Food Tours · Tour

Salsa in a Molcajete, After Two Markets and the Metro

The salsa lesson is done in a molcajete, and that is the detail that tells you this tour is serious. A molcajete is a basalt mortar, the same tool used here for thousands of years, and a salsa ground in one tastes different from a blended one because crushing releases what chopping does not. Before that, two markets that are not on the tourist circuit. Mercado Abelardo Rodriguez is the first, and it is remarkable: a 1930s market whose walls are covered in murals painted by students of Diego Rivera, which almost nobody visits. Tamales and atole there, and the ingredients that have shaped Mexican cooking for generations. Then the metro, ridden the way locals ride it, which is a lot of the experience of this city. Mercado Jamaica is the second, and it is the flower market: seasonal fruit, herbs, chillies and the produce every kitchen here runs on, plus how to tell what is fresh, which is the part that makes the salsa lesson work. Five hours, twelve people at most, in English. Six kilometres of walking through busy markets and streets, which is genuinely tiring if you are not used to it. Leave your passport and cards at the hotel and bring a little cash. Small cameras only. Dress conservatively, long trousers and a t-shirt, because these are not tourist areas. In the rainy season, May to September, bring a raincoat. Vegetarian, gluten-free and lactose-free can be accommodated with 24 hours' notice. The money goes to independent market vendors and family businesses.