barbara_sanchez88•21d agoProlific Poster

Appreciation post: That tiny bakery in Oaxaca changed my whole view on street food

I was always super skeptical about eating from street stalls because I figured it was a fast track to getting sick. But last month I was in Oaxaca and this little old lady had a popup bakery right on the sidewalk selling pan de yema for like 30 pesos each. She let me watch her pull them fresh from this clay oven she built herself and the whole process was honestly cleaner than most restaurant kitchens I have been in. The bread was still warm and soft and cost less than a fancy coffee back home. I ended up going back three mornings in a row and never got sick once. It really made me realize I was just being paranoid about nothing. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a street vendor in Mexico?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_rose20d ago

Does your opinion change if you'd seen the lady wiping her hands on her apron after handling cash and then going right back to kneading dough? I appreciate the sentiment but I've had two nasty bouts of food poisoning from street food in Mexico, one landed me in a clinic in Tulum. One good experience doesn't make the whole system clean, you just got lucky with that particular vendor.

jamieburns20d ago

Oh MAN, I gotta gently push back a little here. The apron wiping thing is nasty for sure, but that's not necessarily a food poisoning risk from the cash itself. It's more about the raw dough or meat not being handled right that gets you sick. You got unlucky with the vendors who didn't follow basic safety, not the apron thing specifically.