Another tempting recipe is the chimol, a stew of Chontal gastronomic roots very much like the mole; the main ingredient is the pejelagarto, which is served over seeds of pumpkin and epazote, an aromatic herb.
Equally daring are the turtle in green sauce, the tepescuintle adobado (a local agouti), and the cake of iguana, elaborated with boned and chopped meat from this animal, which is mixed with eggs and dressed with parsley, onion and garlic; it is then baked over banana leafs.
If you do not wish to experiment and are looking for rather everyday tastes and ingredients, you can try and "bite" the salty meat with chaya (a fruit from the region), a delicious stew that is served with bananas and leafs of chiplin; or the black frijol with salty pork, a weighty recipe based on black beans, pork and fried cracklings, which is accompanied with white rice and a salad of radish, cilantro, onion, chilli and lemon.
Do not ignore the Tabasco bass at mealtime; on this recipe the bass is stuffed with squid, octopus and shrimp, and seasoned with orange juice before being taken to the oven; it is served over aromatic chaya leafs with white rice and green banana.
In addition, Tabasco's cuisine seduce the palates with an interesting variety of tamales and empanadas, but also with sweets such as the tortilla of coco, a mixture of fruit and milled panela (sweet bread) that is baked in an oven, and the sweet of zapote (mamey) papaya, prepared with fig and honey.
The luring list includes the bread of banana, based on butter, flour, eggs, vanilla and bananas; and the sweet of guapaque, an agreeable bittersweet fruit boiled in sugar.
And since every good meal has to be accompanied by something to drink, Tabasco offers its visitors liquors and beverages of ritual use, such as the lliztle, a liquor based on sugarcane, grapes, peaches or pears; and the balche, prepared with the bark of the homonymous tree, which is left to be fermented and sweetened with honey or anis; it is consumed by the Chontal people on their tributes to the earth.
Though the possibilities do not end in here, we must include the bitter atole, elaborated with fermented maize and panela; and the thepozol with pixte, a result of mixing boiled maize and pixte (the seed of the red zapote), amongst other peculiar drinks.
But beyond these regional recipes, in the City of Villahermosa, capital of the State of Tabasco, visitors will find more than one restaurant serving international food and establishment offering fast food as well. For this reason, both the gastronomic adventurers and the conservatives rather sticking to everyday tastes will be well served.
