Mexico City is perhaps most widely known in the culinary world for its low-key yet delicious street food, with staples such as tacos al pastor, pozole, tamales and quesadillas. Travelers don’t need to shell out for an eight-course tasting menu when some of the city’s best cuisine can be enjoyed on-the-go while exploring the city’s array of eclectic neighborhoods. To avoid tourist traps, spend more time eating authentic cuisine and maximize your time visiting one of the world’s largest cities, food tours continue to be the popular choice for travelers to navigate Mexico City’s food culture with its varied regional cuisine and so much more.
For an insider’s view of Mexico City’s food scene, look no further than Eat Like a Local Mexico City. Born and raised in Mexico City, founder Rocio Vazquez Landeta takes travelers through the streets of this vibrant city to taste, explore and connect with Mexico City’s food scene, markets, restaurants and people. Discovering all the hidden gastronomic gems that only locals know, Eat Like a Local Mexico City’s food journeys showcase the cutting-edge restaurants along with secret food stalls and street food that offer the most authentic Mexican cuisine. The travel company now offers four new diverse food tours and experiences detailed below.
The Vegan Market & Roma Norte Adventure is a curated tour featuring local Mexican vegan dishes and highlights a mix of vegan restaurants in Roma Norte. Visit hip coffee shops and authentic street food delicacies at the flower market, the largest wholesale flower market in the city where travelers can enjoy grilled corn, squash blossom cheese-free quesadillas and the most complete fruit tasting with more than 12 local varieties. The tour also includes non-vegan restaurants with outstanding vegan dishes, including one of Enrique Olvera’s restaurants (Pujol owner and head chef). The vegan food tour is a dynamic collaboration with Eat Like a Local’s founder and Astrid Ceballos, a vegan chef who manages Palacio de Hierro’s healthy food. Astrid Ceballos guides the vegan tour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday when she is not cooking and teaching at her raw vegan cooking school. The group savors craft coffee, tamales, green mole mixiotes, al pastor tacos made with oyster mushrooms, grilled corn, fruit, high end tacos, smoothies, quesadillas, delicious desserts and a mezcal cocktail. The vegan tour is offered from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 2:30 ($110USD per person) in the flower market and Roma Norte.
The Roma Norte at Night: Mezcal & Pulque is a relaxed culinary safari that explores the trendy neighborhood of Roma Norte. The first stop highlights good street corn covered in mayo, lime, cheese and chili powder. Delicious tortas are found at a hidden stall that serves a famous soup called birria and adventurous foodies can try suadero – brisket cooked in lard for several hours and sprinted with cilantro and onion, a Mexico City classic. The group visits one of Eat Like a Local’s favorite stalls serving tacos for more than 60 years and can try campechano, pork rinds and steak, wrapped in a warm freshly made tortilla. Covering most modern aspects of Mexico City gastronomy, the tour visits a fusion taco place where Argentinian and Mexican food combine to create one delicious taco of caramelized onions, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, steak and dried chilis. Taste the street quesadilla next and try squash blossom, chicken, potatoes and chorizo or mushrooms with or without cheese because Mexico City is the only city where quesadillas are made without cheese. End the food tour with a warm churro and this is where the liquor part of the tour begins. Pulque is a fermented drink made with agave juice often mixed with fruits, caramel or even cookies. Stop by a traditional pulque place and learn about this beverage’s history while tasting 3 different flavors of pulque. End the tour at a trendy mezcal and wine shop where the group can try 4 different kinds of mezcal, Mexican wine or craft beer. The tour runs from Tuesday to Saturday 19:00 – 22:30 ($110USD per person including unlimited food, 4 mezcals and 3 pulques).
The Food Tour with Kids starts in the beautiful Condesa neighborhood with coffee for the parents and hot chocolate for the kids. This foodie adventure takes parents and kids to the flower market where kids can taste delicious tacos, cheese quesadillas, candy, corn, ice cream and jicaletas, a Mexican treat made with jicama sprinkled with flavored sugar. Parents can relax while Eat Like a Local’s expert guides take care of the kids, creating challenges and adventures to keep them interested. The guides will teach the kids how to subway surf, interesting and cool facts about Mexico´s history, let them play with corn dough and the kids will be rewarded with a tiny piñata and candy at the end of the tour. Kids will join the Brave and Adventurous Kids Travelers Club with a commemorative pin as a token of finishing the tour. The tour ends in Condesa with fun gummy bears and lime popsicles and a stop at a cool playground where the parents can have a refreshing cocktail at a bar nearby. The tour runs every day from 10:00 t0 14:00 ($110USD per person).
The Food Tour for Bachelors and Bachelorettes is a special tour created specifically for groups the day after bachelor and bachelorette parties. Starting at 11:30am, the tour begins with coffee and coconut water, as the group visits several street food stalls. Riding the subway to the flower market, enjoy beer, carnitas, candy, fruit and other Mexican delicacies at the market. The group then participates in a pulque tasting at a 100-year-old pulquería. Walking around Roma Norte, experience an alcohol-based ice-cream shop tasting mezcal and passion fruit or margarita sorbet and other great mezcals, Mexican wine or craft beer. This special tour is available upon request ($110USD per person; the organizer is free).
Mexico City native and founder Rocio Vazquez Landeta shares the city that she grew up in and is committed to supporting the community in her city. Eat Like a Local Mexico City is the only Mexican-founded food tour agency that actively promotes economic growth and creates opportunities for families within the traditional markets. All of Eat Like a Local’s food tours sponsors English lessons for children at Tacubaya neighborhood. Eat Like a Local developed the 80iq program, a complete social program dedicated to supporting local children. In partnership with Traso AC, children are given weekly boxing lessons, citizenship workshops and a psychology companion. The parents receive parenting and nutritional counseling. 80iq provides weekly English lessons and monthly inspiration workshops where the children will meet amazing people and learn about different careers. Eat Like a Local guests can meet the children every Friday at 5:00, 80iq and Traso team, organize book readings where guests can read to the children and parents and then ask them questions about the book. The children of La Merced Market will join this program, benefiting more than 30 children. 80iq will also provide financial education for the mothers, where they will learn about credit, how to create a savings account and a monthly budget and developing strategies to achieving financial independence.
About Eat Like a Local Mexico City
The founder and mastermind behind Eat Like a Local Mexico City, Rocio Vazquez Landeta was born and raised in Mexico City. For several years, she worked in public relations and marketing for luxury brands such as Mont Blanc and Mercedes Benz. Rocio decided to create Eat Like a Local Mexico City three years ago after a horrible tour in Turkey. A world traveler with more than 23 countries and 65 cities under her belt, Rocio is a sustainable tourism researcher, an avid reader, a food expert and entrepreneur. She left her job as Social Media Director at DDB Group managing international brands such as McDonalds, Kellogg’s, Danone and Hasbro, to follow her passion for her city and its people to create a tourism product that promotes cultural exchange and economic growth. Eat Like a Local Mexico City has an all-women team with people stemming from different backgrounds including sociologists, food stylists, art historians and textile designers. As a female-owned and operated company, Eat Like a Local Mexico City’s mission is to empower other women and create job opportunities that allow women in the local community to take care of their children and explore economic opportunities. www.eatlikealocal.com.mx
