Central de Abastos de Oaxaca — Restaurant in Oaxaca

I’ve been to mercados in Guadalajara and Mexico City, but nothing had prepared me for Oaxaca’s Abastos Market. I accidentally wandered into Abastos one day by myself and was instantly overwhelmed by the colors, textures, smells, and chaos. I got lost immediately, but when I found my way back to my Airbnb, I immediately started googling for a local expert who could guide me through this massive foodie heaven. I got lucky and found Lembranza Mexico on TripAdvisor who hooked me up with Martha, a local foodie and tour guide extraordinaire. In her 3-hour walking tour, Martha took our group of 6 people deep into Abastos and I had the best street food experience of my life. It’s obvious that Martha was a passionate foodie herself and has developed deep relationships with some of the best vendors in the market. At every stop, we were welcomed with friendly smiles, offered priority seating, treated like VIPs and served immediately.

We were in good hands as Martha always she did the ordering, handled all the cash transactions, and carefully explained the ingredients and history of each dish. She also told us stories and shared cultural trivia that deepened our experience. And there was so much food! The finale was a “secret” mezcal vendor hidden deep inside the furniture section of the market who offered unlimited tastings served in hand-carved “jicaras” gourd cups. If you like a particular mezcal, they’ll gladly bottle one up on the spot and slap on a label for you to take with.

This Abastos experience was so much better than wandering through the Mercado 20 de Noviembre in central Oaxaca where all the other tourist go. Thank you Martha for making my street food...

I've been coming to this market SoLo for 3 years and it's my favorite part of the week. The produce is fresh and I have gotten to know many of the vendors who are simply lovely. The market is full of smells, some delicious and some revolting. It's a feast for the eyes... there's no denying where your meat comes from - chicken legs protrude stiffly from their owners... the heads of pigs adorn every butcher stand. Yes the market is grubby but the food is outstanding... from the memelas with Dona Vale to the Huevos Santos, the fresh juices and the Gorditas... you cannot go wrong here. Everyone buys their food fresh and serves it right away. Don't be scared to try! Wander into the ceramics area and the artisans part of the market... I dare you not to buy some beautiful keepsakes to take home! Don't take pictures of vendors without their permission... some get very upset. Don't wear valuables or flash your phone around. I've gone at least twice a month for 3 years and have always felt very safe indeed. If you want to see the soul of Oaxaca where life really happens - then take a trip to Abastos. Pro Tip: Go early! It gets hot and stuffy...

This is a must.. if you want to see people in their element living working selling buying. Basically it’s an authentic glimpse into the life of Oaxacans. Very few tourists go to this market since it’s a bit far but also very raw. We loved it. Our taxi driver asked us to be careful about our bags etc. Happy to report nothing bad happened and we were relaxed but vigilant. So you will be fine unless you do stupid touristy things like pulling wads of money out of wallets or pockets. Anyhow.

This market is huge but in about 2 hours you can get a good tour of it. The rows are usually organized by various themes like meats, yes raw meats and fish for sale, veggies and fruits, juices, clothing, dry goods, moles, crickets and so on. We were not intending to buy anything but bought some fruit and sat at a food stall to eat freshly made delish squash blossom and cheese empanadas- might have been the best we have had! They were very lovely - we did ok with our limited Spanish.

This market is a visual feast and seeing humanity at its day to day struggle and joy of living this thing we call life. Go, observe, take in, enjoy, and...