Rick Stein's Road to Mexico

In this episode, Rick heads to the Mexican capital - a melting pot that encapsulates a country that, despite its narrow stature, crosses three time zones. For that simple reason, locals casually refer to the city as 'Mexico', and not much has changed to the food that fed the Aztecs. Scenes captured by Diego Rivera in his murals come alive in the city's markets, while working men's taverns still offer pulque, the alco-pop of the ancients. Heading south from the capital, Rick travels to the city of Puebla, which conjures up images of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It is a city with impressive European architecture, talavera pottery and the home of mole, Mexico's famous meat stew. Finally, Rick travels to the deserts of Oaxaca, where mezcal, one of the country's most iconic drinks, is produced.

Rick Stein's latest travels take him to Mexico's culinary capital Oaxaca, where locals still dress in traditional costume, bringing to life the enduring descriptions of writers like D H Lawrence, who fell in love with the area. This is the land that coined the phrase 'people of the corn', the desert empire of the Zapotecs and home to Mexico's national cheese queso oaxacana. Totally off the beaten track and across the Chinantla Mountains, the muggy breezes of the Mexican Gulf transform eastern Oaxaca from desert to a tropical paradise. Rick delights in exploring this hidden land where you can smell the tropical fruit from roadside stalls long before they come into sight, where vanilla still grows wild and cacao orchards are harvested to make superb chocolate.

Rick Stein's journey begins to draw to a close as he heads east from Oaxaca to the Yucatan Peninsula - a place once frequented by real pirates of the Caribbean, including our own Sir Francis Drake. Here, where the Europeans first landed over five hundred years ago, the local folk have lighter skins and bluey green eyes. They feast on the hottest chilli of them all, the habanero, and give slow food a new meaning as they bury and cook their Pibil dishes below ground on hot rocks. This was the playground of the ancient Mayans, their pyramids gleaming like gold above tree-lined canopies and where dishes like Papadzules and Sikil Pak are still enjoyed in small villages across the countryside. Rick ends his journey feasting on grilled seafood in Tulum along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.