In the Mercado San Juan, you’ll find what many of the world’s best chefs already know: This place offers some of CDMX’s most exotic, hard-to-find, and freshest foodstuffs. 

The market’s vendors range from profferers of hyper-local ingredients, to gourmet hawkers offering delights from the northern parts of the Americas, Europe, and beyond. Whether you’re looking for seasonally available chapulines  and escamoles (pre-Spanish staples: grasshoppers and ant eggs), or perfect, plump artichokes, or bags of edible flowers (or various flours), or ostrich eggs, or recently slaughtered goats, or even fresh mozzarella, Mercado San Juan can provide. More adventurous diners can patron stands that flip burgers purportedly made from puma, crocodile, armadillo, and roadrunner meat, although to do so would be contributing to the illegal trade in wildlife currently causing Mexico’s crisis in biodiversity conservation.

Established in 1955, the current market building developed on the site of the former warehouses of the Buen Tono cigar company. Today, it follows in the tradition of many Mexican markets in that it provides a social atmosphere where you can talk to vendors and sample their wares. However, Mercado San Juan remains remarkably unique to CDMX in that it uses a familiar setting to highlight and celebrate a diversity of food cultures from around the world.

Take a sip of mezcal, chase it with a chili-dipped orange wedge, and marvel at a place that will whet your palate, indulge your eyes, and encourage you to take another bite.