Used fresh, stale, or dried to a crisp, the essential tortilla begins
as corn kernels briefly cooked in a solution of slaked lime and water,
then left to soak until they are soft enough to be ground to a smooth
dough, or masa.

The tortilla is formed by hand, press or machine and cooked on a hot,
ungreased griddle, comal, until slightly speckled with brown, but
still soft and pliable. At this point, it is eaten as a bread, or used
as an edible spoon.

Wrapped around small pieces of meat, vegetables, or cheese, it
becomes a taco in its simplest form. Slightly stale, cut into
triangles and fried crisp, it becomes a scoop - totópo or tostadita -
for guacamole or fried beans.

Stale and dried, cut into pieces and lightly fried, tossed into a
sauce and garnished lavishly, it becomes chilaquiles - literally,
pieces of broken up old sombrero. Or, use like pasta in a casserole;
as the basis for a dry soup (sopa seca) or a pudding (budín).
Whole tortillas can be fried flat and covered with a paste of fried
beans, topped with meat and salad to become an edible plate - a
tostada.

Even when the tortilla is dried out to a crisp, it can be ground to a
rough textured meal and moistened to form a dough for little round,
fat cakes - gordas, sopes or chalupas, or savory balls -
bollitos - to drop into soup. Then, to take the tortilla at every stage, the raw
corn dough can be used alone, or mixed with cheese, potatoes or
chiles, and transformed to produce any of the antojitos (little
fancies or snacks) such as quesadillas or empanadas.

Oaxaca is justly renowned for its antojitos. You will see these
snacks almost everywhere. They are almost invariably made of masa
(corn dough) stuffed or topped with cheese, beans, salsas, meat,
potatoes, etc. Unlike the greasy antojitos of other parts of México, a
majority of those made in Oaxaca are cooked on an ungreased griddle, a
comal, not fried.

The most traditionally Oaxaqueñan, and one of the most popular, of
these delicious snacks, is called a tlayuda this is a giant tortilla
prepared like a Méxican pizza, others are sopes, chalupas,
picadas, molotes, tostadas and empanadas.

Tacos are also popular here, but most taquerías (taco
shops) have a variety of tacos with fanciful names such as alambre (wire),
sincronizadas (synchronized), gringas, mula terca (stubborn mule), among
others.

Most taquerías also serve pozole, a hearty pork or sometimes chicken
based soup with tender hominy corn and other vegetables. It's served
fairly bland with a plate of seasonings that you add according to your
taste: onions, oregano, lime, chilis, chili powder.

HOW CORNY CAN YOU GET?