Friday Explorer: A Cook’s Tour to Mexico

Welcome to the Friday Explorer Series on Go Mexico Guide. The Friday Explorer Series aims to promote tour services throughout Mexico that may be of interest to a wide range of travelers. This week I’m pleased to welcome Nancy Zaslavsky representing A Cook’s Tour to Mexico.

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your business.

A Cook's Tour to Mexico culinary tours

I was brought up in New Jersey and graduated Parsons School of Design in NYC. I worked in the City as a graphic designer before getting married and moving to Los Angeles where I was a designer for Ray & Charles Eames, and then I had my own design office for over 20 years. During that time I also wrote and photographed stories on Mexican food and travel for local publications. Things ballooned and A Cook’s Tour of Mexico: Authentic Recipes from the City’s Best Open-Air Markets, City Fondas and Home Kitchens was published in 1995. A few years later, Meatless Mexican Home Cooking came out.

Living in Los Angeles—the greatest US city for Mexican cooking ingredients—makes it a snap for me to get specific items I need to replicate regional dishes I taste during my travels throughout Mexico. I write about Mexican food, teach cooking classes and lead culinary tours to my favorite food destinations in Mexico.

Where in Mexico does A Cook’s Tour to Mexico operate?  Tell us about some of your featured itineraries.

I’ve been leading small culinary tours to Mexico for over a dozen years. Each year I take people to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead festivities. I lead groups of ten people to Veracruz (seafood!), San Miguel de Allende, Guadalajara/Tequila, and Pátzcuaro—not all in the same year. I also love long weekend tours out of L.A. to the Guadalupe Valley wine county in northern Baja. My tours are not only about food—the theme is Mexican culture—we explore historical sights, museums, architecture, music, art and folk art everywhere.

Small group family-style dining

Are the tours offered by A Cook’s Tour to Mexico all-inclusive or geared more toward the independent traveler in Mexico?

My one-week tours include everything except air. People come from all over the country (and other countries, too), so each tour begins at our hotel where we meet for orientation and have our first dinner together. Groups are small, so we gather around one big table at every meal. Single travelers feel especially welcome, as family. Everything on the tour is included: hotel, all meals, tastes, demos, site and museum entrance fees, cooking classes, ground transportation, and special guides to lead us at historic sites.

You mentioned that you offer a special culinary tour to Oaxaca during the Day of the Dead celebrations. Please talk about what you do, where you go and what you eat on this tour.

October 27 to November 2, 2010 are the Oaxaca dates this year. Our small group explores Oaxaca City’s Spanish colonial center, where we stay in a lovely hotel. We roam traditional marketplaces, visit Monte Alban (historic site with pyramids) with an expert guide, enjoy a mole and tamales cooking class in a Zapotec home, learn all about the mystique of mezcal by a top producer, and have an expert relay the meaning of Day of the Dead – its history, customs, decorations and special foods. The night of October 31 our group strolls through two bustling cemeteries and observes families preparing grave sites with abundant candles and bright flowers for all-night festivities. We decorate our own Day of the Dead altar at a friend’s restaurant where tamales and luscious hot chocolate are prepared especially for us.

Day of the Dead alter in Oaxaca, Mexico

We taste absolutely everything in sight! We eat at the very best place for every specific, famous Oaxacan dish. Whether a top restaurant or favorite street food cart, everywhere we go the food is top quality and made by experts. There is absolutely no need to feel squeamish about dining with me—anyplace we go I’ve tried time and time again to great delight.

We grind own chocolate at a mill, to our specific proportions, and we have the opportunity to buy prepared mole pastes and chocolate from top sources to take home as perfect souvenirs.

Shoppers: Of course we explore the top craft and folk art villages surrounding Oaxaca City! We go to a rug weaving center, a pueblo for carved and painted wood animals, the famous black pottery village, and more. We shop in workshops to meet and buy directly from famous artisans.

Can your tours be customized to accommodate special dietary needs or preferences? Is English spoken? How should someone go about booking a tour with A Cook’s Tour to Mexico?

Many vegetarians come on my tours (remember, I wrote Meatless Mexican Home Cooking) and I really know where to get a great selection of delectable foods! People who are gluten intolerant have many choices since corn tortillas are wheat free.

I speak English and my assistants, guides and tour drivers speak English.

To book one of my tours, go to www.nancyzaslavsky.com and click on the TOURS page for more information. Call 310-440-8877 or e-mail with questions. I lead private tours for friends who like to travel together and can design these tours to accommodate specific dates.

You’re also the author of two cookbooks specializing in regional Mexican cooking. Please tell us a little about your cookbooks.

A Cook’s Tour of Mexico was published in 1995 by St. Martin’s Press, NY. Nominated for a James Beard Award, its collection of recipes covers all aspects of Mexican cuisine and pays tribute to the history and tradition, the folklore and culture that inspire the dishes. Each chapter explores a different region of central and southern Mexico via market tours, cooking stories and dining adventures. The book celebrates a rich and varied cuisine and the people whose love of good food extends from the garden to the market, from the kitchen to the table.

Meatless Mexican Home Cooking was published in 1997, also by St. Martin’s Press. These recipes are delicious, robust foods that are eaten every day in Mexico and just happen to be meatless. My Mexican friends, all marvelous home cooks, provided many favorite family recipes to share with lovers of healthful, great food. I also collected traditional recipes by watching and recording cooks as they prepared typical fare for hungry shoppers at regional market food counters.

Experience the best of Mexican food and culture!

Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the tours offered by A Cook’s Tour to Mexico?  Where can our readers go for more information?

My groups are small—and we have a blast!!

Please visit my website, www.nancyzaslavsky.com and click on the TOURS page for more information. Print and fill out the application and mail it along with your deposit check. Call 310-440-8877 or e-mail questions about future tours not yet listed on the site. I’m always happy to help with airlines, routes and finding the best rates for my participants!

Thank you for joining me on the Friday Explorer.

Photographs © Nancy Zaslavsky 2009

I hope you enjoyed today’s interview. A special thanks to Nancy for taking the time to participate. Please contact Nancy Zaslavsky directly with tour inquiries. If you’d like to see your tour services featured on the Friday Explorer Series please contact me.