Oaxaca food tour with mole, chapulines and local markets

Oaxaca's Historic Centre is Mexico's food capital in miniature. There're two working markets, a grand Zocalo and a handful of family kitchens that have been feeding the same streets for generations. This small-group experience starts near Mercado 20 de Noviembre and moves through nine tastings that show why cooks from every corner of Mexico still study Oaxacan cuisine.The morning opens inside the market with two bites, one savoury and one sweet, before you sit down for the city's signature dish, which is a mole negro, tasted alongside a second distinct mole so you can compare the layers of chile, chocolate and spice that define each one. From there, it's time to try chapulines, the region's famous fried grasshoppers, best approached the local way: don't knock it until you've tried it.A stroll through Mercado Juarez brings a quesillo tasting straight from the source, and as you walk toward the Zocalo, your guide pours a cup of tejate, the pre-Hispanic cocoa drink that has been made in Oaxaca since before the conquest, alongside a slice of sweet pan de yema. The route winds past Plaza de Santo Domingo and some of the city's most charming streets before settling on a beloved terrace, where a tlayuda piled with meat and a warming soup with chicharrones round out the savoury side of the tour, finished with a scoop of traditional regional shaved ice. Somewhere along the way, a Secret Dish appears, a surprise not listed on any menu and saved just for the tour.