Fish and Shellfish

Oaxaca is not a fish lover’s paradise. I have eaten delicious fresh-caught seafood there, but certainly not as often as chicken, pork, or vegetable-based dishes. Many freshwater fish, which were supposed to have been wonderful at one time, disappeared in the Valley of Oaxaca when the Atoyac river dried up from overuse for irrigation. Ocean fish are not as abundant as they once were.

When I did find fresh seafood being served, it was often very simply cooked—too simply to be captured in recipes. Oddly, you rarely see people picturesquely grilling fish on sticks on the beach they way they do near some of the famous resort towns in other states. What you do find are approaches common all over Mexico, like griddle-searing or frying fish to be served with garlic sauce. There doesn’t seem to be a wealth of specifically Oaxacan fish dishes— though the fish themselves are often so specifically Oaxacan that it’s hard to know how to identify them in English translation.