Encuentro de Moles is a food festival in Puebla.
Editorially verified August 1, 2026 by Lewis Vaughan, TableJourney editor. Source.
Tip: Each mole is served with its own accompaniment, from short rib to turkey and bean tamales, so order across the flight rather than one plate.
Address: Calle 16 de Septiembre 506, Centro histórico de Puebla, 72000 Puebla
Twenty traditional cooks fry molotes on the Plaza de la Concordia in San Pedro Cholula, from tinga and huitlacoche fillings to gourmet versions built on chile en nogada and seafood.
Tip: Entry is free and molotes run between 50 and 200 pesos depending on size, so budget for grazing rather than one order.
Atlixco gives its salted, air-dried beef a fair of its own at the Centro de Convenciones, which is the fastest way to understand why cecina atlixquense travels across the state.
Tip: Atlixco is forty minutes from Puebla by road, so pair the cecina fair with a nogada lunch if you are visiting in August.
The Elotada runs more than forty hours of corn cooking at the Atlixco convention centre, from elotes and antojitos through moles, tamales, chalupas and the town's artisanal ice cream.
Tip: It overlaps with chile en nogada season in Atlixco, which makes mid-August the single densest food week in the state.
Puebla pours pulque and seasonal curados over the Day of the Dead weekend, with a community altar, cartoneria craft stalls, poetry and pulquero bands playing into the small hours.
Tip: Entry is by voluntary donation and the Saturday session runs from two in the afternoon until three in the morning.
Atlixco's autumn corn fair follows the summer Elotada and leans harder on the harvest itself, with regional gastronomy stalls built around the maize grown in the valley below Popocatepetl.
Tip: The venue moves year to year, so check the Atlixco events calendar before travelling rather than assuming the convention centre.
The avocado growers of San Pedro Benito Juarez, on the slopes above Atlixco, run a one-day fair of gastronomy, crafts and folklore built entirely around the fruit they farm.
Tip: It is a village fair rather than a city event, so go early in the day and treat the drive up from Atlixco as part of it.
