On missing food from home (or How to get Mexican ingredients in Leiden)

What wouldn’t I give for some delicious tacos al pastor?

Having been living in the Netherlands for almost two years now, one of the things I miss the most from home is food, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Food is such an important aspect of our identity as it creates and sustains very strong ties to our heritage and traditions, independently of where we are from. As a Mexican, I think this is particularly true, as we truly love and value our rich, complex and delicious cuisine, which was even recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010.

While the Netherlands offers tasty delicacies such as cheese and haring, and Leiden has loads of great restaurants, I’m sad to say that the city does not offer great options of Mexican food. The only really good Mexican restaurants I’ve tried in my time in this country are either in The Hague (KUA) or Amsterdam (Los Pilones), and unfortunately they are above my budget for me to go and enjoy some tacos with real corn tortillas as often as I would like.

So my solution has been to cook Mexican food from home. This can be a challenge, as so many of the ingredients needed are quite uncommon here. I have been fortunate enough that I’ve been able to go back to Mexico a couple of times to see my family, and every time I return, half of my suitcase is full of salsas, canned beans, spicy candy, mezcal and other goodies.

This was what my provision shopping looked like last summer before coming back to the Netherlands.

But, as my supplies tend to dwindle at a fast rate, this has proven not to be enough, so I have been exploring and finding places where I can get the ingredients I need, many times with the help of a wonderful Facebook group of fellow Mexicans living in the Netherlands.

Here are some recommendations of places in Leiden where to get authentic ingredients to cook delicious Mexican dishes:

In Meltem Lekker en Vers, a Turkish shop in Botermarkt, they have a small but reliable selection of Mexican products, including mole, salsas, refried beans and chiles such as jalapeños and chipotles.

Albert Heijn recently expanded their range of imported La Morena products, now including blue corn totopos (tortilla chips, perfect for chilaquiles) and tostadas, as well as salsas and chiles.

For fresh produce, there is a somewhat new euro stall at the Saturday Market that sells very good quality avocados (8 for 1€!) and sometimes they also have poblano peppers, which are excellent to make chiles rellenos or rajas con crema.

For a wider and more specialized variety of Mexican ingredients such as corn flower (to make tortillas or tamales), different kind of mole sauces, zucchini flowers, cuitlacoche fungus, and many other delicacies there are two Mexican owned and run online shops which I recommend: Mexicaanse Winkel and Deli Mexico.

Tasty rajas con crema

Homemade tamales

Vegetarian tostadas

I hope this post has made you crave some good Mexican food and inspired you to get some ingredients and cook it yourselves. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, share your results, and buen provecho!

About Daniel Salinas

¡Hola! My name is Daniel and I’m a second year RMA student at the Faculty of Archaeology specializing in heritage. Besides my academic interests, which include history, tourism and museums, I enjoy photography, spending time in nature and drawing. Since arriving to Leiden back in the summer of 2017 I have been drawn by the history and heritage of this lovely university city. In this space I will be writing posts mainly about those topics, sharing interesting spots, art, museums, cultural events and little known stories of Leiden so you all can get to know the city a little better!

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