Strolling in Oaxaca - food, drink, shopping
Oaxaca’s Guide
food, drink, shopping
I have realized that every time I go to Mexico, I come back with something stranded deep inside, a higher vision, almost as high as its skies and clouds. Maybe it’s a deeper way of seeing some inherently very simple things in life. Take kindness, for example. I really enjoyed my previous trips and encounters in both the Sonora and in the Yucatán areas, and recently I visited the Oaxaca state. This time, I really felt that the Oaxaqueños and their history and culture are so gracefully translated in their mindset that it would have been silly not to embrace the attitude of generousness and kindness. And so I walked, then sat and listened.
Thanks to locals and to a visit at the Indigenous Museum in CDMX , I have learned that 1/3 of Oaxaqueños are speakers of indigenous languages. There are four main indigenous groups in the region - Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Mazatecos and Mixe. However, the structure is very complex and detailed into other minorities. As one of the local guides explained “we were able to cultivate our knowledge and our heritage at home, but not at school nor in public places. The stigma attached to our indigenous culture is still very real but our communities are working on so many levels in order to preserve it”.
Needless to say, I have never experienced such level of detailed attention and knowledge towards ingredients. Imagine a place where you have 1,800 varieties of corn, 350 species of edible herbs, 50 varieties of beans (out of 150 known species of bean plants in the world), 25 locally-grown varieties of chiles and the local variety of criollo cocoa. Oaxaca has its own recipes directly linked to each indigenous community.
Oaxaca is the state of mezcal and when it comes to this distilled beverage made with a choice of 30 varieties of piña (agave), the drinker needs to drink and savor it slowly, just like any Italian amaro, by kissing the rim of the glass.
I found Chef Olga Cabrera’s Mixteca culinary philosophy a great example of the local gastronomic culture: at her restaurant Tierra del Sol, each dish is labeled according to its origin: P stands for pre-hispanic heritage, M for mestizo (the fusion of new ingredients brought in during colonialism) and and A for authored; created by the Chef herself and inspired by the five families of ingredients: corn, quelites (edible herbs), frijoles (beans), chiles and cocoa.
The most astounding characteristic linked to Oaxaca’s culture is its handcraft heritage: from pottery to rug making, several organizations, galleries and local shops contribute to the continuity of local traditions.
