Tlayudas or doraditas: what are the differences between the Oaxacan dish and the chilanga snack

On Monday, March 21, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), accompanied by other political and business figures, inaugurated the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), which is located in Santa Lucia, Zumpango, in the north of the State of Mexico.

This airport was praised by many and criticized by others, for various situations. Among them, the distance between the new aerodrome and Mexico City. However, other things that caught the eye during the opening were street vendors, who settled inside the premises of the new airport.

Traders settled in the place, who placed themselves on the ground and sold various objects such as photographs of President López Obrador himself, cups with his image and even t-shirts. However, it caught the attention of a woman who started selling food, taking advantage of the fact that the establishments responsible for selling food had not yet opened in the place.

The woman, who later became known is Carmen, stated that the same authorities gave her permission to harvest, and that they did not charge her anything to sell the food. What Mrs. Carmen sold, are known as “doraditas”, however, many people, including the president and the authorities, called them tlayudas.

Although they are similar, tlayudas and doraditas have some differences, and here we tell you what they are.

A tlayuda is a corn tortilla, golden and large, which is distinguished from soft tortillas for making tacos, or toasts. In an article by researchers Michael Swanton and Sebastián van Doesburg it is explained that the word tlayuda or clayuda comes from the adjective tlayudo or clayudo, which means strong, leathery or resistant.

The authors mention that one of the first testimonies of the word appears at the end of the 19th century, in the traditional novel El cielo de Oaxaca, by author Arturo Fenochio Rosas, in which a character mentions: “I'm going to give you some tortillas that they gave me in a house in Las Nieves... Here are the tortillas, something tlayudas; but it does not.”

In those first mentions it is not yet described as a dish, rather, it describes the consistency of tortillas. Already in the 1930s, researchers explain that there is a record of their preparation with seat, because in a publication of El Mundo Gráfico at that time, it is described:

“The poorest people can enjoy a tlayuda (large, special-made tortilla) reheated and covered with 'seat' [...] and drizzled with hot tomato or pasilla pepper sauce.”

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Gastronomy describes the Oaxacan tlayuda as “the omelette with which practically any stew is eaten in the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca”. This dish is representative of the gastronomy in Oaxaca, where it is prepared with white corn dough, and measures about 30 centimeters in diameter, or more.

The tlayuda is left on the griddle long enough for the water in the dough to evaporate, then, when the consistency is firm, it is removed and placed next to the embers so that it finishes drying, and it becomes brittle and leathery.

It can be found in markets, restaurants, and especially in street stalls. A little chicharrón, cheese, refried beans, tasajo, cecina or chorizo seats are placed on it. There are regions where you can accompany it with grasshoppers, shrimps and even ants.

They are known as tlayudas chilangas or Tolucan huaraches, and they are made as broken blue corn toasts, oval, and their ingredients do not contemplate meat or the characteristic seat of the Oaxacan women, which, in addition, are served folded in half.

Instead of meat, they can be accompanied with beans, salsa, cheese and nopales, so their preparation is much easier than the Oaxacan tlayuda.

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