But just because Mexico has yet to be written about on the illustrious pages of the Michelin guide doesn’t mean the country hasn’t been serving platefuls of Michelin-worthy food year after year. In fact, Mexican cuisine has long been held as one of the world’s best, the country even being awarded by UNESCO for its culinary diversity. If you are a foodie then Mexico should be at the top of your list of countries to explore!

Beyond Mexico!

You may not have visited Mexico yet, but it’s a safe bet that you’ve tried Mexican food. This is because Mexico’s gastronomic reach is vast! In every city, you are bound to find a restaurant that purports to sell a real Mexican experience. And whilst Michelin may not have touched Mexico herself, Michelin has been touched by Mexican cuisine. 

There are several restaurants in the Michelin guide that offer a Mexican menu and 5 Mexican chefs have been awarded Michelin stars. Whilst they work in other countries, they are spreading the joy of the food from their homeland. 

Beyond Michelin!

The Michelin guide is a wonderful marker of excellence, but it is not the only marker. The World’s Best 50 (also known as the Oscars of the food world!) has recognised Mexico City’s Pujol in its global top 10, and Latin America’s best consistently. The restaurant is well known for its innovative dishes, and its tasting menu changes with the seasons, ensuring that every dish is made with the freshest local ingredients. 

Additionally, the Taste Atlas has chosen the cochinita pibil from Mexico City’s Taqueria El Turix, as the best traditional dish in the world, and rates Mexico City as the best food city in the world. Several restaurants, such as Cafe de Tacuba and Hosteria de Santo Domingo, are listed as must-visit destinations. 

This recognition demonstrates why Mexico City is a Mecca for food lovers as its chefs combine tradition and innovation, looking backwards and striving forwards with every dish they serve. 

Where to Start?

At Sabores Mexico Food Tours we take food very seriously. We believe the food experience goes beyond just flavour. Food is a gateway to understanding a culture. 

It is through the sharing of food that people come to know each other and it is through food that we can learn about a place: its history, its geography, and the things that are precious to and about it. This is why we offer various tours that focus on different sides of Mexico City. 

We want you to experience the city’s different faces and get a real sense of the people that make our city great! 

One of the best ways to begin is in the past. For this, we recommend you try the Mexico City Food Tour in the Historic Centre. On this tour you’ll be taken on a gastronomic journey through time, beginning with traditional pre-Hispanic dishes and moving forwards to modern twists on authentic Mexican flavours. 

As your taste-buds travel through time, you can enjoy the atmosphere and listen to the stories and history that have made Mexico City the magical place it is! 

Once you’ve gotten to grips with Mexico City’s culinary past it makes sense to explore its extraordinary contemporary food scene, the heart of which is in Colonia Roma. 

This beautiful neighbourhood is where the pulse of Mexico City’s food scene is taken. The area is vibrant and beautiful so your eyes will have as much to feast on as your mouths!

And for the night owls amongst you, we offer a fantastic evening Taco Tour with Beer and Mezcal! On this tour, you can enjoy exploring different neighbourhoods, each with its own special atmosphere, and you’ll learn that the taco is not as humble as it looks! 

About Those Michelin Stars!

Mexico may not have any Michelin starred restaurants yet, but it is full of stellar eating experiences, and Mexico City is a city that loves its food. 

Mexico City focuses on the produce available and it honours its past whilst it plays with flavour to create food for now and for the future. Mexico is a must-visit culinary destination! 

So, hopefully, we have whet your appetite! If any of our tours have piqued your interest, or if you have any questions, please get in touch.

The post Are There Any Michelin Star Restaurants in Mexico? appeared first on Sabores México Food Tours.

A Short History of the Burrito

The word Burrito means ‘little donkey’ in Spanish and if that conjures images in your mind of a donkey carrying heavy bags across a country landscape, well, that’s a fitting image for us to begin— the Burrito’s history is overladen with stories, and the dish has traveled a long way since its conception.

As with many beloved dishes, the beginning of the Burrito is wrapped (excuse the pun!) in legend. What we can say for certain is that proto-Burritos were being used by Mayan civilization from as early as 1,500 BC. As a neat way of traveling with their food when covering long distances, Mayan people would wrap the food they’d prepared in corn tortillas. However, the first mention of food called Burritos doesn’t arrive until the late 19th century (at the very earliest) and doesn’t show up in any English-language sources until the 1930s. So, it is generally agreed upon that the present form of the Burrito starts to take shape at the dawn of the 20th century. But who started it? Three origin stories come up repeatedly.

Firstly, we may look to a man named Juan Méndez, who ran a street food stand in Ciudad Juárez during the Mexican Revolutionary period. It is said that Juan would travel into town each day on a donkey, and in order to keep all the food he had prepared warm and fresh, he would parcel everything up in large wheat flour tortillas. Hence, people came to nickname his food parcels as Burritos, because they were sold by the man with the little donkey.

The second commonly found suggestion is that Burritos have their origins in mining communities. Miners would travel deep into the mines on the back of donkeys, and to keep their food packed in a way that was handy to eat, they wrapped it in large tortillas. The association with traveling with a donkey naturally led to Burrito as the moniker the dish would go by.

The final theory is somewhat similar, but this time it is cowboys who are given the credit for this foodie sensation. Vaqueros is the name given to the cattle ranchers of northern Mexico and some food historians speculate that it is within this culture of horseback riding and adventure that the Burrito gained popularity. The name Burrito here comes from the wheat flour tortilla’s ability to carry lots of food, just like a mule.

The origins of the Burrito will remain shrouded in mystery, but each story points to the same conclusion: the Burrito was a practical dish, and one ideal for travelers! But how did the dish grow from being a local specialty to a global phenomenon? 

The Popularity of Burritos

The growth of Burritos undoubtedly comes from the emigration of Mexican citizens into the United States. From the 1920s through to the 1960s, the US government put in place a series of diplomatic agreements known as the Bracero programs. Under these agreements, millions of Mexican workers were granted temporary work permits to perform largely agricultural roles in the US. Mainly based in the southern territories around New Mexico, these programs led to the first mass production of Burritos (a food that officials thought would be popular with the workers). And while many of the Mexican workers had probably never encountered Burritos before (given its status as a regional specialty), the mass production was enough to ensure the spread of the Burrito.

Once picked up by fast-food stalls and diners in major cities such as LA, San Francisco, and San Diego, the evolution of the Burrito was in full motion, with every Burrito seller putting their own spin on the dish. And today, the Burrito is sold across the globe in a variety of styles rather far from its origins. But is this food, recognized by foodies the world over as Mexican, widely served in Mexico?

The Burrito in Mexico Today

So, you arrive in Mexico and you feel like eating your favorite Mexican food, Burritos — where do you go? Well, the answer, even in the 21st century, is still probably northern Mexico. Yes, although the Burrito is famous in foreign lands as a quintessentially Mexican food, in the country of its birth, the Burrito hasn’t traveled so widely. The little donkey has stayed close to its home in Ciudad Juárez, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. In northern Mexico, you will find Burritos, though they are likely to be much smaller than those you might have seen in other countries. The Mexican Burrito is closer in its design to traditional tacos, a food found throughout the country. (Those curious to explore that iconic Mexican dish could try our Taco Tour in Mexico City With Beer and Mezcal!) Across the country, the popularity of wheat flour tortilla wraps is starting to grow in line with their international celebrity, but if you are traveling outside of the northern regions, you would be better asking for tacos con tortilla de harina (flour tortilla tacos).

In conclusion, the versatile and comforting Burrito does indeed have its roots within Mexico and continues to be found here today. However, in a country whose gastronomy was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status for its depth and diversity, the Burrito remains a regional specialty, mostly found in the north.

This brings to an end our blog — we hope we’ve given you an appetite to explore Mexican cuisine. If you have any questions about this blog or any of our tours, please get in touch.

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“I never thought a cooking class could create such a sense of belonging in our team. It was fun and enriching to watch everyone’s culinary abilities and the reinforcement of their self esteem and creativity alongside their colleagues. I recommend it very much”. Denisse I. – Banner Mexico

Team building and its importance

Any company that values its human resources and considers that both continued knowledge and teamwork are keys to success, must think about team building outings, events, or activities as part of their frequent operation. The practice of creative experiences that quit the routine does not only help create functional teams and increases productivity, but reduces work-related stress, enhancing each participant’s skills and contributing to their personal growth and professional performance.

Even if it seems simple, transforming a working group into a team implies that all members are on the same page and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. An interesting way of achieving so is through activities that motivate workers to develop their creativity and that offer an alternative environment in which they can interact, collaborate, meet, have fun, and create trust bonds among them.

The saborista team building

In Sabores México Food Tours we have a rich selection of gastronomic experiences that foster fellowship, identify leaders, and encourage participants to share their knowledge with others whilst they learn new things together, have fun, strengthen their trust, domestic solidarity, and sense of belonging.

To achieve a natural and effective team building, it is important to identify what your company or organization really needs, as well as knowing the changes you are looking for your workgroup. When you have these objectives defined, do not hesitate in sharing them with us, so we can adequate our experiences to your needs and then start your journey through gastronomy, culture-orientated team building.

“With the classic corporate integration dynamics not all employees end up having a blast, but with the chocolate and coffee tasting Sabores Mexico organized for us, everyone was delighted and couldn’t stop talking about the experience for weeks”. Luis R. – AT&T

Choose the best gastronomic experience for your company

Each one of our gastronomic experiences is as unique as every individual in your team. However, it can be adjusted to your company’s needs, values, and objectives. In fact, you don’t have to worry about planning anything, because we will handle it for you by entirely coordinating each one of the activities and making your team-building event a howling success.

Some important elements to help you choose the ideal experience for your task force are, alongside your main objectives, the number of people that will participate, their actual working relationships, their heterogeneous personalities, tastes, working methods and, of course, their interest in gastronomic and cultural issues.

If your workgroup needs some ice-breaking exercises or you want to relate people from different areas, our Tastings are perfect for you, as they create a bonding identity through an encounter with flavors, scents, colors, and history of delicious and iconic Mexican products.

On the other hand, Chefinars and Mixology sessions are perfect for a working group that needs to develop a closer relationship, improve communication, share individual work methods, and let individual personalities arise during the creation of a self-made product.

Once you’re clear on which are the gastronomic experiences your work force needs to begin their team building expedition, remember it is important to have in mind some of the participants’ health details before the activity, so as to prevent issues with possible allergies and/or food aversions or habits. Also, try to tell your people about the event or activity through a fun and unexpected speech that generates curiosity, emotion, interest, and a positive attitude towards the experience. Do not forget that the activities must take place out of the working space; if your group members work from home, suggest a change from their usual working spot to go ahead with the experience.

“The mixology class and mezcal tasting we had with Sabores Mexico’s experts were key to reduce home-office related stress and achieve a positive change in the distance work environment, because people from different areas were able to break the ice and the collaboration spirit was reinforced”. Paola G. – Bausch & Lomb

To see positive short, medium, and long-term changes in your working group, it is important to follow up the gastronomic experience in order for each participant to really develop a commitment to continue working with team spirit, innovation, and creativity, so the achieved changes remain, and your company secures better results.

Learn more about our innovative and creative gastronomic experiences at this link and give your workgroup the chance to learn, have fun, support local businesses, and become a motivated and collaborative team.

For more information, you can contact us here, e-mail us at info@saboresmexicoft.com,  call us at +52 55 5350 9565 or our social media @saboresmexicoft.

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In our article on gastronomic experiences, we tell you more about this practice as it relates to team building and how it can benefit your organization if you choose one of our gastronomic experiences to carry on with it.

Eat with us!

Our Mexican gastronomic events are live and interactive and can be enjoyed online or on-site. In each activity, we ensure that your working group leaves their usual routine, relaxes, communicates, and connects through gastronomy.

For this, we have diverse options so that each participant enjoys a great experience and can follow up their growth through different tasks, increasing the motivation, cohesion, and collective transformation the team-building approach achieves.

Our experiences are designed by gastronomic experts, who conduct them in a recreational, educational, and dedicated way alongside specialized hosts. During the activities, your working group members will develop new abilities, participate in exciting ventures to help them exalt their senses of taste, smell, and sight, and engage in friendly competitions.

Tastings

Discover chocolate, coffee, and craft beer tasting techniques and receive recommendations for pairing wine, tequila, and mezcal in these fun and relaxing tastings presented by gastronomy experts and a specialized host. Explore unique Mexican products’ flavors, aromas, and colors with exclusive characteristics and production processes.

The gustatory experience is approximately one hour and includes, alongside our hosts’ expertise, a box for each participant containing the necessary elements for their personalized tasting.

Chefinars

Step in with experienced chefs and cook extraordinary Mexican and international recipes like crispy pumpkin flowers with curd and traditional black bean tlacoyos. In these interactive classes, a professional chef will invite participants into the kitchen, sharing knowledge and advice while everyone prepares two seasonal dishes, achieving an attractive environment that fosters trust and team spirit.

Alongside the chef’s lessons and guidance, this culinary experience includes a box for each participant with all the recipes’ ingredients and quality spices. Everyone gives their best and tests their culinary abilities for 90 minutes.

Mixology

Prepare a delicious Dry Martini, a fresh Hemingway Daiquiri or a classic Moscow Mule alongside the best mixologists. This experience is guided by an expert bartender and a gastronomic host, who will teach participants mixology and flavor balance abilities that will allow them to create two or three exquisite classic cocktails and design one of their own.

The experience can last 40 to 60 minutes approximately, time enough for each group member to learn how to make three delicious cocktails. Don’t worry if not everyone has the necessary mixology equipment for the class. Each participant will receive a box that includes the spirits or liquors, the syrups, bitters, and high-quality garnitures they need to create their drinks.

Are you up for the corporate saborista experience?

Now that you know more about our corporate gastronomic experiences, choose the one that best fits your company’s needs.

In the last section of our saborista team building article, we offer some advice on selecting the more suitable activities for you. We also include some recommendations so that the final results from each experience transcend and become beneficial and productive for your company.

Remember that all Chefinars, Mixology sessions, and Tastings are customizable. In the online mode, we have national shipping only. If you live outside Mexico, we can advise you on the necessary products to purchase.

For more information, you can contact us here, e-mail us at info@saboresmexicoft.com, at +52 55 5350 9565, or our social media @saboresmexicoft.

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