My friend Mojdeh does cultural tours in Mexico City, and for more than a year we’ve been planning for me to go visit her neighborhood south of town. She lives in the Colonia Santo Domingo near Metro Copilco, almost to the UNAM.
There are several tianguis (the Nahuatl word meaning outdoor neighborhood market) [...]
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I snapped this a few months ago at Plaza Meave on Eje Central, in the Centro Histórico. They’ve got the biggest spit (trompo in Spanish) that I’ve seen in the city. It’s always crowded, and fun to just sit and watch — the taquero works like a madman, slicing meat with one [...]
Continue Reading →I’m helping out my friend Penny de los Santos with her photography workshop this weekend. I’ve been leading folks around, taking them to markets and street food stands, and encouraging them to try pulque and mezcal.
In return they’ve encouraged me to take out my camera from its lonely hiding place. It’s not [...]
Continue Reading →Per my usual food experience in Mexico City, I kept seeing muéganos on the street and had no idea what they were. Was this a nutty popcorn ball of sorts? Or a sickly sweet, praline concoction where you could feel the sugar granules under your teeth?
Fany’s cookbook had a recipe. It [...]
Continue Reading →I hadn’t spent much time in San Miguel de Allende until about a week ago, when I went for the annual writers’ conference.
To be honest, I didn’t really have a high opinion of the place — Crayton and I spent one afternoon there in 2007 and I remember feeling annoyed [...]
Continue Reading →Maiz quebrado means “cracked corn.” In the state of Querétaro, it refers to a type of coarsely ground masa used to make gorditas. The masa is stuffed with either cheese or chicharrón (called migajas in Querétaro), patted thin, and then fried until tortilla-chip crispy.
Continue Reading →The pambazo never appealed to me until a few days ago, when I was puttering around Mercado San Juan Arcos de Belén, trying to brainstorm some new snack ideas for Eat Mexico.
Pambazos aren’t exactly snacks. They’re plump, bulging sandwiches stuffed with potato and chorizo. The roll — which according [...]
Continue Reading →It’s a myth that eating any street food in Mexico City will make you sick.
But if you’re not used to eating on the street here, you shouldn’t just pick any stand. One of the most common questions I get through my Eat Mexico tours is: “How do you choose where to take [...]
Continue Reading →The other day, I was really craving a torta. This doesn’t happen to me that often (I’m much more of a tlacoyos girl) but this craving was undeniable: I needed a stack of meat, melted cheese and avocado piled between layers of soft bread.
Since I don’t eat tortas [...]
Continue Reading →One of the most uniquely Mexican things to do in this town is to watch a quesadilla being made on the street and then bite into it while it’s still hot.
The women — it’s almost always women making quesadillas — slap a ball of masa into shape, or press it inside a [...]
Continue Reading →Who is Mija?
Mija is Lesley Téllez, a food writer and culinary guide based in Mexico City. In 2010 I co-founded the tourism company Eat Mexico.On FB!
