What locals actually eat in Oaxaca

The seven moles

Oaxaca claims seven traditional moles, each with a distinct profile:

• -Mole negro, the black mole with chocolate, the famous one
• -Mole rojo, the red mole, simpler and spicier
• -Mole amarillo, the yellow mole with corn dough
• -Mole verde, the green mole with herbs and pumpkin seeds
• -Mole chichilo, the dark smoky mole
• -Mole coloradito, between red and orange, milder
• -Manchamanteles, the fruit mole with pineapple and plantain

Tlayudas at the market

A large crispy corn tortilla topped with beans, asiento (pork lard), tasajo (thin-sliced beef) or chorizo, Oaxacan cheese, lettuce, and salsa. The Oaxacan flat pizza. Eat at Mercado 20 de Noviembre at the meat counters where they cook in front of you. Around 60 to 90 pesos.

Chapulines, the snack

Grasshoppers, toasted with garlic, salt, lime, and sometimes chili. Crunchy, salty, smaller than a sunflower seed. The most-photographed Oaxacan snack. Sold by women in the markets in small paper cones. Try them, they taste like dried shrimp.

The morning chocolate

Oaxacan chocolate is stone-ground at neighborhood molinos (mills) into discs that you grate into hot water or milk. The morning drink, paired with pan de yema (egg-yolk bread). Mayordomo and La Soledad are the institutional chocolate shops where you can buy the molinillo (the wooden whisk).

Mezcal protocol

Sip mezcal, never shoot it. Real mezcal (artisanal, from a small palenque, often 45 to 50 percent alcohol) is sipped slowly with a wedge of orange and sal de gusano (worm salt). Sabina Sabe and Mezcaloteca are the cocktail bars. Real Minero and Marca Negra for the producers to try.

The modern Oaxacan kitchen

Origen, Casa Oaxaca, and Las Quince Letras for the contemporary takes. Origen by Rodolfo Castellanos has the tasting menu around 60 to 90 euros that takes you through the seven moles in modern plating. Book 3 to 4 weeks ahead.