You can find many restaurants that server the TexMex you may be used to, but you can try traditional Yucatecan food or Mayan food as well. El Bocadito in Coba serves excellent Mayan lunches and dinners for $4.

For a more upscale version of Mayan cuisine, try Yaxche Mayan Restaurant in Playa del Carmen. La Lunita Restaurant in Akumal also serves Mayan and Mayan inspired dishes for dinner.

For a very good, well priced authentic Mexican meal try La Choza in Cozumel for seafood and traditional Mexican dishes. Whatever you have there will taste just like your grandmother cooked it, well not exactly, unless your grandmother is an excellent Mexican cook, but you get the idea.

• tortillas - the Mexican staple, flat round corn or flour pancakes, a side for most meals, for entrees filled with different meats and served hot (enchiladas) or hot and fried (flautas) or cold and fried topped with beans (tostadas), dried and mixed with eggs for the delicious breakfast dish - chilaquiles
• cochinita pibil (pork) and pollo pibil (chicken) - baked meat in a tangy red sauce (achiote, garlic, sour orange), sometimes served wrapped in a banana leaf - a must try Mayan dish
• poc chuc - flattened grilled pork steak with a citrus sour orange marinade - another must try Mayan specialty
• tamales - meat or vegetables rolled in cornmeal and steamed in a corn husk
• huevos motuleños - fried eggs with peas, ham and cheese
• pavo en relleno negro - turkey with blackened chile sauce
• salbutes - fried tortilla topped with turkey, onion and avocado
• sopa de lima or sopa de tortilla - chicken soup with lime juice, sometimes has crushed fried or dried tortillas inside - a favorite

For drinking, try a good quality tequila with sanqrita. The tequila comes in a shot glass and the second shot glass is filled with sangrita - a spicy tomato and fruit juice chaser. Most small places serve aguas frescas - cold water flavored with sugar and fresh fruit juice (like lemonade). Another refreshing favorite is chalada - beer with lime juice and ice - sort of like a margarita with beer.

You can get the ingredients and recipes you need to cook Mexican food at home at MexGrocer

My Mexico : A Culinary Odyssey Recipes and musings from Mexico.