompo), and served in a corn tortilla with pineapple, onion and cilantro. They descend from the tacos árabes brought to Puebla by Middle Eastern immigrants and took their current form in Mexico City taquerías.
White fish taco coated in a light batter and fried until golden, served on a corn tortilla with cabbage, tomato-and-onion salsa, mayonnaise or cream, and lime. It originated around 1960 at the stalls of the Mercado Negro, the fish market at the port of Ensenada.
Sandwich made with birote bread, a hard-crusted loaf, filled with carnitas and drenched in tomato sauce, with a spicy chile de árbol sauce on the side. A symbol of Guadalajara’s cuisine, which dedicated a municipal day to it on September 10.
Corn tortillas dipped in a guajillo chile sauce and fried, filled with cheese and onion, served with boiled potato and carrot, lettuce and pickled chiles. A typical dish of the city of Guanajuato, which tradition links to the wives of the silver mine workers.
Broth of cacahuazintle corn and pork thickened with a green sauce made from pumpkin seeds, tomatillo and herbs, served with many accompaniments. Dish from Guerrero, where Thursdays are pozole day.
Thin, crispy batter cooked on a round griddle and rolled like a tube, filled with queso de bola, a cheese of the Edam type. A street sweet from Mérida, created by a family of ice-cream makers in the city and sold at night from carts in the plazas.
Whole fish butterflied open, seasoned with a chile sauce and grilled over coals secured in a double-wire grill, the zaranda, which gives it its name. An official publication places its origin on the island of Mexcaltitán, on the northern coast of Nayarit.
Milk-fed kid opened, salted and slowly roasted on an iron stake beside the embers, in the shepherds’ style. It is the best-known dish of Nuevo León, present on the state’s traditional gastronomy routes, from Monterrey to the northern municipalities.
The darkest of Oaxaca’s moles: a thick sauce of chiles toasted almost to the point of burning, including the chilhuacle negro, with chocolate, seeds and spices. A celebratory dish of the state, prepared mainly in the Valles Centrales.
Poblano chile stuffed with a meat-and-fruit picadillo, topped with a white walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and parsley, in the colors of the Mexican flag. A seasonal dish from late summer, associated with the city of Puebla.
Thick, dark sauce made from several dried chiles, spices, seeds and chocolate, traditionally served with turkey. Tradition links its creation to the kitchen of the old Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla, the city that gives it its name.
Pork slowly cooked in its own lard in large pots until tender inside and golden outside, served in tacos. Quiroga, near Lake Pátzcuaro, is called the capital of carnitas: families in the town have been making them for more than a century.
Raw shrimp butterfly-cut and cured in lime with chiltepín chile, served with cucumber and red onion. It originated in the mountains of Sinaloa as a meat broth with water and chile and reached the coast, where shrimp took the place of meat. It is presented as the state’s most representative dish.
Freshwater fish with a long snout, grilled whole over coals and eaten with tortilla, lime, salt and chile amashito. It lives in the rivers and lagoons of Tabasco and is one of the state’s most representative dishes, with roots in pre-Hispanic cuisine of the southeast.
Distilled spirit from blue agave named after the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by agave fields. It has a designation of origin since 1974, and the agave landscape and the region’s old industrial facilities are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Salad of romaine lettuce leaves with a dressing of egg, lemon, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, served with croutons. It was created in Tijuana by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to Tijuanan historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
Red snapper cooked in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, garlic, onion, herbs and pickled chiles güeros or jalapeños. A coastal Veracruz dish, from the Gulf of Mexico, considered one of the country's best-known fish recipes.
Pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, wrapped in banana leaf and slowly cooked in an earth oven, the pib. A Sunday family dish from Yucatán that combines the pig brought by the Spaniards with a Mayan cooking technique.
Suggest a traditional dish, sweet or drink of Mexico that is not here. We check the sources before adding it.
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Your questions
Yes. In 2010 UNESCO inscribed traditional Mexican cuisine on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The dossier used the traditional cooks of Michoacán as an example, but the inscription applies to the traditional cuisine of the whole country.
Mole poblano is associated with the city of Puebla and includes various dried chiles, spices, seeds and chocolate. Mole negro is one of Oaxaca’s moles, darker, made with the chile chilhuacle negro and chocolate.
Cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote and sour orange and cooked in an earth oven, is the best-known dish. In Mérida, the marquesita is the most famous street sweet, and in Campeche people eat pan de cazón.
The drink takes its name from the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by blue agave fields. The designation of origin, dating from 1974, covers the entire state of Jalisco and municipalities in four other states.
Pescado zarandeado from Nayarit, aguachile from Sinaloa, fish tacos from Ensenada, huachinango a la veracruzana from the Gulf of Mexico and pan de cazón from Campeche are among the best known.
