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No Stone
Unturned
Fromvegetable blossoms to flying ants and
even rocks, Oaxaca’s ancient cuisine draws on
virtually everything nature has to offer
BY LAYLA SCHLACK
OAXACA, MEXICO
RESIDENTS OF THE MEXICAN
state of Oaxaca may live
in a natural breadbasket—tomatoes, corn, beans, sweet
potatoes, chilies, vanilla and cacaoall growhere—but they
have an admirable habit of building meals around what-
ever they can find. Crickets, grasshoppers, ants and agave
wormshave longbeendietary staples, ashas a famousdish
called simply “stone soup.” And while braver restaurants
in Mexico City and the U.S. have started catering to bold
travelerswithsuchfare, fewcanmatchtheofferingsof eat-
eries in this picturesque coastal region.
“People don’t always realize it, but
a lot of the dishes in Oaxaca
are pre-
Hispanic,” says Oscar Carrizosa, chef
ON THE ROCKS
Stone soup at
Casa Crespo in
Oaxaca
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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JANUARY 2012
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