Vegetables and Side Dishes

Certain vegetables like tomatoes, squashes, and beans have been known as long as people have lived in the region. European produce such as cauliflower, cabbage, globe onions, carrots, radishes, beets, cucumbers, asparagus, and pulses (chickpeas, lentils) was mostly brought in the early years of the Conquest by the Dominican friars. They started all kinds of seeds of flowers, herbs, and vegetables in a town—now a neighborhood of Oaxaca City—named for its Church of the Trinity, Trinidad de las Huertas (huerta is “garden”). This became a local center for horticulture, where the friars taught the native peoples how to plant and cultivate the new specialties. They were so successful that by 1547 local farmers are said to have been exporting seeds to Guatemala. Eventually rice was introduced to Oaxaca and became a popular staple, often in combination with native herbs and vegetables.