El tianguis is a word which has no direct translation in English, at least not that I’m aware of. It’s the name for the mobile street markets that pop up all over Mexico City on a weekly basis. They vary in size, covering as many as 4 city blocks, and fill the blocked off streets with 2 aisles  of stalls selling everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to prepared food and tacos to shoes, kitchenwares and CDs. If you want to get a sense of life in Mexico City, visit a tianguis on the weekend. You’ll see everyone from grandmothers to young tattooed couples buying their groceries for the week.

The appeal of the tianguis lies in a few key factors – price, quality and variety. Average prices for fruits and veggies are lower than what you find at the big grocery chains, while the quality of the produce is higher and there is a wide variety to choose from. Vendors regularly sell common (in Mexico) fruits like papaya, mango and pineapple, but some of the specialty fruit stalls will also sell lychees and cranberries, seasonally, alongside apples, pears and strawberries. The biggest vegetable stalls will have asparagus, artichoke and kale as well as more common choices like spinach, carrots and an ubiquitous variety of Mexican summer squash. Other stalls sell a variety of dried fruit and nuts, including banana chips, macadamia nuts, cranberries, raisins and pecans. Still others sell candy in bulk, fresh tortillas from the comal (much better than the machine made ones, I promise), and candied fruit.

If you’re traveling and don’t need groceries, you might consider visiting a tianguis for breakfast or lunch – you can start off with some fresh orange, grapefruit or tangerine juice, follow with sliced fruit, and then move on to something heavier like tacos de guisado – tacos made with cooked dishes like rajas (chiles and cream), tinga de pollo (shredded chicken with tomato, onion and peppers), or mole. They also have other typical dishes, like moronga (a type of Mexican blood sausage) and chicharron prensado (pressed fried pig skin). If you’re looking for a snack to take with you for later there are plenty of choices – apples and trail mix for something healthy, and fresh chicharron and guacamole for something a little bit less so.

The tianguis reminds me of the big farmer’s markets we have in Southern California; the one in Santa Barbara closes State Street – the city’s main commercial area – for several blocks and offers all kinds of local produce, cheeses, baked goods and flowers, as well as other artisanal products and crafts. Of course, the tianguis and Santa Barbara’s farmer’s market are similar mainly in the size, variety and quality of products, but when it comes to price, there’s no comparison. Shopping at a farmer’s market in Southern California is in many ways a luxury – I remember paying significantly more for the beautiful fresh produce at the farmer’s market than I would have spent at Vons, or potentially even Lazy Acres, a huge local health food store – while Mexico City’s tianguis is just the opposite. The accessible prices attract people from all of the rungs on the social ladder, and while some focus on buying kale and avocado for the week, others might go for the reasonably priced leggings, shoes, and blender parts along with their chicken, rice and tomatoes.

The Sunday tianguis in the Colonia Florida is on Calle Filadelfia, between Calles Pennsylvania and Nebraska, starting around 8:30 or 9 am and going until 5 pm or so, but keep in mind that as stalls sell out, they start to clear out. There’s a smaller one on Fridays behind the Torre Mayor, look for it near the corner of Río Lerma and Río Elba. You’ll see the typical bright pink tarps on closed streets throughout the week in different parts of the city. If you prefer something that’s actually a little bit closer to a farmer’s market, there are organic and green tianguis that also pop up around the city, for example this one on Alvaro Obregon on Sundays in Colonia Roma, although you won’t find quite the same cross section of chilangos (the Mexican word for people who live in Mexico City) at that one.