Hemingway got it right when he redefined a moveable feast as the memory of an extraordinary place that goes with the traveler for the rest of his life.
Every step you take, every block you walk, every corner you turn, the complex aromas wafting from a sizzling comal invade your senses. Food carts, stalls, tables, trucks, and cantinas crowd the streets in Bucerias, a little fishing village in Nayarit, Mexico, each jostling for a few inches of space in this quintessential seaside town.
A salted sea breeze ruffles down the cobblestoned streets and a brilliant sun casts intense shadows beneath the rows of umbrellaed tables and tattered awnings, as bicycled food cart vendors bump past singing out their daily menu as if it was all one word - Tacos de pescado-mariscos-tamales-pulpo-cevicheeeeeeeee!
Since Bucerias is on the ocean this is all about pescados y mariscos; octopus, snails, marlin, yellow-fin tuna, grouper, snapper, clams, shrimp, and a few unpronounceable local varieties, some cooked, some ceviche, all astonishingly delicious.
The places we stopped are all family operated, mostly by women, some for multiple generations, and all known and loved by the locals. Most of these places we would never have found on our own, like the one pictured above situated beneath a highway overpass.
Most of these places don't open until the husband gets back home with the fishing boat but the seafood doesn't get any fresher than this and its always worth the wait.
From Aguachile - raw shrimp marinated in citrus and chilies and tossed with cucumber, onion, olive oil and cilantro, to Pescado Zarandeado - a fish that is smothered in chile and spices then slowly smoke-grilled in mesquite while being continually basted with chiles and spices - the combination of flavors, the spicy and the sweet, the smoky and the fresh, the briny and the citrus, seem to evoke everything that is Mexico.
Seating is sometimes optional as are knives, forks, spoons, and plates, so unless you're standing next to a lavandería, a wide stance, leaning slightly forward, head up, jaw protruding, is the required posture.
The name of the town means "the place of the divers" and they celebrate an enormous oyster festival here every April. These bi-valves look more like sedimentary rock or chunks of shale and a deft twist of a Dexter-Russell-Boston-Pattern oyster knife would do nothing to unlock these monster mollusks. A heavy hammer and a large rock are the preferred tools for his delicate operation.
Each one of these food establishments have at least one sauce that should be labelled with a bold warning; ¡PELIGRO! I don't usually think of outrageously hot spices when I think of seafood but nuclear disarmament is the term that kept coming to mind as we roamed these various neighboring food stalls. Generations of these families have obviously spent years perfecting their particular corrosive so it's not surprising that much of this food is served raw. If you can survive the condiments you can easily survive any possible ill effects from uncooked seafood!
Tlaxtihuilli, a less-thick version of mole sauce made with chiles, masa, and shrimp is one of the oldest dishes in the Riviera Nayarit. Cóctel de Camarónes is not anything like the American shrimp cocktail, it's more like a salad in a glass with fresh crunchy vegetables, jicama, cucumbers, tomato, avocado, cilantro chilies, in a spicy tomato sauce. There are two types depending on where you are; one made with orange soda, one made with mayonnaise.
Seafood features in much of the cuisine of the Huichol and other indigenous peoples who live here. Nayarit is along the route that Texas Indians traveled as they communicated and traded with communities on the west coast and all the way south to Mesoamerica and Mexico City. The Spaniard, Cabeza de Vaca, passed through Nayarit when he used this same route in the 1530’s as he traveled from Texas all the way to Mexico city - he loved the seafood preparations here according to surviving documents, and nearly 500 years later the food has only gotten better!
Two locals from Bucerias started a street food guide service and the name they chose - "My Mexican Kitchen" - refers not to the cucina in their home but to all the streets in Mexico. Look them up when you get here, you won't be disappointed! It truly is a moveable feast.
Photography by Bill Sheehan
Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico - February 2020