Gastronomad

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Why Mexico City loves Oaxaca!

Americans love Mexico City. And people in Mexico City love Oaxaca.

We just concluded an extraordinary and enchanting Mexico City Gastronomad Experience, where we delighted our palates with some of the world’s best cuisine created by some of Mexico City’s most talented chefs. It was an unforgettable and delicious week filled with meticulously curated culinary travel delights to highlight the very best gastronomy Mexico City has to offer.

It may surprise you to know that during our Mexico City Gastronomad Experiences, Oaxaca comes up again and again.

Mexico City is a culinary treasure that offers something truly unique: The complete, nationwide spectrum of regional Mexican cuisines in perfectly authentic form, all available in dizzying variety in one location. The cuisine of Mexico combines pre-Hispanic foods — the legacy of food domestication and farming practices that goes back thousands of years — with global foods brought by the Spanish.

If there’s a type of food available in Mexico, you can be sure it’s also available in Mexico City. From the barbecue of Monterey and the seafood culture of Baja to the Mayan and Caribbean flavors of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico City is an unrivaled gastronomic heaven. (Even Los Angeles, California, is considered a distinct region for Mexican food.)

However, as great as all the regional cuisines authentically represented in Mexico City are, there’s no question in the minds of Mexico City chefs that Oaxaca reigns supreme. Oaxaca is Mexico's top food culture.

During our Mexico City Gastronomad Experience, the city’s greatest chefs served us tiny tlayudas — the iconic (and delicious) Oaxaca street food staple. Our dishes were graced with Oaxacas cheese, Oaxacan herbs (like hoja santa), heirloom blue corn from Oaxaca, coffee that grows well only in the mountains of Oaxaca and rare Oaxacan chilis like the chilhuacle. We enjoyed mind-blowing Oaxaca-style black mole. And, of course, all the exquisite mezcals we enjoyed during our Mexico City Gastronomad Experience were made in Oaxaca.

In fact, the two highest-rated restaurants in the Americas are both Mexico City restaurants that feature Oaxacan ingredients, dishes and cooking techniques: The legendary Pujol and Quintonil.

And it’s no surprise. Oaxaca is the greatest food region in one of the greatest food countries in the world.

You can join our Mexico City Gastronomad Experience and taste for yourself the most exquisite Mexican cuisine and wine and drinks, (including that city’s sophisticated take on Oaxacan cuisine). And you can also join our Oaxaca Gastronomad Experience. We’ll introduce you to the chef who taught Mexico City how to make Oaxacan food. We’ll take you to the Oaxacan mezcal country to taste the greatest mezcals ever made. Best of all, we’ll introduce you to the indigenous people keeping these food traditions alive and making the most authentic expression of them.

-Amira