Corn, Chile, Cacao | 25, Issue 13
They say good things come in threes.
When three things happen to magically weave deep into a culture’s culinary roots, you can best believe I’m all in. With my voracious appetite for food anthropology, I naturally found myself in Oaxaca de Juárez, more widely known as Oaxaca City (pronounced wah-ha-kah), a multicultural and gastronomic hub located in southern Mexico, well isolated from any well-flocked beach resort.
Mexico’s cuisine is born from corn, tracing back to the invention of nixtamalization, a culinary practice originating from ancient Mesoamerica. With the ability to transform vitamin-deficient corn-based diets into nutritious and flavorful masa, it laid the foundation for food staples like tacos and tamales, widely consumed today.
Oaxaca, for some, is the epicenter of heirloom corn preservation, home to some of the most diverse genetic varieties in Mexico. In my search to learn more about maiz criollo (heirloom corn) in Oaxaca, I stumbled upon two other essential staples: cacao and chile. You don’t need to wander far before you realize how ingrained corn, chile, and cacao are in Oaxaca’s daily diet.
I first found them in morning tetelas, triangle-shaped corn masa stuffed with fillings, and champurrado, a hearty Mexican hot chocolate drink thickened with masa, at a humble tortilleria called Itanoni located on the edge of the city center.
In the evening, I found them in the form of tlayudas. This iconic Oaxacan street food boasts a large thin crispy tortilla usually found toasting on street side comals, or griddles, ready to be slathered with refried beans and showered with quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese) and whatever meat your taste buds desire.
A serendipitous turn around a corner at the vibrant maze madness at Mercado 20 de Noviembre led me to tejate, a traditional chocolate milk-like frothy beverage made from toasted corn, fermented cacao, mamey fruit, and cacao flower. Referred to as the “drink of the gods” and once reserved only for the elite Zapotecs and Mixtecos, tejate can be found sprinkled throughout markets in Oaxaca, served in large clay pots by tejateras, the women who prepare this notoriously laborious and complex drink.
Refreshed and rejuvenated, I gulped down the remaining tejate. As I watched the tejatera mix the chocolate nectar with her bare hands, I realized: women are Oaxaca's backbone. My sentiments lingered as I loaded up on caffeine in the city’s cobblestone streets. While café de olla is ubiquitous in Oaxaca, specialty coffee is growing at a feverish rate. Cafébre is a woman-powered coffee shop in the heart of downtown, sourcing primarily from four out of eight coffee growing regions of Oaxaca: Sierra Sur, Tierra Norte, Pluma Hidalgo, and the more sought-after Mixteca-Alta region known for its bright, juicy acidity.
In specialty coffee, education is key in garnering interest. Luckily, more shops are opening with the intention of highlighting Mexican coffee to the locals. Maestro Tostador Coyote embodies coffee education, allowing coffee drinkers to sit at the bar and enjoy the flavor spectrum of varying coffee processes and even offering tastes of harder to come by Peaberry and Maragogipe beans. Café Caracol Púrpura, while further from downtown, celebrates the range of Oaxacan coffee, offering beans originating from Mixteca, Sierra Sur, and La Cañada.
My deep dive into Oaxaca’s culinary scene comes full circle after sipping an espresso from La Cañada, an area with a large community of indigenous farmers. Part of what makes Oaxaca special is its firm roots in its indigenous cultures, with the Zapotec and Mixtec being two of the largest in the state. While women may be the spine, Oaxaca’s indigenous cultures are the heartbeat of the city. Their deep-rooted history remains palpable in all corners of the state, from the arts and crafts to the historical sites of Monte Albán and Mitla to the annual multicultural celebration called Guelaguetza.
I came to Oaxaca hungry for food. I left with a full stomach, a brimming heart, and with caffeine pulsing in my veins. To really fall in love with a place, you’ll have to know its history and its people. Oaxaca is the place to do just that.
JESSICA HERNANDEZ is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, US who documents the intersections of food, culture, and travel. See more of her work at @hernandezjess on Instagram.
We hope you are as excited as we are about our return with the release of 25, Issue 13. A return to print and the availability of these features across sca.coffee/news wouldn’t have been possible without our generous underwriting sponsors for this issue: Bellwether Coffee, DaVinci Gourmet, and Pacific Foods. Thank you so much for your support! Learn more about our underwriters here.