Lunch On the Go in Mexico City

The vendor at this hole in the wall in Mexico City is selling tacos de canasta, cheap and filling tacos that are steamed inside a basket (hence the name, ‘canasta’ means ‘basket’), to customers. They make a quick and delicious lunch.

Refreshing Aguas Frescas in Xochimilco

An aguas frescas vendor in the Xochimilco market stands at the ready behind his offerings: there were over a dozen different flavors on the day we visited. He served us an incredible lemonade with chia seeds, a very traditional (and delicious) pairing.

Eating 'Round the World in Queens

This Ecuadorian bakery is just one of the many stops on the multinational melange that is our Queens walk, where the flavors of the world can be sampled in one borough. 

Keeping Xochimilco’s historic and world-renowned agricultural system afloat

On our Xochimilco culinary excursion in Meixco City, we learn about the chinampas, and how chinamperos are dedicated to keeping Xochimilco’s historic and world-renowned agricultural system afloat.

A Table Full of Mexican Sweet Breads

A customer loads up a tray of traditional Mexican “Pan Dulce” at Pasteleria Ideal, a classic bakery in the heart of Mexico City’s Centro Historico.

Getting “Taco Literate” In Queens

To crudely paraphrase Freud, sometimes a taco is not just a taco. That would certainly seem to be the view held by Steven Alvarez, an Assistant Professor of English at St. Johns University in Queens, New York. First at the University of Kentucky, where he previously taught, and now at St. John’s, Alvarez has been leading a course called “Taco Literacy,” which uses the humble Mexican dish as a way of exploring and unpacking such heavyweight issues as immigration, bilingualism, assimilation and acculturation. It’s a lot to pile on top of a tortilla, but as Alvarez sees it, food speaks – often times in two or more languages – and it can be “read.” Listening closely to what food has to say, Alvarez explains, inevitably leads to hearing the stories of the people making the food.

A Colorful First Impression in Mexico City

Beans have long played an important part of the daily diet in Mexico City. The variety of beans found in any Mexico City market ranges from the basics (negro, tan bayo, purplish flor de mayo and flor de junio) to more unusual varieties, brought in from all over the country. We spotted these big purple beauties – Ayocote Morado beans – on our Xochimilco walk.