A Oaxacan chef's guide to the best of Oaxaca City's street food

Mexico is renowned for its deeply regional cuisine, and the state of Oaxaca is home to what is widely considered some of its best. High in the Sierra Madre mountains upon a dusty plateau, Oaxaca City’s Spanish Baroque cathedrals loom over low blocks of brightly coloured buildings lining cobblestoned streets; splashed by vivid murals and renderings of mythological and historical figures. Everywhere, a bouquet of savoury aromas and smoke waft from open kitchen windows and street carts.

“I think what makes Oaxacan food different compared to other food regions is the enormous variety of microclimates,” says Oaxaca-born chef Alejandro Ruiz, who has been championing his home state’s native cuisine for nearly 30 years. “We work with what’s available. If I have lemon trees, I make fresh agua fresca de limón (fresh lemonade). If I have corn and beans and chillies, that’s what I eat.”

Ruiz further explains that Oaxacan cuisine is a heady blend of Spanish, African Moorish and Indigenous techniques: “Also there’s Asian influence, like cumin, cinnamon and other spices. But to me the Indigenous [influence] is the most important.”

Though his restaurant Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante is upscale, Chef Ruiz adores Oaxaca’s iconic street foods, like tlayudas (thin, crispy tortillas smothered in beans, meats, salsa and cheese) and memelas (grilled corn cakes). “[It’s] special because it has the main ingredients of our local diet: corn, beans, salsas and stuffings like meat, sausage, herbs called quelites,” he says. “There is always a comal” – the Mexican griddle that crisps dough to perfection – “and there is always freshly made tortilla. If you have a good tortilla, beans and salsa, that’s all you need to have an amazing taco, tostada, tlayuda, or memela.”

Earlier this year, the new 104km Barranca Larga-Ventanilla highway opened between Oaxaca City and Puerto Escondido, slashing the drive from eight nausea-inducing hours to a quick 2.5, so there’s no time like the present to try Oaxaca’s amazing cuisine. Here are Ruiz’s top five street foods in Oaxaca City.