CULINARY THUMBNAIL

Here are the most notable characteristics of this state's cuisine:

1. strong influence of indigenous cultures
2. seashore, tropical lowland and cool upland environments provide a huge diversity of produce

TRADITIONAL DISHES TO LOOK FOR

• Cocido -- stew usually including beef, pork, chicken, garbanzos, string beans, chayote and other small squash, cabbage, carrots, "guineo" bananas, seasoned with cilantro and hierbabuena herb, accompanied by rice and chili sauce
• Mole Negro -- the most famous of many moles, this "black mole" is made with turkey
• Chiles Rellenos de Sardinas (on the coast) -- chilies stuffed with small fish
• Tortillas Clayudas (or "Tlayudas") (in the central valleys) -- large, thick, leathery tortillas
• Totopos -- very large, perforated, toasted tortillas

SWEETS

• Alegría -- toasted, popped and sweetened amaranth seeds
• Ate -- candied fruit; often ate is used as a suffix on a fruit's name, so that a mangate is a mango ate, and a guayabate is a guava ate
• Capirotada -- especially during Lent, a white-bread pudding with various combinations of ingredients, such as cheese, tomato, peanuts, raisins, and biznaga cactus, all covered with syrup
• Gaznate -- cylindrical sweet filled with meringue
• Mamón -- a bland, spongy bread of corn starch, egg, sugar, and cinnamon

NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

• Pozol de Cacao --  pozol is made by grinding boiled corn kernels to form the moist paste called masa, stirring the masa into water, and adding a pinch of salt or sugar; this one has ground cacao (chocolate) added
• Tejata -- made from toasted and ground cacao and seeds of the mamey fruit with a certain kind of small flower.

Information on this page based on material presented in Gastronomía: Atlas cultural de México, 1988, an extensive and well illustrated work by various authors, published by the Secretaría del Educación Pública, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City.