flâneur: “from the French masculine noun flâneur—which has the basic meanings of "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", "loafer"… or "a person who walks the city in order to experience it". (wiki.com)
la flâness: sexier, female version of the above.Nourishment 1: Foods of the Land
It`s all marked and specified - entire restaurants are devoted to comida typical, (typical Mexican fare, such as tacos, anojitos (appetizers), enchiladas, soups, and other various toppings put on top of hard tortillas of various shapes and sizes), comida corrida (daily, 3-course set menu, usually including fruit, dessert and a drink for under 40 pesos), or comida economico (cheap, and usually home-kitchen style delicious food!).
(freshly chopped, hot salsa) is often found on the sides of plates. gallo de picobeans, and delicious refried with some sort of sauce – each region seems to have a namesake specialty. Guacamole, are served entreesMexicans love their sauce! Most fish and meat
*Mole - A spicy, savoury dark chocolate sauce
*Chilli Rojo - Red Chilli sauce. Made slightly spicy by the freshly chopped peppers cooked into it.
*Chilli Verde - Green Chilli sauce. Less spicy, but smoother and more flavourful.
*Del Diabla – Hot, hot HOT style of red tomato chilli sauce, usually used for shrimp and seafood dishes. Makes you feel badass ordering it…
*Divorciados:
Half red chilli sauce, and half green – divided through the centre! A popular style for breakfast dishes – usually fried eggs on a tortilla, topped with the sauces, or with enchiladas. Perfect for indecisive Libras, such as myself. Mmmmm………
The spelling mistakes in English translated menus never cease to entertain…
The Street Food is fabulous, cheap and relatively diversified.
Simple tacos can be made a meal with queso (cheese), frijoles (beans), carne asado, cerda (pork), lengua (tongue), and sometimes ojos (eyes) or cabeza (head). Dress them up as health-consciously as you wish via the wide selection of take-your-own sauces (guacamole, salsa picante, salsa verde) and salads!
*Fresh fruit, chopped or served on sticks is also quite popular! Often topped with lime, chilli, and salt. Specify if you`d like it all natural. 15 pesos*Corn, on the cob or in a cup. Vendors offer mayo, salt, lime, and chilli for topping.
*Chopped Cucumber in cups is a healthy and refreshing snack
Quality Spice:
Spicy food here is authentic! The fresh or dried chillies used makes the dishes hot, while retaining real flavour.
Pastelarías are everywhere! Vendors on the street compete with more stationary bakeries serving up fresh sweet and savoury baked goods and cakes for fair prices. The meats, sauces, fruits, and cremas (creams) they`re stuffed with are rich and exotic… and to die for.
Churros:
Cinnamon and sugar coated deep fried pastry straws that, if you`re lucky, you`ll get with a plastic bag of hot icing for dipping. Usually a street food, but many restaurants serve them as well.
Beach Snacks:
Churros carts, fresh fruit vendors (think mango on a stick!), and men carrying fresh sweets made with nuts and seeds wander the beaches looking to nourish day-long beach goers. The range of nutritious options is refreshing – and the protein and sugar will keep you going until sunset!Did I say
Guacamole?
Tortillerías: Tortillas are made fresh every day in México, and can be found around every bend. The workers, often families, spend the day pressing out millions – you get them soft, warm and preservative-free. It just feels healthier! And oh so authentic. Six pesos with by you a stack that is way too high (about 20!).
Chilaquiles:
My own personal favourite! I even took cooking lessons on how to make them at home! Fresh cooked tortilla chips, cooked in fresh salsa rojo or verde – or of course, divorciados - until softened. Topped with egg or chicken, queso fresca (very fresh cow-milk cheese, that crumbles over top of the dish), and sour cream. Simple and delicious. A traditional Mexican breakfast.
Oaxaca Cheese:
Every region has their own style of queso tipico, but the naturally stringy white cheese from the Oaxaca region is the best by far. It is available throughout Mexico. Strangely like naturally made Cheesestrings from your childhood, but better!
*Queso Fresca is also delicious for topping nearly any meal or sandwich. Wet and fresh, and breaks apart like feta.
It`s not just sausage, it`s chorizo. Always. Just sounds so much better…
Lime ¤ Límon:
The Mexican cure-all. Not only are wedges serves with just about everything, but within the first week I used the juice to mellow out my flaming mouth after eating spicy food, to mend my skin after a jellyfish sting, for gut-rot and the “I`m too full“-itis, bug bites, and a sun rash.
Sopes -
Delicious street food. Thin, hard corn tortilla of any colour, topped with frijoles, vegetables, and sometimes chicken or meat. An easy, and unsuspecting veggie option. Meaning you won`t get the usual confused looks for asking.
Sopas! -
SOUP is plentiful and delicious here – try Tortilla soup (think, stewy broth, sometimes comes with chicken) that you will find everywhere, for a warming, hearty meal!
Ummm… guacamole!
And the slices of avocado served on everything! And things serves IN avocados! Like chicken or tuna salad… mmm…
Pozole! -
A real event! Some restaurants serve this soup every day, while others make a weekly event out of it (usually in smaller towns), for which loads of towns people come out!
White (pork) or green (chicken) pozole is filling, and cooked with large dried corn kernels. Locals sit at long wooden tables and snack on crackers, chilli rellanos, tortillas with pico de gallo, dried pork crisps, and other treats while waiting for their soup (all included with the price of your pozole!).
Cactus is eaten as a vegetable! Chopped, or whole, fried or cooked; even with scrambled eggs! Yum.
Territas and Ceviche -
Delicious raw fish or shellfish, marinated in lime juice and spices. The acid from the lime cooks the meat. Refreshing and tasty, served with crackers, and/ or hard, thin tortilla chips, shaped like small plates.
Fish as an integral ingredient!:
Fresh fish is casually used in tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, and in burritos… not just on its own as an entrée!
The fresh seafood on almost every menu…
Veggies Beware!
Many, if not most dishes will not specify that there is in fact meat in them! In Mexico, typical dishes nearly always have meat, and are familiar to and popular among Mexicanos, so they are left unwritten. Always ask if you do not, or cannot eat meat.
“Todo sin carne? Solo verduras? No tiene pollo, carne, o cerda? No me gustarí a carne, numca, por favor.“ If you don`t ask in at least three different ways, you cannot be sure.
Same goes for sauces (such as hot sauce or sour cream), salt, cheeses, and condensed milk and sugar in drinks and licuados (“smoothies“) – they WILL LIKELY have these additives. Always specify if you`re picky.
**Veggies: be wary of the meat section in the mercados. The smell, if not the sights, will make you upset.
Alternatively, if you want to stay or become veggie… go to the meat section of the mercado. If you`re sensitive, or on the fence, it will be more than effective.
