page_title: Oaxacan cuisine
section_title: Distinctions
hierarchical_section_title: Oaxacan cuisine / Distinctions
caption_attribution_description: English: "Chileajo" pork with a sauce made from a yellow chili pepper. Regional to Huajuapan, Oaxaca
context_page_description: Oaxacan cuisine is a regional cuisine of Mexico, centered on the city of Oaxaca, the capital of the state of the same name located in southern Mexico. Oaxaca is one of Mexico's major gastronomic, historical, and gastro-historical centers whose cuisine is known internationally. Like the rest of Mexican cuisine, Oaxacan food is based on staples such as corn, beans and chile peppers, but there is a great variety of other ingredients and food preparations due to the influence of the state's varied geography and indigenous cultures. Corn and many beans were first cultivated in Oaxaca. Well known features of the cuisine include ingredients such as chocolate, Oaxaca cheese, mezcal and grasshoppers with dishes such as tlayudas, Oaxacan style tamales and seven notable varieties of mole sauce. The cuisine has been praised and promoted by food experts such as Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless and is part of the state's appeal for tourists.
context_section_description: Because of its mountain ranges, the state has a number of climates and cultures, which contributes to making the cuisine the most varied in Mexico. The state has coastal areas with seafood, the Central Valley region grows a wide variety of vegetables, and the area near Veracruz provides a year-round supply of tropical fruits. It also has seventeen recognized indigenous groups, who contribute their own cooking traditions. The cooking of each region in the state is characterized by local ingredients and to some extent cooking methods. One example is that of the Triques, who are known for their pit barbecuing. However, despite its rich culinary tradition, Oaxaca is a poor state and many struggle to eat decently.
  Oaxaca's dietary staple is corn, which has been Mexico's for over 7,000 years. Corn is generally dried and ground to create a dough, which is used for a number of dishes including entomatadas, empanadas and tamales. Tortillas are called blandas and are a part of nearly every meal. The main flavoring agent is the chili pepper, with varieties such amarillos, chilhuacles, chilcostles and costeños, but the most distinctive is the pasilla oaxaqueña chile. Distinctive herbs include hoja santa, often used in chicken, pork, and fish dishes as well as mole verde, along with epazote and a local herb called “pitonia.” Two well known aspects of the cuisine are the use of chocolate for drinking and various edible insects, especially grasshoppers called chapulines (see below). Lesser known regional specialties include ice cream flavored with rose petals, and squash flowers found in empanadas, quesadillas, soups and more. 
  As for beans, Oaxacan cuisine prefers black beans in many varieties: cooked with aniseed and served in the form of soup, as a topping for street food, or with scrambled eggs in huevos con frijoles.
  Another distinctive ingredient is Oaxaca cheese also called quesillo, used to make empanadas, tortas and tlayudas.
  Oaxacan cooking varies region by region but a number of dishes can be found in nearly all parts of the state. Tlayudas are large chewy tortillas with toppings of beans, guacamole, meat or seafood and cheese. The most traditional Oaxacan tamales are large, wrapped in banana leaves with a mole filling.  Other tamale varieties include amarillo (yellow), verde (green), rajas (chili pepper strips), chepil, elote (fresh corn) and dulce (sweet). In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there is a variation with iguana meat and along the coast it can contain seafood.  Oaxaca is famous for its chocolate, traditionally hand ground and combined with almonds, cinnamon and other ingredients, usually drunk as a hot beverage. Other well known Oaxacan dishes include chorizo oaxaqueño, tasajo, cecina enchilada, cocido oaxaqueño  and various sauces such as molcajete, chintextle, borracha, chile pasilla, guajillo y ajo and gusanitos. Besides chocolate, other typical drinks include mezcal, various types of atole, champurrado and various fruit based drinks.
caption: Chileajo, a mole regional to Huajuapan de León.
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