Oaxaca Culinary Adventure Opens

- Culinary Backstreets, founded by two journalists, focuses on protecting traditional culinary culture by highlighting small, family-run establishments and telling the stories behind a city's foodways. Their tours are known for being intimate, with small group sizes of typically no more than 7 people, and for providing a generous amount of food. - Oaxaca is a significant gastronomic capital in Mexico, a country whose overall cuisine was recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. The state is home to 16 Indigenous ethnic groups and boasts immense biodiversity, including over 500 edible herbs and more than 30 native agave varieties used for mezcal. - Oaxacan cuisine is famous for its "seven moles," a variety of complex sauces that form the foundation of many dishes. Key ingredients in the region's cooking include heirloom varieties of corn, a wide array of chili peppers, and chocolate, which is often prepared as a hot beverage. - Tourism is a major industry in Oaxaca, with the state welcoming over 2.3 million visitors in 2019. Beyond its food scene, Oaxaca is known for its vibrant culture, colonial architecture, and important archaeological sites like Monte Albán, a Zapotec metropolis. - The tour's focus on hands-on cooking classes will likely introduce travelers to traditional Oaxacan cooking methods, such as using the comal (a flat clay griddle) for toasting and the metate (a stone grinding tool). - Market visits are a cornerstone of the Oaxacan culinary experience, with prominent markets like Mercado Benito Juárez and the Tlacolula Sunday Market offering a vast array of local products, from fresh produce to artisanal chocolate and chapulines (fried grasshoppers).