The ‘cocina económica’: home-cooked and affordable food

Published in Pacific Pearl february 2021

In Mexico you need essential vocabulary to get around, like ‘Por favor’ and ‘Gracias’. Or how about ‘Una cerveza más’ or ‘La cuenta por favor’? Those who love food, learn additional words like ‘sin chile’ or ‘con cilantro’. Many of you will recognize the Spanish words restaurant or taqueria, but how about ‘cocina economica’?

Last month I read a request on a Mazatlan Facebook group about where to get frozen meals for a sick friend who couldn’t leave the house. It made me realize that there are certain things that don’t translate well from one culture to the other. You see, in Mexico we are not used to frozen meals. We would rather order ‘comida corrida’ or day menu at a ‘cocina economica’.

The cocina economica loosely translates to ‘affordable kitchen’. It’s the homey place where you go for an affordable and complete meal. The concept is simple: every day there is a fixed menu with an entrance, a main course and a beverage. If you’re lucky, it even includes a dessert. A cocina economica is usually open from 11 a.m. until 3.00 p.m. making it the perfect place to enjoy Mexican lunch or ‘comida’.

The roots of the cocinas economicas go back to colonial Mexico, when taverns and inns offered food and refreshments to hungry travelers. These places were referred to as fondas. In the 19th century the French word restaurante became fashionable and menus started to include imported products from Europe, in an intent to distinguish themselves from the common fondas. Nowadays there is still a perceived class difference between a restaurant and a cocina economica or fonda, although the quality of the food isn’t any less at the latter. The majority of Mexican cocinas econonomicas are run by one or several women, usually of the same family.

What type of food do they offer at a cocina economica? It’s mostly traditional Mexican dishes like marlin, meatball soup, ‘milanesa’ (breaded beef) or ‘chiles rellenos’ (stuffed poblanos chillies), almost always with refried beans as a side. If you want to try home-cooked local food, this is the place to go.

There is one dish that might cause confusion. If you see ‘sopa’ on the menu, you might easily translate it as soup. You would think type vegetable soup or tomato soup. Here’s the catch: there are two types of sopa:  ‘sopa aguada’ and ‘sopa seca’. I can see some are rolling your eyes, reading this last term. How come there is such a thing like ‘dry soup’?!? Sopa aguada or watery soup is served as first dish (primer tiempo) and could be a chicken or beef broth sometimes with pasta. Sopa seca or dry soup is served as second dish (segundo tiempo) and it could be macaroni with a cream tomato sauce or cooked red rice.  

Feeling hungry and ready to order? The majority of the cocinas econonomicas offer take-away and some even do deliveries. The order sizes can be charged per portion (‘orden’), per volume (‘litro/medio litro’) or sometimes per weight. There are plenty of options around Mazatlan. Just use Google maps to find the one that’s close to you.
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Buen Provecho! Enjoy your meal!