Tastes of Oaxaca: A Five-Senses Walk Through Jalatlaco

I met Arturo Cesar under the shade of a broad tree beside a historic church for his Oaxaca Street Food Walking Tour – Discover Jalatlaco. 

A plaque in the plaza of the San Matías Jalatlaco Church church announced this as a Barrio Mágico. Arturo smiled and explained why.

Why Jalatlaco Is Oaxaca’s Magical Neighborhood

• Designated Barrio Mágico in Mexico

• Living traditions, not tourist theater

• Street art and Indigenous heritage

Jalatlaco is celebrated as a historical neighborhood in Oaxaca which received the Barrio Mágico designation. The honor celebrates living culture, not monuments.

Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR) awards this designation to special barrios to promote urban tourism spots known for their history, culture, and traditions.

“A Barrio Mágico represents a space that combines several elements that make it unique and unrepeatable: history, culture, gastronomy, products and services, as well as the coexistence of the local population with visitors.”—Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco Marqués

Oaxaca reminds me of other Mexican towns which I have visited, such as San Pancho and Sayulita. Color floods every narrow street here. Murals spill across alley walls. Dia de la Muerte (Day of the Dead) imagery appears again and again, reminding visitors that memory and joy coexist in Oaxaca.

Arturo told me this tour would engage all five senses.

He was right.

Experiencing Oaxaca With All Five Senses

Taste — Chocolate, a centuries-old symbol of community

Smell — Corn cookies & convent traditions

Touch — Handmade tortillas

Sound — Streets where tradition and modern life meet

Sight — Red Cacti Nieve de Agua

Taste: Chocolate, Corn, and Chapulines

Our first stop focused on cacao. I ordered a hot chocolate that took five full minutes to brew.

Arturo then showed me raw cacao beans and the dense chocolate block shaved into hot water. I tasted a cacao bean on its own. The bitterness lingered as I rolled it around my tongue. This drink wasn’t sweet comfort food. It felt ceremonial.

The Zapotec people, one of the great Indigenous civilizations of Oaxaca, left a deep cultural, architectural, and ritual legacy that still shapes the region today—including ceremonial cacao traditions.

Zapotec cacao differed greatly from my modern cup of hot chocolate. The Zapotec drank it unsweetened, mix with chili, magnolias, and occasionally maize. They whipped it to create sacred foam by pouring from vessel to vessel. This foam symbolized the life force, breath, and divine essence. The bitter, spicy drink was meant to awaken spiritual awareness.

Smell: Corn Cookies & Convent Traditions

Next, we stepped into a tiny artisanal bakery. Arturo and the owner were good friends. Behind glass sat delicate golden brown cookies once made by nuns from a now-closed convent. Flour was scarce back then. The nuns adapted. They created cookies using maize and sugar, a recipe born of necessity. We bought six cookies for 15 pesos and walked toward the nearby park.

Galletas de Pinole are corn flour cookies made with pinole (toasted, ground maize with sometimes sugar and spices like cinnamon). Pinole itself is a pre-Hispanic food that became integrated into later Mexican baking and desserts.

Touch: Handmade Tortillas and Clay Comals

At a modest taco stand in the nearby park, a mother worked beside her daughter-in-law. They made tortillas by hand. She rolled a ball of dough and pressed it firmly in the tortilla maker. When she lifted the lid, a perfect flat circle appeared.

She then moved to the counter’s edge to assemble the memelitas. First came pork fat spread thin with a knife. Then she ladled bean broth. She finished with strands of Oaxaca cheese. The corn tortilla folded and toasted until golden.

She handed me the dish. I waited on a small stool, drizzling salsa roja and green salsa verde. The first bite felt mágico. Below is the recipe if you want to test in your own kitchen.

For the memelitas

• 2 cups masa harina (for tortillas)
• 1½ cups warm water (approx.)
• ½ tsp salt

Traditional toppings (choose 2–3)

• Asiento (unrefined pork lard) – traditional and authentic
  or refried black beans if vegetarian
• Quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), shredded
• Queso fresco
• Salsa roja (tomato + chile) or salsa verde
• Optional: sliced avocado, nopales, or mushrooms

Sound: A Neighborhood That Lives

Afterward, Arturo led us across the park where children ran around on the green, laughing and chasing each other. We stopped at a statue of Benito Juárez, Mexico’s first Zapotec president.

He was born in San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca. He spoke Zapotec as his first language and learned Spanish later. His rise from an Indigenous village to the presidency is unprecedented in Mexican history.

Towering cacti surrounded the monument. The Zapotec ate the young pads of the prickly pear cactus (nopal in Spanish). They’re a staple in Mexican cuisine.

“They eat the leaf in a traditional dish called nopales. Some people fry it. Other people just boil it. You put it in a taco with salsa and maybe beef. Nopales are rich in protein,” explained Arturo.

Nopales are pre-Hispanic, nutritious, and deeply symbolic in Mexico — the nopal even appears on the Mexican flag.

The cochineal (grana cochinilla) is used to color and sometimes flavor beverages and ice cream in Oaxaca. I had never tasted cactus. Arturo fixed that.

Sight: Red Cacti Nieve de Agua

We stopped next at a family ice-cream stand in the park. The wife handed me a tiny spoonful of red nieve de agua. It tasted sweet and icy.

Then I tried a spoonful of yellow nieve de agua. Chile, salt, and spice hit my tongue. Arturo explained that it is made with fruit, water, and sugar. The texture is closer to sorbet or granita, but churned by hand in the traditional way. It is pre-Hispanic in style.

The nieve de agua worked as a palate cleanser. I already felt full—and we were only halfway through our Tastes of Oaxaca tour.

Jalataco Street Art & Slow Walking

Arturo slowed the pace. We wandered through streets lined with Día de los Muertos murals. Painted skulls smiled from walls. Bright colors softened the heat. Eventually, we reached Tacos Chayito, a small family-run taquería.

The owner greeted Arturo with a hug. We walked up to the big table that held tubs of cooked meat and vegetables. Arturo pointed to eggs and chorizo, chicken livers and eggs, pork, potatoes and chorizo, mushrooms, stewed green nopales and beef, green beans and eggs, potatoes with peppers, and more. I chose carne asada from the dozen choices.

Arturo tried to convince me to choose nopales with beef. I resisted. My taco proved filling. Very filling.

Cheese, Grasshoppers & Courage

We continued past tiny shops and cafés. Locals lingered with their cups of coffee. Dogs drank from water bowls set out by shopkeepers. The temperature hit 85°F in February.

Arturo guided us to a specialty cheese shop. He ordered a portion for 10 pesos. We found a table to sit. Then came the surprise.

Arturo pulled out a bag of chapulines—grasshoppers. He wrapped one in string cheese. I stared.

“What does it taste like?” I asked.

“Crunchy and salty,” he said. “They marinate in lime.”

I took a deep breath, reached for one chapuline, and hid it under extra cheese. Then I popped it in my mouth and chewed. The flavor shocked me.

“I love the crunchy grasshoppers!” I said.

Arturo laughed.

We finished his entire bag of grasshoppers.

Mezcal and Community

Our final stop showcased mezcal. I declined the tasting. Arturo explained the process anyway. He described roasting, fermenting, and distilling.

“There are three classifications that you can have for mezcal. A young mezcal is clear and transparent. After the distillation, it was poured into glass. Then we have something called respoda. After the distillation, it was put into oak barrels so some properties of the wood will absorb the flavor. It also doesn’t taste as strong as the young mezcal.”

A Final Taste

My GuruWalk tour ended with a square of Mexicano y Natural chocolate infused with chile. It tasted bitter at first. Then warmth spread across my mouth.

I felt the same warmth from the people I met. They shared traditions rooted in corn, cacao, cactus, and agave. Oaxaca residents welcomed me into their neighborhood.

Jalatlaco didn’t feel staged. It felt lived-in. That’s what made it magical.