Food of the Gods: Chocolate & Maize Oaxaca Walking Tour

About

The Session: Oaxaca’s markets, chocolatiers, and streets are our classrooms as we taste and learn about the mysteries of chocolate and corn not only through Mexican and world history, but through flavours. Via pre-hispanic cacao drinks, local seeds, chocolate tastings, very rare types of chocolate, and heirloom maize foods we endeavour to learn about the mysterious paths of the humble cacao bean and the corn cob from their beginnings to its modern incarnations today. Guests are challenged to consider their approach to the vast differences in taste, textures, and context that root Oaxacan and Western chocolate traditions and how all of this might inform our relations to money, death, time, and ceremony.

Where: Oaxaca’s Centro Historico. Our classrooms for this session include three local markets and two of Oaxaca’s finest chocolatiers.

How: Walking. There are 5 classrooms we visit on foot, so please dress for impending weather. Bring a hat or sunglasses, and be prepared to walk and learn.

Menu

• Chocolate Atole Tasting (Traditional, Ceremonial, Chocolate Drink)
• Oaxacan Chocolate Tasting
• Cacao Bean & Nib Tasting
• Chocolate Tasting (Rare Cacao & Diverse Ingredients)
• Traditional Almuerzo (Heirloom/Organic Tortilla-Based Foods)
• Tejate (Traditional, Ceremonial, Chocolate Drink)
• Chocolate Truffle Tasting (Rare Mexican Flavours)

Schedule

• 9:00 am: Introductions & Gratitude Circle
• 9:10 am: Chocolate Atole Tasting & Discussion
• 9:45 am: Oaxacan Chocolate Tasting & Challenge
• 10:10 am: Cacao Tree Talk, Cacao Bean & Nib Tasting
• 10:30 am: Chocolate Tasting (Rare Cacao & Diverse Ingredients)
• 11:00 am: Traditional Almuerzo/Breakfast (Heirloom/Organic Tortilla-Based Foods), Maize/Corn Discussion
• 12:00 pm: Tejate Tasting & Discussion
• 12:40 pm: Chocolate Truffle Tasting & Explanation