Oaxaca, Mexico: for the love of chocolate

Here’s a good reason — and for some, it’s an irresistible one — to plan a trip to Oaxaca, in southeastern Mexico: chocolate. Oaxaca tops IgoUgo.com’s list of “Top 10 destinations for chocolate lovers,” which describes the No. 1 placing as such:

“In Oaxaca, chocolate is used not only as a food in chocolate corn, chocolate sauce and so on but also as a popular drink. For their fix, locals frequent Chocolate Mayordomo, a shop with two downtown locations….”

Chocolate featured in SmarterTravel.com columnist Eileen Ogintz’s recent culinary explorations of Oaxaca. On a recent trip, she and her family dined at the “charming” Como Agua Pa’ Chocolate restaurant, and stopped at a chocolate factory. “Workers mix the chocolate right in front of us, handing it to customers as a big yummy blob in a plastic bag. My chocoholic daughters are entranced. The place smells heavenly!” she wrote.

According to a past Budget Travel piece, “25 Reasons We Love Oaxaca,” the making of chocolate is a centuries-old tradition that is still strong today: “Oaxacans love their chocolate; they each consume an average of 5.5 pounds of it per year. Many start the day with hot chocolate, which is whisked until it froths like a cappuccino.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to really crave a trip to Oaxaca. I’ve been seeing flights from LAX to OAX over the $300-round-trip mark lately, but on Expedia, I just found a fare for $286 total, with a stop in Mexico City.

NB: So that this sugary recommendation comes with a foothold in reality: Yes, Mexico has been rocked by a nasty drug war, mostly affecting cartels and law enforcement. Though Oaxaca has been largely unaffected, attacks on Feb. 4 left a police officer dead. Some will tell you to avoid Mexico altogether during this rocky time; others will tell you that your trip — if limited to the popular tourist destinations — is most likely to be incident-free. Yes, it’s complex, and no, there are never any guarantees … even on the chocolate thing.

– Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photos credit: Gary Denness on Flickr]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 8:40 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Gourmet, Mexico, Oaxaca City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.