A Sunday Market Lunch in Oaxaca
Smoke, masa, and a grandmother’s comal — the best meal of the trip cost about three dollars and took four hours.
You smell the market before you reach it: woodsmoke, charred chillies, and something sweet underneath I never identified.
By eleven on a Sunday the comedor stalls are full and the grandmothers are three hours into the day’s cooking.
The smoke aisle
In the famous pasillo de humo you buy raw meat from one stall and hand it to a woman with a grill, then carry it to a table piled with tortillas and salsas.
A few things I learned, in no particular order:
- Arrive hungry and early — the best stalls sell out by mid-afternoon.
- Order the tlayuda even when you think you’re full.
- Say yes to the mezcal. It would be rude not to.
Here a recipe is not written down. It is remembered, and corrected by whoever is standing nearest.
The bill was less than my hotel coffee that morning. I have thought about that lunch at least once a week since.