Vegetarian Street Food GUIDE: Part 2

Here’s a short list of options you can eat at food stalls in the street or markets.

** In any street food, the oil that they use could be canola oil or similar, or it could be “manteca” which is reduced pork lard; unless you go to a strictly vegetarian or vegan restaurant, there might be a slight level of cross.contamination with the meat dishes - same pan used, same oil, same knife.
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◼️ QUESADILLAS: long corn tortilla with a fried or toasted, filled with the following vegetarian options:

• FLOR [DE CALABAZA] (squash blossom flower)
• HONGOS o SETAS (mushrooms, usually a variety of wild mushrooms)
• CHAMPIÑONES (mushrooms, usually the button mushrooms)
• HUITLACOCHE (corn smut, similar to mushroom flavor)
• PAPA (chopped up or squashed/mashed potato)
• RAJAS (strips of roasted poblano pepper); sometimes RAJAS CON PAPA, or RAJAS CON CREMA (marinated in Mexican cream)
• QUELITES (technically “edible tender herbs”, the taste is across between spinach and greens)
• ESPINACAS (spinach)
• QUESO o QUESILLO (in Mexico City, the quesadillas don’t automatically come with cheese, so you’d order a “quesadilla con queso”)
• COMBINADO (combine any fillings with each other or with cheese)

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***** QUESADILLAS FRITAS: similar to a quesadilla but usually shorter in size, and deep-fried; at these stands, usually you’ll also find FLAUTAS; here are the fillings you can ask for:

• QUESO (crunchy on the outside, melted cheese on the inside)
• RAJAS (usually poblano pepper, but sometimes bell pepper)
• Ask what else they have, as the previous list has some of the things you could select: papas, champiñones, espinacas con queso, etc.
• You usually add cream, iceberg lettuce, finely sliced, salsa, and grated cheese.

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◼️ TACOS DE CANASTA: tacos bathed in oil to cook, and you usually find them with someone selling them out of a woven basket, in the corner of a street, covered in cloth/plastic; the vegetarian options are FRIJOL (beans) or PAPA.

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◼️ ELOTES o ESQUITES: corn on the cob or pieces of corn in a cup, with mayonnaise, lime, chili, salt, and cheese; in Mexico, these are prepared in different regional ways but in Mexico City, you’ll usually find them either boiled or boiled and roasted in spices.

◼️ ​TAMALES: corn masa, steamed in corn husk or banana leaf; this usually is cooked in reduced pork lard, but they have one vegetarian filling option, RAJAS CON QUESO (strips of roasted or boiled poblano pepper with Oaxaca cheese usually); for a sweet option, there is DULCE which can be raisins, guayaba, pineapple, etc.

◼️ ​​EMPANADAS: flour-based pastries filled with ELOTE CON QUESO (corn with melted cheese), RAJAS CON CREMA O QUESO, ESPINACAS, or CHAMPIÑONES. it’s not that common to find them in the streets, but you can find them in many bakeries.