Herdez Foundation Museum

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The Herdez Foundation Museum is home to one of the most accessible libraries of Mexican cooking and culinary science. Alternately called the Museo Galería Nuestra Cocina Duque de Herdez, the Spanish-language name draws attention to the fact that the Zócalo site is today much more an exhibition space. Duque de Herdez founded the Herdez foods company in Monterrey in 1914. Over the course of the 20th century, the company expanded nearly continuously. The result was one of the biggest distributors of processed Mexican foods.

The museum opened in 2000 in a historical residential building. The objective is to present the history of Mexican cuisine in a friendly and accessible manner.  Permanent exhibitions present ancient, pre-European contact cuisine, the colonial era kitchen, and more recent developments. There’s also a section on the future of Mexican and Mesoamerican cooking.

The Fundación Herdez, A.C. operates as a non-profit philanthropic association founded in 1987. The foundation contributes to research, education, and food innovation across Mexico.

The Herdez Foundation Museum is also involved with ongoing educational and research projects. It’s not the biggest museum in the area. But for those developing a keen interest in Mexican food, the library and bookshop are some of the better focused in these fields. The Fundación Herdez A.C. Facebook page also shares a great deal of recipes and interesting curiosities related to goings-on in the museum and with Mexican food more generally.