Lydia Carey

I’m sitting with a giant plate of chop suey beneath the painted gaze of Martin de Porres, the Catholic saint of racial harmony. His solemnity is mocked by the smiling, rosy-cheeked baby dressed for the Chinese New Year who appears on the wall next to him. A busker walks in strumming a mournful Mexican bolero. Outside, Calle del Carmen is overflowing with vendors hawking knock-off designer purses, cheap sunglasses, and sweaters for dogs...

Sitting at the edge of Mexico City’s border with México state, San Andrés Mixquíc was once a farming town, founded on one of the islands of Lake Chalco and surrounded by chinampa fields, where most of their crops were grown. Today, this community has become a Day of the Dead holiday destination, and I’ve wanted to go for years.

If you have been on the Mexico City Metro at any point in the past year and a half, you have seen them: hundreds of women selling trinkets on blankets along hallways and around corners of the subway stations. They sell face masks and hair bands, handmade jewelry and used clothing. The signs that hang behind them say “Women in the fight!” and other protest phrases. Once in a while, a vendor yells a feminist chant aloud, and the others answer her call.
When asked, these vendors say they are inv...

Billows of steam drift through the early morning sunlight that streams into the Real Minero mezcal distillery. Graciela Angeles Carreño watches as young men clear away the layers of earth and cloth that have encased six tons of agave hearts in the pit oven for the last several days. The air fills with the scent of burnt sugar as the cooked hearts are placed on pallets to dry before they’re chopped and mashed for fermentation.

On a mushroom hunting expedition in a forest hours from Mexico's capital city, a group tries to choose between deadly and delicious with local experts.

A local Mexico CIty scientist is not only developing eco-friendly technique for improving the environment in Xochimilco, but is now sharing them with farmers through her new educational center, CEDUCHI.

Without the genetic material that helps watermelons survive extreme conditions, this important crop will become increasingly difficult to grow as the climate crisis worsens.

In the rural areas of Oaxaca state in Mexico, a writer dives into family histories, life on the farm, and artisanal mezcal distilleries that go back generations.

Chef Mijael Seidel's take on the cuisine inspired by migrant variations made worldwide
It started with one man’s singular obsession for a plate of chicken.

A couple keeps courting misfortune while exploring nature in Portugal in the summer, with each simple hiking turning into bad trip disappointment.

A young woman faces prejudice and her own grief as she tried to continue the work of her late father, a mezcal maker in Oaxaca.

A rail boom is on the horizon, with dozens of new projects underway. But environmental, social, and economic pressures could complicate Mexico's plans.

With 32 states and 5,800 miles of gorgeous coastline, urbanscapes and quaint colonial towns — in regions that each have their own special cuisine, distinct accents and beautiful biodiversity — Mexico has so many destinations worth visiting, it can be hard to know where to start. I’ve gotten to know Guanajuato well during my 13 years in the country, and it still has nooks and crannies I have yet to explore.

The city is steaming, and chilangos are hunting down their favorite cool foods and the ubiquitous agua frescas sold in outdoor markets. We’re scouring the market, too, in search of our favorite hot weather treat, a cold chicozapote.

What is mezcal? And which should you buy so as not waste your time and money on anything less than the best? Here is a little background and a few tips if you want to be a pro at choosing and drinking Mexican mezcal.