Not a “Food Crawl,” But a Sprint for Adventurous Kids

By now, even casual eaters know Mexico City is not just Mexico’s national seat of government and a cultural hub, but also its gastronomic capital. With that reputation growing stronger over the past decade, many general interest and specialized tour companies have sought to cash in on Mexico City’s expansive panorama of tacos al pastor, pozole, tamales and quesadillas. But which one do you pick if you are traveling with young children, be they staunchly set on mac-and-cheese or fearless food explorers — or a few of each?

Rocio Vazquez Landeta, Mexico City native and founder of Eat Like a Local Mexico City, knows a thing or two about how to navigate the city’s neighborhoods for edible cultural milestones kids will also enjoy. She’s applied that knowledge to create the Food Tour With Kids ($110), which starts in the Condesa neighborhood at 10 a.m. sharp, with coffee for the parents and hot chocolate for the kids. It continues into the city’s flower market where kids can taste delicious tacos, cheese quesadillas, candy, corn, ice cream and jicaletas, a Mexican treat made with jicama sprinkled with flavored sugar.

“Most tours don’t consider that kids get bored easily,” says Vazquez Landeta. “I decided to create this tour because I started having lots of requests from families and saw the need. This tour allows the parents to eat adult food and the kids can explore and enjoy special treats while accomplishing challenges and learning fun facts about Mexico City.”

Eat Like a Local Mexico City

The guides are specifically trained to work with children and keep them engaged, which allows the parents to relax and enjoy Mexico City’s neighborhoods on their own terms. The guides do the heavy lifting, providing the young explorers quizzes, challenges and adventures to keep them interested. Kids learn how to subway surf as well as learn about Mexico’s history, play with corn dough, and, perhaps, be inducted into the Brave and Adventurous Kids Travelers Club, with a commemorative pin when they finish the tour. It concludes in Condesa with gummy bears, lime popsicles and a stop at a playground, while parents can enjoy a refreshing cocktail at a bar nearby.

“Guides start with periodic simple quizzes about history and reward kids with candy or special treats for listening,” she continues. “As the tour goes along, the challenges involve encouraging the kids to try new foods and discover they like different things beyond what they know. I want to emphasize that we never force kids to eat, but instead challenge them. We create a lightly competitive atmosphere for both parents and kids, as the tour is intended to get kids to be more adventurous. Those who try all the food get the special badge. We show them pictures of previous members, and this encourages them to be braver. It’s important to consider that each kid is different, so the challenges are never the same. We learn how to read them in order to be able to create special challenges according to their personalities.”

Those traveling with older kids and teens, as well as families that practice vegetarianism or want to explore it can check out the Vegan Market & Roma Norte Adventure ($110, Monday–Saturday), featuring local Mexican vegan dishes and a mix of vegan restaurants in Roma Norte. Stops include trendy coffee shops and authentic street food delicacies at the flower market such as grilled corn, squash blossom cheese-free quesadillas and the most complete fruit tasting with more than 12 local varieties. The tour also introduces participants to non-vegan restaurants with outstanding vegan dishes.

The vegan food tour is a dynamic collaboration with Eat Like a Local’s founder and Astrid Ceballos, a vegan chef who manages Palacio de Hiero. Ceballos guides the vegan tour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday when she is not cooking and teaching at her raw vegan cooking school.

Socially conscious parents will appreciate that Eat Like a Local Mexico City is the only Mexican-founded food tour agency that actively promotes economic growth and creates opportunities for working families in the area. Proceeds from the tour help sponsor English lessons for children in the Tacubaya neighborhood as well as finance a complete social program, 80iq, dedicated to supporting local children with weekly boxing lessons, citizenship workshops and monthly workshops where the children learn about different careers from guest speakers. Mothers, meanwhile, are provided parenting and nutritional counseling as well as financial education, instructing them about credit, creating a savings account and a monthly budget, and developing strategies to attain financial independence. Eat Like a Local participants can meet the children every Friday at 5 p.m., when 80iq and Traso team stage book readings where guests can read to the children.