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Welcome to Casa Sagrada

Weekly Cooking Classes

Our weekly half-day cooking classes are a fascinating way to immerse yourself in the culinary traditions of Oaxaca. The program begins in Teotitlan with a guided insider's tour of a Zapotec morning food market.

A short drive up the hill leads you to Casa Sagrada where our talented local cooks teach culinary secrets unique to Oaxacan cuisine. Among your day's experiences you will:

• learn to prepare a delicious mole special to Teotitlan
• make a salsa with Oaxaca's smoky chile pasilla
• try your hand at wrapping tamales in banana leaves.

Join your bilingual commentator in our native herb garden for firsthand aromas and tastes. The whole experience comes together on our outdoor terrace, as you savor the day's featured specialties, overlooking the majestic southern sierra mountains.

Roundtrip transport, market tour, recipes, lunch and cultural guide included.

Culinary Immersion Programs

For a really in-depth exploration of Oaxacan cuisine, join us for our week-long culinary immersion program. Learn hands-on from our local instructors in Casa Sagrada's spacious teaching kitchens, visit village homes for demonstrations ranging from Chorizo sausage-making to baking meats in the underground barbacoa technique. You will tour regional food markets and explore unspoiled mountain hamlets.

Our culinary immersion program is suitable for both the home enthusiast and food professional.

Native Market Tours

Casa Sagrada is only 10 minutes away from the famous Sunday market in Tlacalula. In our opinion, this is the valley's most vibrant indigenous market, drawing vendors from remote villages throughout the valley and surrounding mountains. This guided tour was honed from years of seeking out the rare and regional. This is your opportunity to find local chiles and spices, handcrafted housewares and hand-loomed textiles. Don't forget your camera as this market is exotic Oaxaca at its best.

Mezcal Making and Tasting

Visit the home of the Mendoza's old friends, Don Renaldo and his family, artisan mezcal makers for decades. Learn how Oaxaca's famed elixir is made from start to finish, from laborious pit-baked magueys to the intriguing process of distillation. Apart from sampling Don Renaldo's fine mezcal, savor this village's rare delicacies prepared from the flower, the caramelized heart and the smoky worm of the maguey. Guaranteed to be a first for even the most informed Mexican cuisine experts!

Regional Cooks and Kitchens

To the north of Casa Sagrada rise the Sierra Juarez Mountains. We ascend in just 35 minutes to the Zapotec village of Benito Juarez at 10,000 feet, climbing through the pristine ancient pine and oak forests belonging to Teotitlan. In nearby Cuajimaloyas, our friend Don Guadalupe invites us into his traditional two-story adobe home to see his old-fashioned kitchen and medicinal herb garden.

We visit village friends and cooks in their quaint mountain homes and dine on their unique high country specialties. The climate is completely different from the valley floor and our mountain friends prepare savory dishes featuring fresh-from-the-stream trout, wild watercress and heirloom potatoes.