Tourism to Mexico is definitely back! After over a year of waiting for tourism to be possible again, Mexico Cooks! has recently booked and completed three tours and has more in the works. If you'd like to visit Mexico this summer or in early fall, contact me ASAP to save the dates you'd like to travel with me. We can tour in Michoacán–off the beaten path and fabulous–in Oaxaca, in Guadalajara, or in Mexico City: each of those cities and their surrounding towns has the GREEN LIGHT for visitors! Make plans now so I can reserve your tour dates. And PS–as of April 28, 2021, I am fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
A market tour in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. I'm holding a mamey fruit. The mamey's scientific name is poutería sapote. I've never seen a mamey in the USA or in Canada, have you? Ask me about its dark-brown seed…
One of the great pleasures of my life is the number of tours Mexico Cooks! gives to lots of excited tourists. Small, specialized tours are a joy to organize: the participants generally have common interests, a thirst for knowledge, and a hunger for–well, for Mexico Cooks!' tour specialties: street and municipal markets, food and the preparation of food–and of course eating! Touring a food destination (a street market in Michoacán, an enclosed market in Guadalajara, a crawl through some Mexico City street stands, or meals in a series of upscale restaurants) is about far more than a brief look at a fruit, a vegetable, or a basket of freshly made tortillas.
A Pátzcuaro street vendor holds out a partially unwrapped tamal de trigo (wheat tamal). It's sweetened with piloncillo (Mexican raw sugar) and a few plump raisins, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed. Taste? It's all but identical to a bran muffin, and every tour participant enjoyed a pinch of it.
This is the single best dish I have eaten in 2021. Aguachile de ribeye (frizzled leeks, locally grown avocado, and mildly spicy aguachile atop a large, perfectly cooked ribeye, at my favorite restaurant in Morelia, Michoacán. Order it as an appetizer to share, or as your personal main dish. The owners say it won't be on the menu for long, so come the minute you can and we'll have our tour's opening dinner there. Honestly, you'll crave it when you get back home! (And no, those aren't beans on the plate–it's the knobby texture of the plate!)
A tour planned to your specifications can lead you to places you didn't know you wanted to go, but that you would not have missed for the world. Here, Donna talks with the man who makes these enormous adobe bricks. He let her try to pick up the laden wheelbarrow. She could barely get its legs off the ground! He laughed, raised the handles, and whizzed away with his load.
Several times in recent years, small groups wanted to tour traditional bakeries in Mexico City. The photo shows one tiny corner of the enormous Pastelería La Ideal in the Centro Histórico. Just looking at the photo brings the sweet fragrances back to mind. And never mind the taste of the delicious pastries!
Ramon and Annabelle wanted an introduction to how ordinary people live and shop in Guadalajara. We spent a highly entertaining morning at the Tianguis del Sol, a three-times-a-week outdoor market in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara. Our first stop was for breakfast, then we shopped for unusual produce, fresh spices, and other goodies that they don't often see in their home town. Annabelle said she felt right at home because so much of the style and flavor of this market was similar to what she experienced in the markets near her home town in the Philippines.
We went for comida (main meal of the day, at around 3:00PM) to the original location of Guadalajara's Karne Garibaldi. The restaurant does one thing–carne en su jugo (meat in its juice)–and does it exceptionally well. The food is plentiful, delicious, and affordable. The place is always packed, and usually has a line to get in!
Ramon wanted to try tejuino, a regional drink specialty in the Guadalajara area. Mixed when you order it, the refreshing, barely fermented drink is thickened with a bit of masa de maíz (corn dough) and served with a pinch of salt and a small scoop of lemon ice.
Pillars of nopal cactus paddles, each pillar taller than a man, at Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City. La Merced is the largest retail market in Mexico, if not in all of Latin America. It's the ultimate market experience and just a partial tour takes the better part of a morning. Comfortable walking shoes are a necessity–let's go!
A more intimate, up-close-and-personal Mexico City market tour takes us through the Mercado San Juan. The San Juan is renowned for its gourmet selection of meats, fish and shellfish, cheeses, and wild mushrooms–among a million other things you might not expect to find.
Pepitorias are a sweet specialty of Mexico's capital city. Crunchy and colorful obleas (wafers) enclose sticky syrup and squash seeds. Mexico Cooks!' tour groups usually try these at the Bazar Sábado in San Ángel.
Lovely and fascinating people and events are around almost any Mexican corner. The annual Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia opens every year with several blocks of carpets made of flowers. Residents of Patamban, Michoacán work all night to create the carpets for the festival. This piano is made entirely of plant material. Enlarge any picture for a closer view.
Entire flowers, fuzzy pods, and flower petals are used to create the carpets' ephemeral beauty and design; these carpets last two days at most.
In November 2012, one of Mexico Cooks!' tours was dazzled by a special Morelia concert given by Tania Libertad. With Tania is Rosalba Morales Bartolo, a fabulous traditional cook from San Jerónimo Purenchécuaro, Michoacán, who presented the artist with various handcrafted items from the state–including the lovely coral necklace and rebozo (shawl) that Tania is wearing.
What in the world is THAT? A tour at a major Mexico City market offered this laugh to my clients: me swinging a cow tail! No matter where we start our tour and no matter what we plan together for your itinerary, a Mexico Cooks! tour always includes a terrific surprise or two, special memories to take home, and the thirst for more of Mexico.
Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
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