The following words are those you might see on an eatery's menu or cardboard sign. Even if you're pretty good in Spanish, it may be worthwhile to print out this list and carry it with you, for some words are peculiarly Mexican.

• abulón: abalone fish
• acamaya: a kind of crayfish living in rivers
• aguacate: avocado
• ahumado: smoked
• ajolote: a kind of salamander cooked entire in tomato-based stews and tamales
• aleta: fin (aleta de tiburón = shark fin)
• almeja: clam
• almendrado: with almond sauce
• almuerzo: lunch
• ancas: legs (ancas de rana = frogs' legs)
• antojito: snack
• apozonque: along southern Pacific coast, a kind of bean soup
• arroz: rice
• asado: roast
• atepocates: in central Mexico, frog egg-masses cooked with tomato and chili, boiled in corn leaves
• avena: oats (hojuelas de avena = oatmeal)
• atún: tuna fish
• bacalao: codfish
• barato: cheap
• barbacoa: barbecue
• birria: either goat or sheep meat, or a combination of both
• bistec: beefsteak
• bocol: a small gordita
• borrego: lamb
• botanas: snacks
• bote: same as churipo
• burrita: wheat tortilla folded over various items such as beef jerky, ham, or cheese
• butifarra: a kind of sausage
• c/: the preposition "with"
• cabeza: head (cabeza de res = cow head)
• cabra: goat
• cabrito: kid goat
• café: coffee
• caguama: a kind of sea turtle; some species are endangered so be careful about the source if you want some
• calabaza: squash
• calamares: squid
• caldillo: a light broth, in northern Mexico typically made from dried meat and green chili
• caldo: soup, broth
Camarón cocktail with salsa and limón in Vera Cruz
• camarón: shrimp
• caña: sections of sugarcane on which one chews to extract the sweet juice
• cangrejo: crab
• capón: in southern Guanajuato, a chicken stew with a spicy sauce based on tomato and cactus fruit
• caracol: snail
• carne: meat
• carnero: mutton
• carnita: pieces of fried pork
• carpa: carp fish
• casero: homemade
• cazón; a small shark
• cazuela: in Sonora, a stew made of crumbled, dried meat seasoned with tomato, green chili, onions and spices
• cebollado: an adjective meaning "cooked with onions"
• cecina: dried, salted meat
• cebiche or ceviche: marinated raw fish
• cerdo: hog
• chalupa: a thick corn tortilla garnished with chili sauce, pulpy chicken or pork meat, aged cheese, and lettuce
• champiñones: mushrooms
• charal: a species of lake fish
• charikurinda: in Michoacán, a large tamale of bean paste and colored corn
• chicharrón: crisply fried pig crackling
• chilacayote: a greenish, spherical squashlike fruit of the gourd family
• chilorio: in Sinaloa, a stew with chili and chunks of pork
• chito: in central Mexico, dried, salted goat meat
• chivichanga: In Sonora, a taco made with a wheat-flour tortilla wrapped over meat, beans or cheese, and fried in oil
• chivo: goat
• chorizo: red pork sausage
• chuina: in Nayarit, a very thick beef stew seasoned with corn paste and chili
• chuleta: cutlet, or chop
• churipo: in west-central Mexico, a spicy stew with chunks of beef, chicken, and pork
• clayuda: in Oaxaca, a giant tortilla
• cochino or cochinito: pig
• cocina: kitchen
• con: the preposition "with"
• consomé: meat stew
• corunda: a tamale, especially from Michoacán, typically containing a certain amount of firewood ashes
• costilla: ribs
• cuajada: curd
• cucharada del mar: a lobsterlike crustacean of the Pacific
• cuitlacoche: corn smut (a fungus)
• elote: ear of green corn, can be boiled or toasted
• empanada: wheat tortilla folded over nearly any ingredient, then fried in oil
• enchilada: corn tortilla prepared in a variety of ways, for instance dipped in chili sauce, filled with cheese, meat, or some other ingredient, sprinkled with chopped onion or cheese, fried in oil, maybe topped with sour cream
• espinazo: backbone
• filete: fillet
• flor: flower (flor de calabaza = squash flower)
• fresco: fresh
• frijoles: beans
• frío: cold
• frito: fried
• fundido: melted (queso fundido = melted cheese)
• gallina: chicken
• garbanzo: chickpea
• gordita: an especially thick corn tortilla stuffed with nearly any edible, fried in oil, and garnished
• guajolote: turkey
• guisado: stew
• haba: lima bean
• harina: flour, especially wheat flour
• hígado: liver
• hongos: mushrooms
• horno: oven (al horno = baked)
• huachinango: red snapper sea fish
Huarache from a comedor in Mexico City
• huarache: a large, oblong corn tortilla stuffed with bean paste, or sometimes another ingredient, fried in oil, and garnished
• huauzontles: greens
• huevo: egg
• jaiba: name applied to several crablike marine crustaceans
• jamón: ham
• jugo: juice
• langosta: lobster
• langostino: crayfish
• leche: milk
• legumbres: vegetables
• lentejas: lentils
• lisa: a fish of Mexican rivers
• lobina: striped bass fish
• lomo: loin, back of animal
• machacado: spicy dish based on dried meat
• machito: fried, bite-size portion of beef or pork tripe
• mariscos: seafood
• marlín: marlin sea fish
• mazamorra: crumbs of pig crackling
• menonita: in Chihuahua, a cheese produced by the Mennonites
• menudo: animal entrails; chitterlings
• michi: around Lakes Pátzcuaro and Chapala, a popular stew
• mochomo: in Chihuahua, finely macerated meat thoroughly fried
• mojarra: a kind of sea fish
• molleha: gizzard; also, sweetbread
• molote: in central Mexico, small, very greasy quesadillas
• mondongo: tripe stew
• morcilla: blood sausage
• nacatamal: in Michoacán and Guerrero, a tamale containing pork, or chicken with chili sauce, wrapped in corn shucks or banana leaves; nacatamales blancos have no stuffing; nacatamales dulces contain candied citron and raisins
• nixtamal: corn kernels boiled in a limewater solution until the seed coats come off, and the kernels are large and soft; ground into corn paste from which tortillas are made
• nólochi: in Chiapas, a corn tamale containing bean paste
• nopalitos: edible prickly pear cactus
• obispo: stew of pig stomach stuffed with aromatic herbs and dried chili
• omelete: omelette
• ostión: oyster
• pan: bread
Panuchos in the Yucatan
• panucho: ( one version shown above) in Yucatán, small corn tortillas filled with bean paste and hard-boiled egg, fried, and garnished with macerated chicken breast and marinated onion strips
• panza: intestines
• papa: potato
• papadzule or papak-tsul: in Yucatán, tortillas bathed in pumpkin-seed sauce rolled around boiled egg and smothered with tomato sauce
• pargo: porgy fish
• paste: a crusty empanada stuffed with meat, potato, onion, and parsley
• pato: duck
• patita: small foot or leg (patita de puerco = pig's foot)
• pavo: turkey
Pescado displayed in Mérida, Yucatán
• pescado: fish
• pez espada: swordfish
• pez sierra: sawfish
• pez vela: sailfish
• pibil: in Yucatán dish called cochinita pibil, a serving of pork, usually wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pit in the ground (or an oven) in a sauce concocted of achiote (bright orange-red dye with slightly hot taste), juice of bitter orange, and salt
• picadillo: ground beef or pork in spicy tomato sauce
• piltamal: in the mountains of Hidalgo, a small tamale stuffed with sweet corn
• pinole: toasted ground corn, often flavored with sugar, cinnamon, anise, etc.
• pipián: stew based on pumpkin seed or colored corn, with chili or achiote; often poured atop beef and poultry
• pollo: chicken
• potze: in Tabasco, a tamale of meat and rice, wrapped in aromatic leaves of hoja santa
• pozole: in north-central Mexico, a stew of pork head, corn, and chili
• puchero: meat stew with several vegetables
• puchero vaquero: in Yucatán, a stew of beef jerky, pumpkin, squash flowers, and spices
• puerco: pig
• pulpo: octopus
Quesadillas, above, and Sopes, below, in Yucatán
• quesadilla: a taco with cheese and, usually, any combination of a wide variety of other ingredients
• queso: cheese
• quesillo: melted cheese
• ranchera: country style
• refrescos: drinks, especially soda drinks
• refritos: refried (frijoles refritos = refried beans)
• repollo: cabbage
• requesón: curd, cottage cheese
• relleno: stuffed (chili relleno = stuffed chili pepper)
• renacuajo: tadpole or polliwog
• res: beef
• robalo: sea bass
• salbute: small, Yucatán-style taco, basically a panucho, stuffed with meat, fried, and then richly garnished
• salchicha: sausage
• salsa roja: hot sauce made with red chili peppers
• salsa verde: hot sauce made with green chili peppers
• sardina: sardine
• seca: dry (carne seca = dried meat, jerked beef)
• semilla: "seed"; street vendors often sell salted seeds, such as those of calabaza (pumpkin), chilacayote (a squash), and capulín (a kind of cherry)
• sesos: brains
• sopa: soup, broth
• sope: basically a panucho but garnished with ham and cheese.
• surtido: an assortment
• taco: in its most simple state, a tortilla wrapped around almost any edible ingredient, and fried in considerable oil or grease
Tamal wrapped in cornshuck, in Chiapas
• tamal: a tamale -- corn past made into a quadrangular bag, usually stuffed with some ingredient such as beans or fried chicken, then wrapped in corn shucks or banana leaves, and steamed
• tamal de judas: in Mexico State, during Easter Week, a special bean or pea tamale
• tamal nejo: in Morelos and Guerrero, a tamale made of corn paste in which the corn has been softened in a solution of ashes and water, not lime and water
• tatema or tatemado: in Sonora, salty, spicy meat wrapped up and prepared like barbecue
• té: tea
• ternera: veal
• tiburón: shark
• tinga: a spicy stew; one recipe calls for chicken meat or pork, tomato, chili, and the liquor called pulque
• tlacoyo: in central Mexico, like a huarache, but usually smaller
• tlatlapas: in central Mexico, toasted and crumbled, or ground beans cooked with nopal cactus and herbs, especially epazote
• tocino: bacon
• tortilla: tortilla -- traditionally made of moist corn paste but nowadays sometimes wheat flour, this most basic of Mexican breads is a pale, white, flat, about 1/16th- inch-thick, circular disk about six inches in diameter, baked without oil
• tortuga: turtle
• trucha: trout fish
• uchepo: in Michoacán, a tamale containing fresh sweet corn
• verdolagas: cooked greens of purslane, Portulacca oleracea
• xochitl: in Yucatán, caldo xochitl is a chicken soup flavored with avocado
• yuca: cassava root, also called manioc and tapioca-plant
• yuyo: edible herb