about The Oaxaca Gastronomad Experience

Located just a short flight from Mexico City in the Southwestern part of Mexico, Oaxaca is the truest expression of pre-hispanic traditions and the epicenter of indigenous foods and ingredients native to the new world that make Mexican food one of the most influential cuisines in the world.

Inspired by the abundance of delicious and captivating ingredients, dishes, artisanal craftsmanship and the colorful beauty of the land and the warmth of its people, we have created The Oaxaca Experience to delight your senses with one of the most iconic foodie regions in Mexico and the world of culinary tradition.

More than half the population of Oaxaca is indigenous, and represent many different cultures, peoples and languages and food traditions from the Zapotec, Mixtec, Mazatec, Chinantec, Mixé and other civilizations.

In Oaxaca, food is supernaturally important -- the city even continues ancient festivals honoring the Zapotec gods and goddesses of corn, seeds and hunting. You’ll find out why when you taste the sublime foods of Oaxaca!

Oaxacans love their chocolate. The average local consumes 5.5 pounds of chocolate per year. It's best when ground with a volcanic-rock molcajete and transformed with chiles, spices, fruits and almonds.

Oaxaca is famous across Mexico not only for its bright, colorful buildings, but also for its black ceramics and black mole. (Oaxaca is known in Mexico as "Land of the Seven Moles.")

The Oaxaca Experience will honor the culinary traditions and cultural authenticity of Oaxaca, from cacao to tequila and mezcal -- and indigenous native ingredients that include corn, tomatoes, chiles, tomatoes, chocolate and more -- our week will be a cultural and culinary sojourn of epic proportions.

Each day will be seasoned with the colors, flavors, scents and aromas of the foods and culinary traditions of this foodie heaven. Chocolate, pan dulce, Oaxaca mole, tlayudas, chapulines, chicatanas, quesillo, caldo de piedra and pan de yema and other delicacies!

And of course, there will be many delightful beverages to delight our senses.

Here’s how The Gastronomad Experience works: You book your own flight. Everything else is included — food, drinks, transportation, activities and more. Our small group will stay together in a central, beautiful, comfortable location. Each day, we’ll go out and explore, learn, taste and wonder — everything is a surprise, a series of once-in-a-lifetime peak experiences.

As part of the Experience, we’ll capture every incredible moment in professional-quality photographs, which you can keep forever.

What people are saying about The Gastronomad Experiences

Testimonial

What if you could travel to and live in beautiful places with thoughtful, fun, kind, and interesting people who become dear friends and enjoy incredible food and wine brought to you by dedicated artisans while having meaningful conversations and experiences, lots of laughs, and amazing surprises? With Gastronomad Experiences you get to do all of this by just showing up and benefiting from Amira and Mike's expertise, immersion in the community and culture, and their appreciation for delicious, creative, and thoughtfully sourced products.
They have deep connections in each place they bring guests and they cultivate connections with fabulous people on the trips and locally at each place you will spend time.
While we have traveled extensively, we had never relied on others to plan our travel but took a chance with our first Gastronomad experience and now we are hooked.
We'll go anywhere with them anytime we can. Life-changing in countless ways!
- *Julia*

Testimonial

A week like no other. I've never booked a vacation on which someone else determined my itinerary day by day. That is, until I discovered Mike and Amira Elgan's Gastronomad Experiences.
Every day was a surprise as the details of your daily itinerary was carefully guarded by Amira. This added to the sense of wonder and discovery which is at the core of the Gastronomad Experiences.
Feel free to take a camera, but you won't need it. This is a hidden feature of any Gastronomad Experience which I think needs to be stressed!
Amira and Mike alone might be worth the price of admission. You'll never meet more generous and knowledgeable hosts. They treated you like family, and not like tourists. Their lifetime of travel experience was yours to sample at a moments notice. They make a compelling case for the Gastronomad lifestyle, and they're happy to guide you on how to get there yourself. They clearly love what they do, and love sharing it with other of similar temperament. The warmth they exude was contagious.
-*Tom*

Testimonial

“This was truly one of the most excellent experiences in my life.
In no particular order, what made it so was the people we met and traveled with, the experiences that were planned for us, the food and the drink.
The small group we Experienced with were well-traveled, well-rounded, and downright fun to be with.
The experiences we had--tours of wineries not open to the public, dining in Michelin star restaurants, and even mushroom hunting in the woods--were all unexpected and delightful and made possible only by the personal friendships of our well-traveled and outgoing tour leaders, who were welcomed like the long-lost everywhere we went.
We never would have had access to any of it outside of the Experience.
*-Gretchen*

Testimonial

“I generally despise group tours, and have avoided them most of my life. So what the hell was I thinking considering a group tour?! Well, the concept behind the ‘Gastronomad Experience’, and the people who devised it gave me confidence (that and the fact that they rightly point out its not a ‘tour’ in the traditional sense).
Having followed some of Mike and Amira’s activities over the years, it seemed clear that they did significant research, and truly wanted to showcase the best of what was on offer, with a promise to embed you in the local culture. What became obvious very early on, was just how meticulous their planning and attention to detail was. Starting with greetings at our base of operations, an opulent spacious apartment in the heart of the city, we were immediately made to feel welcome.
The next few days were packed with a sequence of unforgettable experiences. Every contingency was catered for. It's hard to summarise just how good each of the activities was.
Everyone we met during the journey was warm and welcoming, and it was clear that Amira & Mike had established a real relationship with everyone/place we visited.
What truly made the week however, was our group. A diverse bunch of ages, backgrounds and cultures, all focussed on having a good time in one of the best cities on the planet.
We loved it so much we have already booked another!”
*-Tony*