Mexico City cuisine: typical dishes and what to eat

What is it?

Mexico City cuisine is the culinary tradition of the ancient Great Tenochtitlan, capital of the country and the culinary melting pot par excellence where the regional cuisines of the whole Republic converge. It is not an exclusively capital cuisine but a metropolitan one in constant transformation. Its emblems are tacos al pastor (with their vertical spit and pineapple at the end), tacos de canasta, tortas (cubana, leg-of-pork, or tamal torta or 'guajolota'), pre-Hispanic tlacoyos, prepared esquites and corn, quesadillas with their debate over the cheese, garnachas, huaraches, pocha tlayudas, pozole and mole in all their variants, and the pulquería as a social space. It is eaten 24 hours a day in one of the liveliest street-food ecosystems in the world, reaching its peak at events such as the Cry of Independence, the Day of the Dead and the festivities of the Cerro de la Estrella.

Origin and history

Capital cooking inherits directly from the Mexica cuisine of Tenochtitlan, founded in 1325 on Lake Texcoco and turned into the Mesoamerican political-religious-commercial epicentre. The codices and chronicles, such as those of Father Bernardino de Sahagún (Historia general, 1577) and Bernal Díaz del Castillo (Historia verdadera, c.1568), describe the markets of Tlatelolco where hundreds of products were sold: frogs, axolotls, fish, chinampas with squash, romeritos, escamoles, jumiles, maguey worms, pulque and cacao as a drink. After the conquest in 1521, Tenochtitlan became Mexico City, the capital of New Spain, and attracted cuisines and ingredients from the whole continent and the world: wine, olives, Asian spices via the Manila Galleon, Baroque convent techniques. The urbanisation of the twentieth century brought mass migration from the countryside: each neighbourhood of Mexico City has its regional cuisines (Oaxacans in Iztapalapa, Pueblans in Tepito, Michoacanos in Doctores). Tacos al pastor, according to Larousse Cocina and México Desconocido, are a Lebanese-Mexican creation of the early twentieth century, derived from the shawarma brought by Arab migrants to Puebla and then to Mexico City, with pork marinated in achiote replacing the lamb. The torta cubana was born in La Merced, not in Cuba. The cheeseless quesadilla is a debated capital identity.

Characteristic ingredients

Tacos al pastor contain pork marinated in guajillo and ancho chilli, achiote, vinegar and spices, cooked on a vertical spit with pineapple on top, whose juice drips during the cooking. They are served in a small double tortilla, with onion, coriander, pineapple and green or red salsa. Tacos de canasta are steamed tacos in a reed basket with lard, filled with potato, beans, pork crackling in green salsa or mole; classics of the delivery bicycle. The torta cubana of La Merced contains up to ten ingredients (egg, leg of pork, milanesa, cheese, ham, sausage, leg of pork, Oaxaca cheese, avocado, beans) in a large bolillo roll. Pre-Hispanic tlacoyos are elongated little blue-dough tortillas filled with beans, broad beans or pork crackling, cooked on a comal and served with nopales, cheese and salsa. Esquites are corn kernels cooked with epazote, served with lime, cheese, mayonnaise and chilli powder. Pulques (plain and curados with fruits, oats or tomato) are served in historic pulquerías such as Las Duelistas, La Pirata and Salón Tenampa. The diverse street food includes huaraches, sopes, gorditas, garnachas, tlacoyos, picaditas, all served with molcajete salsa of various chillies. Poblano, ancho, guajillo, serrano, pasilla, mulato, chipotle and habanero chillies coexist in the cosmopolitan capital cuisine.

Cultural significance

Capital cuisine is the most diverse and dynamic in Mexico and a global driver of contemporary Mexican cooking. Mexico City has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 (Historic Centre and Xochimilco) and its markets such as La Merced, Sonora, Jamaica and San Juan are gastronomic cathedrals. Mexican restaurants of Mexico City such as Pujol (Enrique Olvera), Quintonil (Jorge Vallejo), Sud777 (Edgar Núñez), Rosetta (Elena Reygadas), Maximo Bistrot and Em Restaurante consistently feature among the 50 best in the world according to The World's 50 Best and the Michelin guide (since 2024). The Day of the Dead in Mixquic, Xochimilco and other neighbourhoods attracts international tourism and preserves altars with pan de muerto, mole, tamales and pulque. Tacos al pastor are one of the gastronomic icons most identified with Mexico globally, with thousands of classic taquerías such as El Huequito, Los Cocuyos and El Tizoncito. Chilanga cooking is part of the UNESCO dossier of traditional Mexican cuisine inscribed in 2010. The capital is also the centre of tortillerías, pulquerías, markets, tianguis and official culinary routes such as the Mole Route, the Taco Route and the Markets Route.

Frequently asked questions

Where do tacos al pastor come from?

Tacos al pastor are a Mexican creation of the early twentieth century, originating in Puebla but popularised in Mexico City. They derive from the shawarma brought by Lebanese migrants to Mexico in the 1920s-30s; they replaced the lamb with pork marinated in guajillo and ancho chilli, achiote and spices, cooked on a vertical spit with pineapple on top. They are served with onion, coriander, pineapple and salsa, in a small double tortilla.

Do quesadillas have cheese in Mexico City?

In Mexico City, a quesadilla may not contain cheese: it is a folded tortilla with any filling (squash blossom, huitlacoche, mushrooms, pork crackling). This causes a national debate, since in the rest of the country it must contain cheese. The capital explanation is that 'quesadilla' comes from 'quesear', to fold the tortilla. If you want cheese, you have to ask explicitly for a 'quesadilla con queso'.

What does chilanga cuisine taste like?

It has the most varied flavours owing to being metropolitan: tacos al pastor with roasted pineapple and achiote, salty and well-loaded tortas, earthy tlacoyos with beans and nopal, spicy molcajete salsas, sour fermented pulque, esquites with epazote and lime. It combines the pre-Hispanic (blue maize, frogs, chinicuiles) with the Baroque-convent (chiles en nogada, mole) and the international (al pastor sushi, chilango ramen).

Where does capital cuisine come from?

It originates in the basin of Mexico, where Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 and later Mexico City as the New Spain capital in 1521. Its roots are Mexica, with products from the chinampas (squash, blossom, fish, romeritos, axolotls). It received and synthesised all the regional cuisines of Mexico, especially since the mass migration of the twentieth century, and all the cuisines of the world since the Manila Galleon.