Begin in the small dairy village of Reyes Etla, celebrated throughout Oaxaca for producing the finest quesillo — the fresh string cheese that is one of the state's most beloved foods. Watch how it is made from scratch and pull the warm, stretchy strands yourself directly from the whey. You'll also taste memelitas, thick handmade corn tortillas topped with local ingredients — simple, extraordinary food prepared the same way it has been for generations.

Enter a world of pre-Hispanic flavors in the village of San Andrés Huayapam. Here you'll taste tejate, an ancient cold beverage made from corn, cacao, and mamey seed that was once reserved for Zapotec royalty — and is still prepared by hand in clay bowls today. You'll also discover water chocolate, stone-ground cacao dissolved in water the traditional Oaxacan way, and taste tamales and nicuatole, a silky corn-based dessert with a flavor that exists nowhere else on earth.

End in the lively market town of Tlacolula, where a local baker walks you through the making of casserole bread — a rich, anise-scented bread baked in clay pots that is a staple of Oaxacan celebrations. You'll also learn how Oaxacan chocolate is ground and prepared from raw cacao using a traditional stone mill (metate). Tlacolula's Sunday market is one of the largest and most authentic indigenous markets in Mexico — a feast for all the senses.