Tlaxcala cuisine: what defines it and typical dishes

What is it?

Tlaxcala cuisine is the gastronomic tradition of the state of Tlaxcala, the smallest in Mexico, located in the central highlands. It is one of the least known but most interesting regional cuisines for its fidelity to the pre-Hispanic Nahua tradition: the consumption of edible insects, the diversity of tamales, tlatlapas (bean and tortilla soups) and the rustic mole prieto. Its emblematic dishes include the muéganos of Huamantla, sweet muñelos, the mole prieto of Tlaxco, muñeca tamales, Tlaxcalan soup, chalupitas and mixiote barbacoa. Tlaxcala was a strategic ally of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Tenochtitlán, and for this reason it kept a certain cultural autonomy that has preserved very ancient culinary traditions. It is consumed daily in markets such as those of Apizaco and Huamantla and at patron-saint festivals such as La Noche que Nadie Duerme in August.

Origin and history

Tlaxcala cuisine has its roots in the Nahua civilisations of the lordship of Tlaxcallan, four head-towns (Tepetícpac, Ocotelulco, Tizatlán and Quiahuiztlán) that dominated the territory from the fourteenth century. Tlaxcala was one of the few peoples that never submitted to the Mexica empire and allied with Hernán Cortés in 1519, which earned it royal privileges in the colonial period and preserved part of its cultural and culinary autonomy. Turkey (guajolote) breeding had great pre-Hispanic development; the cultivation of the pulque maguey intensified in the plains of Apan shared with Hidalgo. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, who lived in Tlaxcala for years while writing his General History, documented dozens of local dishes and drinks of the sixteenth century. The San Cristóbal Polaxtla hacienda and other pulque haciendas dominated the agricultural landscape until the Agrarian Reform. The muéganos of Huamantla, a sweet of fried masa in syrup, are attributed to the nineteenth century in Huamantla, according to Larousse Cocina. The preservation of edible insects such as xahuis, escamoles, chinicuiles and jumiles is a direct legacy of pre-Hispanic cooking.

Characteristic ingredients

Tlaxcalan maize includes native blue, white and cacahuazintle varieties. The muñeca or canary tamales are sweet, of masa and egg, wrapped in a corn husk. The mole prieto of Tlaxco is very dark, almost black, made with maize masa, ancho and pasilla chillies, lard and spices. The tlatlapas are thick soups of cooked bean with masa, pasilla chilli and guajillo chilli. Tlaxcalan soup, similar to the azteca but local, combines chicken broth, fried tortilla, pasilla chilli, avocado, cheese and chicharrón. The chalupitas of Apetatitlán are little tortillas with salsa, cheese and onion. The insects consumed include maguey escamoles, xamoes (xahuis or flying ants), maguey chinicuiles, huizache jumiles and white nopal worms. Tlaxcalan pulque has an ancestral tradition and is consumed with fruit-cured versions. The chilli-rubbed cecina is made with adobo-marinated and sun-dried beef, especially in Yauhquemehcan. The muéganos of Huamantla are cubes of fried masa joined with honey and piloncillo.

Cultural significance

Tlaxcala cuisine is one of the least known strongholds of traditional Mexican cuisine inscribed by UNESCO in 2010 as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Huamantla, a Magical Town, celebrates La Noche que Nadie Duerme each August, in honour of the Virgin of La Caridad, where sawdust carpets are made and muégano, mole de cazuela and barbacoa are eaten. The Apizaco fair, the patron-saint festivals in Ixtenco and the huehue carnivals with their colonial costumes are occasions for traditional cooking. Tlaxcala keeps one of the most living pulque networks in the country, with haciendas and tinacales such as San Cristóbal Polaxtla and Soltepec. The breeding of turkeys for mole, the base of Christmas and weddings, still sustains rural economies. Cooks such as Irad Santacruz document recipes at risk of disappearing. The state government promotes gastronomic routes around pulque, muéganos and edible insects as a tourist attraction.

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