When your in another country, you always must try the local cuisine to get to know a country. Here are some of the basics for breakfast so you can start your day with a good filled stomach!
Changing rate while typing this blog post: 22 MXN = €1 or 18 MXN = $1
Have a breakfast in a local restaurant:
When you are walking through the streets, you will see a lot of little local restaurants offering breakfast for a really good price. The best ones, are the ones where you see the locals as well. Most of the time the breakfast includes free coffee (as much as you want) and juice or fruit. The ones we went to were always like that and prices variate from 40 MXN to 80 MXN (€2 - €3,5).
This one at the right included Mexican eggs with chorizo, frijoles, tortillas, as much coffee as you want and a fresh orange juice for 76 MXN (€3,5 - our most expensive one)
The basics for breakfast:
Tamales: Tamale is a traditional dish made of a corn dough, which is steamed in a corn husk (or sometimes in a banana leaf). Before eating, you take away the wrapping. They can be filled with meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, chilies or any preparation according to taste, and both the filling and the cooking liquid may be seasoned. It is one of the most popular street foods in Mexico City, especially for breakfast. According to the location in the country, there are different variations with local ingredients en traditions. The prices variate depending on the filling and size. For a normal size in corn husk you will pay about 15 - 20 MXN (less than €1).
Atole: Most of the time you can also find atole together with the tamales. This is a traditional hot corn-based beverage. In Mexico the drink typically includes masa (corn hominy flour), water, piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), cinnamon, vanilla and optional chocolate. Depending on which booth you visit you will pay from 8 MXN to 15 MXN (max €0,75).
Juices: A lot of vendors on the street or next to supermarkets will sell fresh juices, mostly orange or mandarin. You will pay about 15 MXN a cup, so about €0,75 in Mexico City, so not a bad deal if you compare it to Western prices. At the beaches, for example Puerto Escondido, we've payes 35 MXN (less than €2) for one liter of fresh pressed orange juice. In some places you can also find carrot juis for only a couple of pesos extra.
Aguas (fresca): Most commonly are the booths that sell aguas or licuados (see below). These stands have big glass jars on their display, filled with all kinds of chopped fruit. An agua fresca is fresh fruit mixed with water and suger. Delicious and really refreshing. I can't count the amount of aguas we had during our time here. In Mexico City you only pay 15 MXN to 20 MXN for one liter of agua (less than €1). Most of the time you also get this agua with a comida corida (budget meal during the afternoon).
Licuados: If the booth sells aguas, most of the time they also sell licuados. These are fruit shakes made with milk. You can find them in all flavors. The price is most of the time just 5 pesos more than the aguas.
Fruit: Bicycle carts sell fruit cocktails with watermelon (sandia), papaya, orange, banana... with honey and granola. They also have a more savory variant with cucumber or carrot and seasoned with lime, chili and salt. Good and healty way to start your day! Prices variate from 30 MXN to 70 MXN depending on size and ingredients.
Coffee: You will see vendors with their cart selling coffee everywhere. Most of the time it’s just instant coffee, so not the good coffee that you expect in a country like this. If you go into a café or restaurant where they sell good breakfasts, you most of the time get the good stuff: real filter coffee. And if you are really lucky they also have café de olla, my husband’s favorite! Café de olla (lit. pot coffee) is a traditional Mexican beverage. To prepare café de olla, it is essential to use a traditional earthen clay pot, as this gives a special flavor to the coffee and is combined with herbs, cinnamon and caramel sugar.
Pastry: A Mexican loves his sweet pastries and you will find them everywhere. On the streets, in the shop or in the special pasteleria (compare it to your bakery at home). Our favorite was in Mexico City: pasteleria Ideal! The amount of cookies, muffins, cakes, sandwiches... they had: incredible! Prices go from 1,5 MXN for a normal crusty bread roll to 15 MXN for a big sweet treat. In one of the shops there even was an cake exhibition where you could see the most extravagant cakes that you could order for your own party.
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