What do people eat in Mexico?
Mexicans eat three meals, and the biggest one, the comida, comes around 14:00. Corn tortillas, beans and chili are on the table at almost every meal.
Typical dishes and their calories
Breakfast
Desayuno runs from about 7:00 to 10:00 and is often coffee with pan dulce, such as a concha. On weekends it gets bigger: chilaquiles, fried tortilla pieces simmered in red or green salsa with cream and cheese, or huevos rancheros. A plate of chilaquiles with an egg is around 550 kcal.
Lunch
The comida, eaten around 14:00, is the main meal of the day. A comida corrida in a small restaurant brings soup, rice, a main dish with tortillas, an agua fresca and sometimes a small dessert. Two enchiladas with sauce and cheese come to about 600 kcal.
Dinner
Cena starts from about 19:00 and is lighter than the comida: a few tacos, a quesadilla, or pan dulce with coffee or hot chocolate. Going out for tacos in the evening is a habit, and three street tacos are about 510 kcal.
Starters
Guacamole with totopos, crisp tortilla chips, opens many meals, about 160 kcal for 100 g of guacamole. At the comida soup comes first, often sopa de tortilla. Pozole, a hominy soup with pork or chicken, is made for parties and for Independence night on 15 September.
Desserts
Flan, arroz con leche and tres leches cake are the everyday desserts. Churros dipped in hot chocolate are a favourite, about 380 kcal for four. Around the Day of the Dead on 1 and 2 November bakeries sell pan de muerto, a sweet bun decorated with dough bones.
Drinks
Aguas frescas like horchata, made with rice and cinnamon, and jamaica, made with hibiscus, are drunk with lunch. Soda and beer are everywhere, and a bottle of Corona is about 148 kcal. Tequila comes from Jalisco and mezcal mostly from Oaxaca, often sipped neat with orange slices and chili salt.
Street food
Tacos are the heart of street food. Tacos al pastor, pork cooked on a vertical spit called a trompo, came from Lebanese immigrants. Other stalls sell tamales in the morning, tortas, and elotes or esquites: corn with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chili.
Normal there, odd elsewhere
Lime and chili go on almost everything, from fresh mango and cucumber to crisps and beer. In Oaxaca people snack on chapulines, toasted grasshoppers with lime and salt. And the biggest meal of the day is eaten in the middle of the afternoon, not in the evening.