While I’m not a foodie traveler who visits places just for their food, many people are. And if you’re especially interested in the local food culture, there are plenty of food tours you can take during your visit.
One of Oaxaca’s trademark dishes is the tlayuda, which consists of ingredients like cheese, beans and other options like pork, placed over a spread tortilla or within one that’s been folded over. These tortillas are often crispy.
A single tlayuda is often large enough to constitute a full meal, and you’ll be able to try a wide variety of tlayudas all over town.
In total, I’ve stayed in Oaxaca for over two months and tried countless tlayudas. To be honest, I don’t quite get the hype, as I found many of them to be quite bland. But I kept trying them to see if there was something I might be missing! For what it’s worth, the best tlayuda I had in Oaxaca was at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre in the south part of town.
Another Oaxaca trademark is mole, a traditional type of red sauce that’s often served over chicken.
If you’re on a budget, Oaxaca also has some of the cheapest all-you-can-eat buffets I’ve ever encountered. You’ll find a couple of restaurants on Av Jose Maria Morelos where you can stuff yourself for as little as 70 pesos. I found the food to be of high quality considering the price.
Another place I enjoyed was the organic market called The Harvest in the Santo Domingo neighborhood, where you’ll find a wide variety of traditional food stands.
Oaxaca is also famous for an alcoholic beverage known as mezcal. I’m not a very big drinker these days and just tried it once for the experience. But if you’re into mezcal, there are plenty of ‘mezcalerias’ all over town, while there are lots of tours that can take you to well-known mezcal distilleries in the Oaxaca countryside like this one.