World-renowned food encyclopedia TasteAtlas has ranked Mexican cuisine third in its 2024/25 ranking of the world’s best food. Mexican follows Italian cuisine in second place, for dishes such as Pizza Napoletana, and Greek cuisine, for its Fystiki Aeginas and other famous dishes.
The annual ranking is based on 477,287 ratings of 15,478 foods from the TasteAtlas database.
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The annual ranking is based on 477,287 ratings of 15,478 foods from the TasteAtlas database.
Mexico has long been recognized for its rich food culture, particularly since UNESCO designated traditional Mexican cuisine as a cultural treasure, alongside French cuisine, in 2010.
In this year’s “Best Food” ranking, TasteAtlas named several dishes, restaurants and regions across the country as some of the best in the world.
Best Dishes
TasteAtlas highlighted three famous Mexican dishes according to its user ratings including:
- Cochinita pibil (ranked #12 out of 100) — a Mexican pork dish from the Yucatán region, typically marinated in annatto paste, bitter orange juice and garlic.
- Sopa de lima (#53) — a chicken and tomato-based soup that is flavored with bittersweet Yucatán citrus and spicy habanero chilis.
- Pozole (#75) — a hearty patriotic stew with hominy and pork.
Best Food Producers
Several food producers were awarded for their excellence in gourmet food and drinks. These include the spirits Mezcal Vago and Don Fulano, Oleosan (olive oil) and the cheeses Productos Lacteos La Providencia and Sierra Encantada.
Best Food Regions
The Yucatán Peninsula (#23) in the southeastern region of Mexico got 4.28 stars for 26 foods, including panuchos — a refried tortilla stuffed with refried black beans — and sopa de lima.
Puebla (#36) got 4.2 stars for 24 foods, including tacos arabes and chile relleno.
Oaxaca (#38) also got 4.2 stars for 33 foods, including several types of mole and chapulines (grasshoppers!).
The northern state of Sinaloa (#67) got 4.14 stars for six foods by TasteAtlas. In Mazatlán, you can visit high-rated restaurants such as El Mesón de Los Laureanos and Mariscos El Cuchupetas.
Iconic Traditional Restaurants
TasteAtlas listed some of the most iconic traditional restaurants in Mexico, including the following:
- El Mural de los Poblanos in Puebla
- Casa Valadez in Guanajuato City
- Café de Tacuba and La Hacienda de Los Morales in Mexico City
Best Drinks
Mexico is famous for its tequila, which is a distilled alcohol that comes from the agave cactus. This year, Cierto Reserve Collection Blanco from the town of Tequila in Jalisco was given a five-star rating in TasteAtlas.
The country has recently become well-known for its mezcal, another agave-based alcohol that has a denomination of origin in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Zacatecas, San Luís Potosí, Tamaulipas, Durango and Puebla.
Other best drinks in Mexico are Uciri organic coffee from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, and Cielo Dentro Chocolate Balam from Morelos, just south of Mexico City.
TasteAtlas is an experiential travel online guide for traditional food. It has cataloged and mapped over 10,000 foods and drinks around the globe.
With reports from NPR
