Los Angeles is still reeling from appalling comments among City Council members in a private recorded conversation revealed on Sunday. L.A. is home to one of the largest Oaxacan populations outside Mexico, so when Councilmember Nury Martinez made racist remarks about Indigenous residents from Oaxaca, the community — and L.A. at large — was rightfully outraged.
L.A. is Oaxacalifornia, and we’re here to celebrate it every day. The large, mountainous southern state of Oaxaca in Mexico is culturally and culinarily rich and diverse. Two-thirds of the population identifies as Indigenous and nearly a third speak an Indigenous language, of which there are more than a dozen represented in the state, as well as dozens more linguistic variants.
The largest Indigenous group in Oaxaca is the Zapotecs, and they are strongly represented in Los Angeles and throughout California — by one estimate, there are 200,000 Zapotecs living in Los Angeles County alone. Oaxacan immigrants and people of Oaxacan descent are strongly represented in L.A.’s restaurant industry — as restaurant owners, chefs and employees.
Cecina, memelas, tetelas, banana-leaf-wrapped tamales, tasajo, tlayudas and, naturally, one of Oaxaca’s seven classic moles are all foods one might expect at a Oaxacan restaurant — washed down with an agua fresca, chocolate or corn-based atole beverage. We’ve assembled just a few of our favorite places to try Oaxacan cooking in L.A. The list is by no means exhaustive but is a good place to start.
