The second edition of the Festival Gastronómico del Mole Tulum (FGMT) took place last weekend in Tulum, bringing together chefs from different regions of Mexico for four days of collaborative cooking, tastings, and public events centered on one of the country’s most emblematic dishes. Organized by chefs Usiel Valladares and Aldrin Yniesta, the festival built on the success of its inaugural edition and confirmed its growing role within the local culinary calendar.
Under the guiding theme “El mole es México en un solo plato: tradición, mestizaje e identidad,” the FGMT unfolded across multiple venues in and around Tulum. The program combined private dinners, open events, and educational talks, while also creating informal spaces for exchange among chefs and invited guests. For Quintana Roo, events of this nature continue to differentiate the region’s gastronomic offer and contribute to its gradual recognition as a serious culinary destination alongside states long associated with iconic regional cuisines.
A collaborative opening at Negro Huitlacoche
The festival officially began with a welcome dinner at Negro Huitlacoche, hosted by chefs Carolina Noyola and Alonzo Nava. Designed as a convivio, the evening allowed participating chefs to meet before the more intensive days ahead.
The menu reflected the restaurant’s approach to Mexican flavors, starting with golden elotes seasoned with a house-made Tajín and a charcoal-finished birria taco served with its consommé. The main course featured fresh local sea bass, prepared half zarandeado and half with Mexican chimichurri, accompanied by rice, nopal salad, and a black recado aioli. Desserts included a churro sandwich with chocolate ice cream and crunchy walnuts, as well as arroz con leche paired with dulce de leche ice cream, brûlée, amaranth crumble, and cinnamon.
Traditional corn and breakfast culture in Macario Gómez
The second day began outside the urban center, with breakfast at Chan Paal, an antojería and corn mill led by chef Eleazar Bonilla. Located along the road connecting Tulum with the Cobá archaeological zone, the space emphasizes traditional corn-based cooking in an informal setting.
Bonilla, who previously served for more than a decade as executive chef at La Zebra in Tulum’s hotel zone, presented dishes rooted in everyday Mexican cuisine. Among them was a tetela filled with mushrooms and Oaxaca cheese, served with a fried egg, bean salsa, fresh cheese, cream, pickled onion, and Valladolid longaniza. The breakfast highlighted the festival’s intention to include both celebratory and quotidian expressions of Mexican foodways.
A multi-chef dinner at Cántaro y Comal
Later that evening, activities moved to Cántaro y Comal, located inside the Kuun Taak hotel. Chef Valladares hosted a group dinner that brought together Noyola and Nava, Bonilla, Inés Sarahid of Piedra Santa, and Miguel Hidalgo of Rústico.
The menu showcased multiple interpretations of mole across courses. Guests began with a chamorro empanada with Mayan mole and panuchos filled with beef arrow cut and pistachio mole. These were followed by a beef arrow taco with black mole, Cornish hen with plantain mole, and an asado served with manchamanteles. Dessert closed the evening with a brownie made from Tabasco chocolate and white mole.
Talks and public events in Aldea Zama
The third day expanded the festival’s public dimension. After breakfast at The OG’s with chef Yniesta and a visit to Duna Beach Club, the program moved in the afternoon to an open esplanade within the Aldea Zama residential area.
Alongside food stalls, the agenda included a series of talks. Esteban Rojas, from El Fermentario in Mérida, spoke about the role of fermented foods in daily diets. Another presentation was led by Mario Come Oaxaca, who addressed the diversity and cultural context of Oaxacan moles. These sessions reinforced the educational component of the FGMT, positioning it as more than a tasting-focused event.
A closing dinner centered on regional moles
The festival concluded on its fourth day with a final dinner at The OG’s, hosted by Yniesta alongside four guest chefs. The menu opened with a traditional Purépecha mole taco and a seven-herb Purépecha mole served with fish and chapulines. Mario Come Oaxaca contributed a mole made with chicatana ants and chile costeño, paired with grilled rib eye.
Chef Elio Xicúm of Grupo Mesones prepared a corn chilmole pibil with pork cheek and chayote salpicón. Yniesta closed the savory courses with manchamanteles accompanied by grilled vegetables, followed by dessert featuring masa churros filled with sweet potato, plantain cream, and sweet mole.
Mole as a platform for collaboration
Beyond individual dishes, the second FGMT underscored the role of mole as a culinary language capable of connecting regions, techniques, and professional trajectories. The atmosphere throughout the weekend emphasized cooperation rather than competition, with chefs sharing kitchens, ideas, and interpretations.
As observed during the festival, Tulum continues to broaden its gastronomic identity beyond hospitality-driven dining, increasingly hosting events that attract national culinary voices and foster professional exchange. The Tulum Times attended several of the scheduled activities and noted the consistency between the festival’s stated goals and its execution.
What remains at stake is the continuity of initiatives like the FGMT and their capacity to anchor Tulum within Mexico’s broader culinary conversation. If sustained, the Festival Gastronómico del Mole Tulum could strengthen the region’s standing as a place where tradition and contemporary practice meet around shared tables.
The history of mole and how it came to define Mexican cuisine
Mole is not a single dish but a broad family of sauces whose origins stretch back centuries, long before the formation of modern Mexico. Its roots lie in pre-Hispanic Indigenous cooking traditions, particularly in central and southern regions of the country, where early civilizations prepared complex sauces based on native chiles, seeds, herbs, and roots. These mixtures were ground by hand on stone tools such as the metate and were often linked to rituals, ceremonies, and communal gatherings.
After the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, these Indigenous preparations began to change. New ingredients introduced from Europe, Asia, and Africa such as spices, nuts, sesame seeds, and in some regions cacao were gradually incorporated, giving rise to the layered sauces now recognized as mole. Over time, this process of cultural blending turned mole into one of the clearest culinary expressions of mestizaje, combining Indigenous knowledge with foreign influences without erasing its original identity.
Today, mole exists in dozens of regional variations, each shaped by local ingredients, climate, and tradition. Some versions are dark and deeply spiced, others brighter and fruit-forward, while certain moles from the Yucatán Peninsula lean toward earthier flavors rooted in Mayan cooking. Despite their differences, most moles share common elements: dried chiles, spices, seeds or nuts, aromatics, and a long, patient cooking process that allows flavors to fully develop.
Historically, mole has been associated with celebration and community. Its preparation often requires many hands and many hours, making it a dish tied to festivals, family events, and collective labor. This social dimension helps explain why mole continues to serve not only as food, but as a symbol of shared heritage and identity, a role that remains central to its presence in contemporary culinary events like the Festival Gastronómico del Mole Tulum.
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How do events like the FGMT shape the way Mexican regional cuisines are understood outside their places of origin?