The main reason to go to Mexico is to eat. You think you might know what Mexican food is but let me tell you something: You really don’t. I never tried a burrito until I left Mexico and no, mexican tacos don’t use hard shell tortilla (I’ve never tried one of those tacos and I’ll never will)

Mexican gastronomy rich, vibrant culinary tradition recognized worldwide as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Only three other countries have the same recognition, so I thought it would be a good idea to guide you on what you should eat.

Yes, you definitely have to try tacos, multiple times and the hundreds of variations that exist, how a fresh tortilla tastes, but Mexican cuisine goes beyond that. I remember a long time ago I found a quiz online saying: Have you tried these 100 mexican dishes? I love the fact that the title only mentioned 100 dishes, and only the popular ones. This being said, it means that you won’t be able to try even 10% of the meals there.

Also, in the last few years I felt that the tourist traps increased everywhere in Mexico; Overpriced and bland food, with «salsas que no pican» (hot sauces that are not spicy), maybe pretty fancy places, but far from where we locals eat. The real good food is on the streets, on places where likely you’ll eat standing up, next to a road. So I thought… what if I ask my friends where they eat? And we came with these recommendations

I created this list called Food Recommendations (from locals) where we selected and categorized places based on meals you must try.

There are 2 levels of food you must try: Food from Guadalajara (created there and that it won’t be any better in other place) and food from Mexico (more generic mexican food i.e. tacos, gorditas, chilaquiles, etc). This list contains both categories, but make sure to try as many food from Jalisco as possible

Now, for any weird reason, this feature is a bit buggy (maybe because I don’t work there). It only shows 10 food categories, but I created 12. However, I found a workaround: Once you open the list, click in «Save List». After it, go back to the main map, and at the bottom there are 3 menus: Explore, You and Contribute. Click on You, and find the list you just saved. After all, the 12 food categories I created will show up. (sad fact, I only could create 12 categories so I had to create a «Miscellaneous» category)

I created multiple categories and you can filter by them, and also I added recommendations on what you could order in that place, mainly because otherwise you might go a bit conservative in your choices.

My recommendation is: Google the meal (i.e. what’s a Torta Ahogada?) and once you’re convinced you want to try it, go to any of the selected places. Something that you’ll learn from Mexico tho is that there is food almost in every corner. My advice for you is go where it looks the busiest and where it looks that has a lot of people waiting for their food. Everything in this list is amazing tho, and Googling it will help you to know what to expect. I even created a category for vegans.

Should you try fancy mexican food / viral spots from Instagram & Tiktok? If you want to, but honestly you’re missing nothing. As I mentioned, the real fancy food is out there on the streets. You’ll go back home with 5 more kilos, but that’s ok.

If you’re going to the beach with us, amazing news: Seafood is its own world with also hundreds of dishes.

I’ll continue adding more options this month, in the meantime, give food a try! Don’t waste your time eating hotel’s food.