Cozumel Cuisine

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About the food and culinary traditions of Cozumel

Cozumel’s cuisine has expanded over the years from a base of Mayan and Spanish Creole cooking to a medley of foods from all over Mexico and beyond. Part of this change was due to the influx of Mexican workers who migrated to Cozumel from central and northern Mexico when Cozumel’s tourist boom began in the 1980s. That’s when wheat tortillas, arrachera, nopales, and other norteño foods began to show up alongside the standard cochinita pibil and relleno negro in the island’s restaurants.

More outside influence began to affect the island’s gastronomy when the cruise ships began hiring Indonesian and Filipino workers. Some of these folks started ethnic restaurants on Cozumel and the local grocery stores began carrying Asian foodstuffs. If you want to try some authentic Asian dishes, try one of these crew-member eateries. But, Cozumel’s real culinary treasures are the old family recipes handed down for generations that can still be sampled in small, unpretentious restaurants scattered all over San Miguel. So, instead of describing the recent-to-Cozumel gastronomical fares, the following pages will help shed some light on the typical, traditional, Cozumeleño dishes.