On our way to the market we tell the tout accosting us with tickets to the nearby Monte Alban archaeological site that we are looking for chocolate for breakfast. He stops his pestering and says, “Ah, it will give you energy.”

And indeed it does. Chocolate originated in Mexico and in Oaxaca (a charming colonial city in the south of the country, pronounced “Wahaca”) you will find clusters of shops grinding cocoa beans with sugar and cinnamon or vanilla. Chocolate here is for drinking rather than eating – cups of hot, milky chocolate frothed with a molinillo (a special wooden chocolate whisk) set us up for the day.

Eager to try more local specialities we continue in search of the market: Mexican market food stalls, where mama and her daughters cook, offer some of the most authentic local food.

On the outskirts of the market, women offer us crimson chapulines to try. Crunchy but with little flavour, these fried grasshoppers tossed in lime and chilli must be the original snack to nibble with beer.

More to our taste are the local cheeses. Some are fresh, tipped out of their mould and wrapped in plastic when we buy them, but most famous is queso Oaxaca – ribbons of stringy cheese rolled into a ball. It is widely used in quesadillas, huevos (eggs) Oaxaqueño and on another Oaxacan speciality, tlayudas. These large, crisp tortillas are topped with tomatoes, the ubiquitous frijoles (mashed beans), cheese and other flavourings such as spicy crumbled chorizo.

From a side alley, the primordial aroma of grilling meat wafts into the main market. Charcoal grills sizzle large, thin pieces of meat, which are served with bowls of radishes, onions and tomatoes, salsas and stacks of tortillas.

Oaxaca is famous for its seven moles: thick, complicated sauces made from various combinations of nuts, spices, tomatoes, chillies and sometimes chocolate. Like Mexicans themselves, moles are a fusion of colonial Spanish and indigenous ingredients and can be found everywhere, from a flavouring for street-corner tamales (corn dough wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves then steamed) to smothering turkey for special family celebrations. You can even buy a ready-made mole paste to take home and reconstitute.

We work our way through a rainbow of moles – from amarillo (yellow) to rojo (red), verde (green), negro (black) and coloradito (brick red) – of varying spiciness and flavour. Some come enveloping a chicken leg while others, like the amarillo, are more like a soup.

Susana Trilling from the local Seasons of My Heart cooking school (seasonsofmyheart.com) introduces us to two less common moles: mancha manteles, which contains plantains and pineapple, and chichilo, made with blackened tortillas.

Freshly squeezed juices, cut fruit and ice-creams are some of the more refreshing delights of Mexican street stalls. In a shady corner of the zócalo (the main square) a man with a box of oranges, a hand press and a stack of plastic cups squeezes juice to order. Larger stalls offer other wonderful drinks, including purple Jamaica water (chilled hibiscus flower tea) and beige horchata (rice water flavoured with almonds and cinnamon). Grazing from dawn to dusk is all part of the fun of Mexico – we’ve certainly needed the energy provided by that early-morning hot chocolate.

MARKET HUNTING
There are several markets in Oaxaca. Close to the zócalo, behind the Mercado de Artesanias, is Mercado 20 de Noviembre, full of food stalls of all descriptions. There’s a cluster of chocolate shops behind the market where you can see cocoa beans being ground and buy hot chocolate. The city’s biggest market is Central de Abastos, which sells everything from hardware to food. There’s a greater variety of food stalls here – we even saw live turkeys for sale, tied up by their legs. This market, which you need to negotiate the city’s ring road to reach, is busiest on Saturdays.


Images: Georgia Kral, Ed Fladung