Food & Drink

Look at a map of Mexico, and it's not difficult to imagine the whole country as a giant cornucopia. Let that be the guiding image on your culinary adventure through this country. It's likely that all of the Mexican cuisine you've heretofore consumed has merely been skimmed off the top, leaving all of the interesting, lesser-known fruits at the intriguing bottom of the bounty. Yes, Mexicans eat beans, rice, and tacos, but they also eat complex dishes like the countless variations of mole, an intricate sauce that can contain 100 different ingredients and take up to 3 days to prepare; almejas rellenas, fresh clam baked in its shell with butter, ham, jalapeños, tomatoes, and onions; and pozole, a hearty pork or chicken soup served with radishes, cilantro, avocado, and fried pork rinds as garnish.

Despite regional differences, some generalizations can be made to help you navigate. Mexican food usually isn't spicy-hot or piquant when it arrives at the table (though many dishes must have a certain amount of piquancy, and some home cooking can be very spicy, depending on a family's or chef's tastes). The picante flavor is added with chiles and salsas after the food is served; you'll never see a table in Mexico without one or both of these condiments. Mexicans don't drown their cooking in cheese and sour cream, a la Tex-Mex, and they use a greater variety of ingredients than most people expect. But the basis of Mexican food is simple -- tortillas, beans, chiles, squash, and tomatoes -- the same as it was centuries ago before the arrival of the Europeans.

A Debt of Gratitude

Lost among the laurels heaped upon the ancient Maya for their contributions to science, mathematics, architecture, astronomy, and writing is the wide array of foods they introduced to the rest of the world. It's no exaggeration to say the Maya changed the world's eating habits in the 1500s. Just try to imagine life without:

Chocolate -- The Maya's "food of the gods," made from the toasted, fermented seeds of the cacao tree, is arguably the New World's greatest gift to civilization. Though Cortez learned of chocolate from the Aztecs, the Maya ate it many centuries earlier and used cacao beans as currency.

Vanilla -- The elixir from the world's only known edible orchid originally flavored Maya chocolate drinks. Southern Mexico's jungle is still the only place the orchid grows wild, pollinated by native stingless bees that produce Maya honey. The prized Tahitian vanilla, which came from Mexican stock, must be hand-pollinated.

Corn -- The Popul Vuh, the Maya creation myth, attributes humankind's very existence to this domesticated strain of wild grass, easily the most important food in the Americas. Thousands of years after corn became a dietary staple, the Maya started cultivating it around 2500 B.C. and abandoned their nomadic ways to settle in villages surrounded by cornfields.

Chiles -- Chiles have been cultivated in the Americas for more than 6,000 years. Blame Christopher Columbus for calling them "peppers," but credit him for their worldwide reach. Southern Mexico's Capsicum annuum species, with its many cultivars, is crucial to nearly every fiery cuisine.

Tomatoes -- Even the Italians had to make do without tomato sauce before Columbus set out for the New World. Precursors originated in Peru, but the tomato as we know it came from the Yucatán, where the Maya cultivated it long before the conquest.

Black beans -- Archaeological digs indicate the black bean originated in southern Mexico and Central America more than 7,000 years ago. Still the favorite in and around the Yucatán, the black bean spread widely throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States.

Avocado -- From its origins in southern Mexico, where it was used as an aphrodisiac, the avocado spread to the Rio Grande and central Peru before the Europeans found out about it.

Papaya -- The large, woody, fast-growing herb -- commonly referred to as a tree -- was used to treat stomach ailments. After spreading from southern Mexico, it now grows in every tropical country.

The Staples

Tortillas -- Like the crusty baguette in France, a perfect tortilla can truly round out your meal. When the Spaniards tried to imitate traditional corn tortillas with flour imported from the Old World, the humid conditions in southern and central Mexico ruined the dough. They had more success in hotter, drier conditions in northern states like Sonora, Chihuahua, and Baja California, and over time, the popularity of the round morsels spread north. Today flour tortillas are arguably the most popular with American tastes. However, the traditional corn tortilla, made from corn that's been cooked in water and lime, then ground into masa (a grainy dough), patted and pressed into thin cakes, and cooked on a hot griddle known as a comal, remains king in most of Mexico. In fact, until recently, it was difficult to find the large flour tortillas used to make burritos anywhere south of Chihuahua.

Whether they're sopping up shrimp molcajetes in Jalisco or beans and rice in Oaxaca, Mexicans oftentimes use both varieties of tortillas as an alternative to silverware, ripping off large pieces and using them to scoop up food.

Salsa -- You can usually tell whether or not you're going to like a restaurant based on their salsa alone. If the cooks are inventive with tomatoes and spices, just imagine what they can do with a piece of steak -- that's my philosophy. A place gets extra bonus points if they bring out a tray with three or more choices. This fantasy presentation more than likely includes pico de gallo, the most simple and common variety of fresh cilantro, tomatoes, jalapeños, and onions. Another favorite is salsa chipotle, which has more of a smokey taste, thanks to the chipotle chile. Salsa verde, made with tomatillos instead of regular red tomatoes, can be a tangier, milder option. Beyond these three options are as many salsas as there are colors in the rainbow, so always make sure you have plenty of tortilla chips on hand in order to try them all.

Tacos -- I once asked a friend to tell me something all Mexicans have in common. "Well, we all like tacos," he replied. Whether its tacos al pastor made with gyro-style spit-grilled meat in Mexico City, or beer-battered shrimp tacos in Ensenada, just about every region has its own take on this quintessential fast food.

A taco is anything folded or rolled into a tortilla, and sometimes a double tortilla. The tortilla can be served either soft or fried. Flautas, gringas, and quesadillas (except in Mexico City, where they are something quite different) are species of tacos.

Frijoles -- In private households, pink or black beans are served at least once a day -- and, among the working class, with every meal, if the family can afford it. Mexicans almost always prepare beans with a minimum of condiments, usually just a little onion and garlic and a pinch of herbs. Beans are meant to be a contrast to the heavily spiced foods in a meal. Sometimes they are served at the end of a meal with a little Mexican-style sour cream.

Mexicans often fry leftover beans and serve them on the side as frijoles refritos. Refritos is often translated as "refried," but this is a misnomer -- the beans are fried only once. The prefix re means "well" (as in "thoroughly"), so a proper translation would be "well-fried beans."

Tamales -- You make a tamal by mixing corn masa with a little lard, beating the batter, adding one of several fillings -- meats flavored with chiles -- then wrapping it in a corn husk or in the leaf of a banana or other plant, and steaming it. Every region in Mexico has its own traditional way of making tamales. In some places, a single tamal can be big enough to feed a family; in others, they are barely 3 inches long and only about an inch thick.

Chiles -- There are many kinds of hot peppers, and Mexicans call each of them by one name when they're fresh and another when they're dried. Some are blazing hot with little flavor; some are mild but have a rich, complex flavor. They can be pickled, smoked, stuffed, or stewed. And as the song says, they can be hot and delicious all at once.

Drinks

All over Mexico, you'll find shops selling licuados -- excellent and refreshing juices and smoothies made from several kinds of tropical fruit. (A note of linguistic caution: In Spanish, the word for tuna, atún, is confusingly similar to the word for a small cactus fruit, tuna. Make sure you know which one is going in your licuado.) You'll also come across aguas frescas -- water flavored with hibiscus, melon, tamarind, or lime. So if you ask for "agua" and the response is "what kind?" this is what they're talking about. If you want bottled water, ask for agua natural or agua embotellada bottled water. Pepsi and Coca-Cola taste the way they did in the United States years ago, before the makers started adding corn syrup.

The coffee is generally good, and hot chocolate is a traditional drink, as is atole -- a hot, corn-based beverage that goes back thousands of years and can be sweet or bitter.

Mexico has a proud and lucrative beer-brewing tradition that goes back to the German immigrants who arrived in the early 1800s. With the exception of Minerva beers out of Guadalajara, Jalisco, you'll be hard-pressed to find any variety beyond amber and light. What you will find, however, is a variety of beer concoctions, including the chelada, beer with lime juice and salt; and its sophisticated cousin, the michelada, which may contain hot sauce, Worcester sauce, salt, and lime. The names and recipes vary regionally, so if you're squeamish, ask your waiter.

A less-known brewed beverage is pulque, a pre-Hispanic drink made of the fermented juice of a few species of maguey or agave. Mostly you find it for sale in pulquerías in central Mexico. Potential drinkers, beware: A friend once described it as a glass of gloop, and I think she was being generous. Mezcal and tequila also come from the agave. Tequila is a variety of mezcal produced from the a. tequilana Weber species of agave in and around the area of Tequila, in the state of Jalisco. Mezcal comes from various parts of Mexico and from different varieties of agave. The distilling process is usually much less sophisticated than that of tequila, and, with its stronger smell and taste, mezcal is much more easily detected on the drinker's breath, an important detail to keep in mind, as more cities have been cracking down on drunk driving. In some places, such as Oaxaca, it comes with a worm in the bottle; you are supposed to eat the worm after polishing off the mezcal. But for those teetotalers out there who are interested in just the worm, I have good news -- you can find these worms for sale in Mexican markets when in season. ¡Salud!

Tequila Sun Rising -- You can tug on Superman's cape, you can spit into the wind, but whatever you do, don't mess with tequila in Mexico. Tequila lovers savor the subtle flavors of the agave spirit and prefer to take it like wine, sip by sip, over the course of an entire meal. They will likely gasp in horror if you throw back a shot of Jose Cuervo like a coed on spring break, and pity you the next day when you wake with a monster hangover.

The makers of tequila have formed an association to establish standards for labeling and denomination. The best tequilas are invariably 100% agave, which means that they were made with a set minimum of sugar to prime the fermentation process. These tequilas come in three categories, based on how they were stored: blanco, reposado, and añejo. Blanco is white Tequila aged very little, usually in steel vats. Reposado (reposed) is aged in wooden casks for between 2 months and a year. And añejo (aged) has been stored in oak barrels -- oftentimes reused whisky barrels from the U.S. -- for at least a year. A good way to ease into the world of tequila appreciation is to order a bandera (flag), which consists of a shot of tequila and shots of lime and tomato juice. Each individual glass represents a color in the Mexican flag. The mix of flavors is superb.

Markets & Restaurants

Exploring the culinary delights of a tianguis, or traditional market, is one of my favorite pastimes. Not only is the people-watching always top notch, but the food stalls offer up lots of creative surprises, including everything from strawberry shortcakes covered in fresh cream to juicy cheeseburgers and onion rings. In order to ensure your chances of getting the healthiest food possible, visit stands that seem to be popular among the locals. Word spreads fast in Mexico, so it doesn't take long for customers to root out the stalls with less than stellar hygiene practices.

On the other side of the spectrum, avoid eating at those inviting sidewalk restaurants that you see beneath the stone archways that border the main plazas. These places usually cater to tourists and don't need to count on getting any return business. But they are great for getting a coffee or beer and watching the world turn.

In most nonresort towns, there are always one or two restaurants (sometimes it's a coffee shop) that are social centers for a large group of established patrons. These establishments over time become virtual institutions, and change comes very slowly to them. The food is usually good standard fare, cooked as it was 20 years ago, and the decor is simple. The patrons have known each other and the staff for years, and the charla (banter), gestures, and greetings are friendly, open, and unaffected. If you're curious about Mexican culture, these are fun places to eat in and observe the goings-on.

During your trip, you're going to see many taquerías (taco joints). These are generally small places with a counter or a few tables set around the cooking area; you get to see exactly how they make their tacos before deciding whether to order. Most tacos come with a little chopped onion and cilantro, but not with tomato and lettuce. Find one that seems popular with the locals and where the cook performs with brio (a good sign of pride in the product). Sometimes there will be a woman making the tortillas right there (or working the masa into gorditas or sopes, if these are also served). You will never see men doing this -- this is perhaps the strictest gender division in Mexican society. Men do all other cooking and kitchen tasks, and work with already-made tortillas, but will never be found working masa.

Food Hygiene

Many travelers to Mexico ask about the safety of beverages with ice. The truth is that most restaurants and bars buy ice made from purified water. This ice is made by the same kind of machinery all across Mexico. It produces ice cubes that have a rough cylindrical shape with a hollow center. They're easy to spot in your glass and are a sign that the ice is hygienic. Plain block ice carries no such guarantee. Likewise, almost all restaurants that cater to middle-class Mexicans use filtered water and disinfect vegetables, but street vendors and market stalls may not. I've gotten sick only a couple of times in my years of living here. I've found that a good way of keeping my stomach happy is by drinking one of the tiny Yakult yogurt drinks found in the dairy section of just about every grocery store or corner market.

Dining Service Tips

• For the main meal of the day, many restaurants offer a multicourse blue-plate special called comida corrida or menú del día. This is the most inexpensive way to get a full dinner.
• In Mexico, you need to ask for your check; it is considered inhospitable to present a check to someone who hasn't requested it. If you're in a hurry, ask for the check when your food arrives.
• Tips are about the same as in the U.S. You'll sometimes find a 15% value-added tax on restaurant meals, which shows up on the bill as IVA. This is effectively the tip -- a boon to arithmetically challenged tippers.
• To summon the waiter, wave or raise your hand, but don't motion with your index finger, which is a demeaning gesture that may even cause the waiter to ignore you. Or if it's the check you want, you can motion to the waiter from across the room using the universal pretend-like-you're-writing gesture.