In my experience, street food can be hit and miss – sometimes it is luscious, cheap food on the go and other times it’s just food poisoning waiting to happen. This was less the case in Mexico City. The majority of stalls were simple and clean with some very tasty options along the way.
The best street food we had was at a street-side, Saturday market the day before we came home. We had to have tacos, but we snuck a few other treats in along the way:
1. Taquitos – crispy, deep-fried, corn tortilla flutes filled with your choice of meat and/or vegetables topped with crema, lettuce and crumbled cheese. My favourite filling was the creamy potato with crispy crumbles of Mexican chorizo, but the rich, creamy zucchini flowers with garlic and epazote came a close second.
2. Tacos Al Pastor – a special kind of taco filled with achiote and chilli marinated pork that is roasted on kebab skewer until crispy and tender and then thinly sliced, topped with fresh coriander, onion and pineapple. You get them everywhere in Mexico City. It’s one of Gaby’s favourites and, having tried a few versions over the week; it’s definitely one of mine too.
3. Tlacoyos – chubby little ovals of masa (corn dough) stuffed with beans, cheese and even meat. We tried ones made from blue maize, stuffed with creamy cheese, topped with more cheese and a fresh nopal (cactus paddle) salsa. They were beautifully tender and creamy.
The range of different dishes that you can make with corn cooked in lime water is amazing. It is one of the great legacies from ancient Mexico. Another is the impressive relics left behind from ancient cultures, such as the pyramids at Teotihuacan. We visited them with our tour group. I will tell you about them in the next post.