Mexican Markets: What You Would Find in an Authentic Tianguis

If there is one place that captures the essence of Mexico in a single space, it is the tianguis. It is not a supermarket, it is not a gourmet shop: it is an open-air travelling market that is set up and taken down every week in streets and squares all over the country, from the humblest neighbourhoods to the most affluent. The tianguis is where Mexico eats, shops, haggles, socialises and, above all, where Mexican cooking comes to life in its purest and most accessible form.

For Mexicans in Spain, the tianguis is one of the most intense memories of home: the colors, the smells, the bustle, the lady who lets you taste the fruit before selling it to you, the quesadilla man who has had the same stall for 30 years. In this article we take you on a virtual stroll through an authentic Mexican tianguis, stall by stall, so you understand why this form of commerce is the living heritage of Mexico.

What is a tianguis?

The word "tianguis" comes from the Nahuatl "tiānquiztli", which means market. Tianguis existed before the arrival of the Spanish: the great market of Tlatelolco, described by Hernán Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo, hosted between 20,000 and 60,000 people daily and sold everything from food to quetzal feathers and obsidian. It was bigger than any European market of the time.

Today, tianguis keep that tradition alive. Every neighborhood has "its tianguis day": Tuesdays in this district, Thursdays in that one, Sundays in the one further along. The vendors set up their stalls at dawn (some from 4 in the morning) with metal-tube structures, colourful tarpaulins and folding tables. By 2 or 3 in the afternoon, everything is taken down and the street becomes a street again.

A tour stall by stall

The entrance: fruit and vegetables

The first thing you find as you enter any tianguis is the burst of color from the fruit and vegetable stalls. And this is where a Spaniard would realize that Mexico has fruits they did not even know existed:

• Tuna: The fruit of the nopal cactus, in colors ranging from green to deep red. Sweet, refreshing, full of seeds.
• Guanábana (soursop): Large, green, with soft spikes. Its white flesh is creamy, sour and sweet in equal measure.
• Mamey: Rough brown exterior, intense orange interior. It tastes like a mix of sweet potato, pumpkin and caramel.
• Black sapote: It looks like a brown tomato. Its black flesh tastes like natural chocolate pudding.
• Chayote: A light green squash shaped like a wrinkled pear. It is cooked as a vegetable and has a mild, almost neutral flavor.
• Jícama: It looks like a giant turnip. It is eaten raw, with chile and lime. Crunchy like an apple but without excessive sweetness.
• Nopales: The pads of the cactus, already cleaned of spines and cut into strips or small squares, ready to grill or stew.

The fruit is sold by the kilo, and haggling is part of the ritual. You always ask for "la ñapa" (a little extra for free) and you almost always get it.

The chiles: a whole stall just for them

In a Mexican tianguis, chiles have their own dedicated stall. You will see mountains of dried chiles in jute sacks: guajillo, ancho, pasilla, chipotle, morita, cascabel, de árbol, puya, mulato. There are also fresh chiles: jalapeño, serrano, habanero, poblano, manzano, chilaca. The aroma is intoxicating: earthy, smoky, slightly spicy in the air.

The chile seller is usually an expert who advises you: "For mole? Take ancho, mulato and pasilla. For taquería salsa? Guajillo and de árbol. For cochinita? Achiote and habanero." It is a personalised service no supermarket can offer.

The mobile tortilla makers

The smell of freshly cooked corn is unmistakable. The tortilla stalls have portable tortilla machines that produce hot tortillas in real time. They are sold by the kilo (a kilo is roughly 30 to 35 tortillas) and people queue because everyone wants freshly made tortillas, not packaged ones.

Here you also find fresh corn masa for tamales, gorditas, tlacoyos and sopes. It is nixtamalized masa, impossible to find in a Spanish supermarket. If you ever see it in a Latin American shop in Spain, buy it without hesitation.

The tianguis butcher

The meat stalls of the tianguis are a visual spectacle that can impress anyone not used to it. Whole pigs' heads, strings of longaniza, freshly fried chicharrón (puffed, crisp pork skin), shiny red chorizo, tasajo (Oaxacan dried meat), cecina enchilada (meat cured with chile).

The cuts are different from European ones: here you buy "bistec" (thin slices of beef for tacos), "maciza" (lean meat for carnitas), "chamorro" (pork knuckle) and "suadero" (a layer of fat and meat between the skin and the rib of the cow, unique to Mexican cooking).

The spice and mole stall

This is perhaps the most aromatic stall in the tianguis. Mountains of loose spices: cumin, clove, cinnamon sticks, allspice, achiote paste, Mexican oregano (different from the Mediterranean kind), dried epazote, hoja santa. Premixed mole pastes are also sold: you just have to add stock and chocolate to have a mole ready in 30 minutes.

The antojitos: tianguis food

No Mexican goes to the tianguis without eating something. The food stalls are the social heart of the market:

• Quesadillas: No, they do not always have cheese (in Mexico City it is an eternal debate). They are made with fresh corn masa, filled with zucchini flower, huitlacoche, pressed chicharrón, picadillo, potato or Oaxaca cheese. They are fried or cooked on a comal.
• Tlacoyos: Thick oval tortillas filled with bean or requesón, cooked on a comal and served with nopales, fresh cheese, cream and green salsa.
• Gorditas: Thick corn masa, split in half and filled with stews: chicharrón in green salsa, picadillo, rajas with cream, mole.
• Tacos de canasta: Sweated tacos, wrapped in blue plastic inside a basket. Filled with bean, potato, chicharrón or adobo. They are the cheapest tacos in Mexico and probably the most satisfying.
• Elotes and esquites: Corn on the cob (elote) or off the cob in a cup (esquite), slathered in mayonnaise, grated cheese, chili powder and lime. It is the ultimate tianguis snack.

The aguas frescas

Enormous glass jars full of colored waters: jamaica (red, from hibiscus flower), horchata (white, from rice and cinnamon), tamarind (brown, sweet-sour), lime with chia, guava, mango. They are served in plastic bags with a straw to take away. In Spain, you can make many of these drinks at home with ingredients available in specialist shops.

The Mexican sweets stall

Alegría (amaranth bars with honey), palanquetas (peanuts with caramelized piloncillo), cocadas (coconut sweet), chile-coated tamarinds, peanut marzipan, wafers with cajeta. Mexican sweets are a world apart, with flavors and textures that do not exist in European confectionery.

Tianguis vs Spanish markets

Spain has an impressive market tradition: the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, the Boquería in Barcelona, the Mercado Central in Valencia. But there are fundamental differences with the Mexican tianguis:

• Frequency: Spanish markets are permanent; tianguis are itinerant, setting up one day a week.
• Formality: Spanish markets have fixed, licensed stalls; tianguis are more informal, although also regulated.
• Street food: Mexican tianguis have a much wider and more diverse range of prepared food than traditional Spanish markets.
• Price: Tianguis are significantly cheaper. A kilo of avocado in a Mexican tianguis costs the equivalent of €1 to €2; in Spain, €5 to €8.
• Sensory experience: The tianguis is louder, more colourful, more chaotic and more stimulating to the senses.

Can the tianguis experience be recreated in Spain?

Not completely, but there are approximations. The weekly markets in Spanish towns and cities have something of the spirit of the tianguis: the direct selling, the personal treatment, the freshness of the produce. In addition, the Latin American shops in Spain are starting to offer some products that were once impossible to find: masa for tamales, canned nopales, dried chiles, achiote, hibiscus flower.

What cannot be recreated is the atmosphere: the vendors' calls, the background music, the stray dogs looking for scraps, the man with the loudspeaker selling his miracle product, the children running between the stalls, the lady who offers you a taste of her salsa with a tortilla chip before you decide whether to buy it. That is pure experience, and to live it you have to go to Mexico.

In the meantime, explore our Mexican restaurants in Spain to find some of that authenticity, and visit our recipes section to bring the flavors of the tianguis to your kitchen.