TLAYUDAS, EMPANADAS, MEMELOS, TEJATE, CHOCOLATE Y PAN, CHAPULINES

Memories of wonderful street food in Oaxaca. I probably would not have learned about or tried all these things if it weren't for my friend Irma. She loves to eat at the markets and at the puestos on the street, and she knows the good ones.

One night, we went to the market -- I believe it was the Benito Juarez market -- and I learned that chocolate y pan is a favorite late night snack. You can have chocolate de agua or chocolate de leche. Chocolate de agua (chocolate mixed with sugar and water) is more traditional for Mexicans, but chocolate de leche is more to our north american taste. Along with it you get pan de yema, a big puffy roll that is yellowish inside (yema is egg yok). You dip big chunks of bread into the hot chocolate and eat it --- usually there is some left to drink too. Yumm.

Another night we went to the same place -- Abuelita's -- and ordered tlayudas which are gigantic crisp tortillas topped with beans and meat or chorizo or cheese. We each ordered one, but neither of us could finish the whole thing. Unusual -- for me at least.

One day, on our way to find the right vehicle that would take us to Ocotlan, south of the city (more about that later), suddenly Irma spotted a stand that she knew (she has a good eye for food) on the street. So, other plans went on hold for the moment, and we sat down and ordered empanadas ... and then memelas. They are similar.... but different masa and different fillings, different shapes. This time we ate it all!!

Tejate is a very traditional drink originating from prehispanic times and each maker guards her recipe carefully and won't allow outsiders see her make it. It doesn't look very appetizing to a gringo eye but I developed a taste for it -- mainly because Irma never seemed to pass up an opportunity to have some, and I always followed her lead. It looks sort of like pond water with foam on top and the taste is hard to describe, but it is very thirst quenching and refreshing. Toasted maize flour, fermented cacao beans, mamey pits, and flor de cacao are ground into a paste, like a sort of mole, and then mixed with cold water by hand. When it is ready, a pasty foam formed by the flor de cacao and oily mamey pit rises to the top. It is served into cups out of huge pottery bowls. Each cup gets a bit of sugar water, then the tejate topped with a little of the foam.

Chapulines -- grasshoppers. You find them in every market, fried with lime and seasoning -- whole or chopped up. I started with the chopped up version, and then moved on to the whole ones. I have to say it was a bit easier to eat the whole ones when they were wrapped up in a nice warm tortilla. Good protein source and surprisingly tasty!!

I found a spanish "dicho" that fits my food experience in Oaxaca: "Atascate ahora que hay lodo" or "Pig out while you have the chance".