Waking up in Oaxaca to the chirping of birds and the hum of this city on the second day of spring was nothing short of glorious. Even after arriving exhausted from California, being in Oaxaca again is a dream come true. We had been scrambling to get ourselves ready to reclaim our digital nomad lifestyle after sheltering in place for many months. (Note: This post is an excerpt from the Gastronomad Newsletter.)
We’re living in a traditional Oaxacan house, which belongs to a friend of a friend. It’s as pleasant as can be and perfect for doing the work Mike and I do. It has a nice big kitchen with lots of natural light where I can work on creating recipes for the Spartan Diet Journal.
The house has a wonderful open air courtyard where hummingbirds love to visit and we enjoy watching them from floor-to-ceiling windows as we sit in front of our laptops every day. We have a nice hipster bakery cafe next door — the smell of baking butter is wafting through the windows as I write this.
Travel is even more meaningful than it used to be somehow. Mike and I have truly loved our lifestyle and always feel so grateful and blessed. But traveling and seeing our Oaxacan friends again makes us so happy (even if we can't hug and we have to meet outdoors keeping distance and wearing face masks).
Pandemic woes are temporary. But Oaxaca is eternal.
Oaxaca is a state. But the history and culture (including food culture) of Oaxaca centers on the Oaxaca Valley in the Sierra Madre Del Sur Mountains.
The Zapotec civilization ruled the Oaxaca valley between around 700 BC until two years after the first Spanish set foot on the Mexican mainland (around 1521). Although there are many indigenous languages spoken in the State of Oaxaca today, the main language group is Zapoteco, which has 7 distinct languages and more than 100 dialects. It's mainly these Zapotec peoples — their farming and food practices — that make Oaxaca such a unique culinary paradise.
Mexico is the food capital of the Americas, and Oaxaca is the food capital of Mexico.
The Spanish brought the food cultures of the Arab world (having previously expelled the Moors from Spain, but not their food culture) and Asia (having established a trade route between their various colonies, including in the Philippines and elsewhere in Southeast Asia). But no import could rival the incredible food types of the native Americans in general, and Southern Mexico in particular. This tiny tropical area, from the Oaxaca valley to Guatemala, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, gave the world the cultivated or domesticated varieties of corn, chocolate, tomatoes, tomatillos, avocados, chilis, squashes, turkey, papayas, vanilla, jicama, chia seeds, allspice, many species of beans and hundreds of spices and herbs.
What's different about Oaxaca compared with many other Mexican regions is the combination of specific types of food production, plus the existence of 16 officially recognized indigenous groups faithfully preserving ancient foods and food practices.
While all of Mexico's "greatest hits" are present here — (amazing hot chocolate, corn tortillas, sweet breads, sweetened watery drinks and all the rest — Oaxaca is especially well known throughout Mexico for many traditional dishes and drinks originating in the region. Some of the more well known include:
mole
Oaxaca is called the "Land of the Seven Moles" because each of seven regions in the area is said to specialize in a specific type of mole that's different from the other six. These general mole types are black, red, light red, chichilo, green, yellow and manchamanteles (stainer of tablecloths). In fact, the "seven moles" label is an oversimplification or even a marketing fabrication. Despite this categorization, moles do vary widely from household to household and from seller to seller. Both the variety and quality of moles to be found in Oaxaca is overwhelming. (Mole is simultaneously the most Mexican and the most international food ever created, typically containing ingredients originating in the Americas (North and South), Europe, Asia and Africa.)
tlayudas
A tlayuda is a large (about the size of a medium pizza) thin tortilla roasted on a comal or over fire and topped with beans and a combination of other ingredients including lard, avocado, some kind of meat, Oaxacan cheese and salsa.
quesillo
Also known as Oaxacan cheese, quesillo is like a slightly more flavorful mozzarella or string cheese. Dominican friars brought the mozzarella idea from Italy to Oaxaca and used cow’s milk instead of buffalo milk. It's made into long ribbons and then bound up like a ball of yarn via the pasta filata process. While clearly an Italian import, the centrality of quesillo to Oaxacan dishes and also the quality of the cheese from Oaxaca makes it central to this region.
Oaxacan tamales
While tamales are universal to Mexico, every region has its different varieties. Oaxacan tamales are wrapped in banana leaves (as is common throughout tropical Mexico and Central America, and often contain uniquely Oaxacan moles).
tetelas
Tetelas are made with corn masa wrapped around a filling that can include beans, chilis, pork, mushrooms, cheese and other ingredients, folded into a triangle shape, grilled and then topped with sour cream, cheese and even roasted grasshoppers.
memelas
Memelas are thick corn tortillas shaped to be filled with a spread of refried beans, lard, quesillo and topped salsa (similar to sopes). They’re shaped like tiny pizzas with a little border around to keep the filling inside the open face memela.
chapulines
Also found throughout Mexico, chapulines (roasted grasshoppers) are especially associated with Oaxaca because of the quantity and variety available in the Oaxaca Valley. Local markets feature baskets of different types piled high and sold by the kilo. They can be eaten in or on various foods, or just eaten by themselves by the handful with chili, lime, garlic or onion and salt.
mezcal
One of the world's most exquisite, complex and sophisticated distilled alcohol drinks, mezcal is made from the agave plant (maguey). Before mezcal can be made, a mezcalero has to wait at least 7 to 9 years to begin the harvest and distillation process as most agave plants take at least 7 years to reach maturity at which point they can be harvested. Some wild agave species take 30 years to reach maturity. While mezcal is made in various regions around Mexico (including tequila, which is just one of the many varieties of mezcal), the vast majority is produced in the Oaxaca valley, which features vast agave plantations like the California wine country features vines. To make most mezcal types, the spikey leaves are cut off and the center "pineapple" is chopped, cooked underground, mashed, fermented and distilled using traditional handcrafted methods that go back generations. Different mezcales have different characteristics based on the type and age of the plant, the terroir of where it's grown, the harvesting, cooking, fermentation and distillation processes, the ingredients added for flavor (including in rare cases turkey meat or specific worms), the style and amount of aging and other factors.
pulque
Pulque, which is fermented agave juice, is to mezcal what beer is to whiskey — it's the same basic ingredient fermented rather than distilled. Before the Spanish arrived, pulque was a drink mainly for the upper classes of native societies, and also used ritualistically. Before the 20th Century, it was drunk more commonly than beer. Pulque is a delightfully sweet and sour drink by itself, and also flavored with fruit juices and other flavorings. In our experience, Oaxaca has the best-tasting pulque we've encountered in Mexico thus far.
The cultural expression of Oaxaca is apparent not only in its gastronomy, but also architecture, art, and preservation of its indigenous traditions that reward the senses with flavors, colors, aromas and beauty.
We're here mainly to continue preparing for the upcoming 2021 Oaxaca Experiences, which will bring people together from abroad to introduce them to local friends and the local community, as well as the beauty and deliciously unparalleled splendor of Oaxacan culture.
This will be a once-in-a-lifetime culinary and cultural immersion to experience Oaxaca’s authentic expressions of flavors, aromas and colors through a deep exploration of its food, beverages, architecture, folk art and handmade crafts as well as the warmth and wisdom of its people. We hope you get to enjoy this epic travel adventure. -Amira