The Secret to Finding the Best Food in Oaxaca
The famous restaurants are fine, but with these tips you can easily eat better.
Ask for the woman who sells the tamales.
Photographer: Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty ImagesThere is no shortage of guidebooks and online resources with advice about where to eat in Oaxaca or other places in Mexico. I’m here to impart several secrets that most of those sources do not reveal, even if they pretend to provide “the real scoop.”
First, if you do it right, most of your best meals will be eaten before 3 p.m., sometimes even before 10 a.m. Most “comida popular,” as it is called, is sold in the earlier parts of the work day, as the evening meal is typically eaten at home with family. Those are the supply chains you wish to catch, because they will have the freshest food and ingredients. Treat your dinner as an afterthought, but plan the earlier part of your day carefully.