Mercado Benito Juárez in Villa Milpa Alta

Photos: Alcaldía Milpa Alta 

The Mercado Benito Juárez is the main public market in Villa Milpa Alta, and some will say it’s the commercial center of the whole region. It’s where most of the local produce finds its last stop. It’s also an important place for the local people to get most, if not all, of their basic food. The market itself is the center of a colorful tianguis that fills the surrounding streets with flavor, smell, and sound.

The market is structured like most of those found in the rest of the city. It’s a big, well-divided space with all kinds of fresh foods and a fantastic seating area with all kinds of traditional meals on offer. This market was fully rehabilitated in 2017. The whole project took some seven months and provided better security doors for the merchants and a better interior and exterior appearance.

Milpa alta is the biggest producer of nopal cactus anyther in the country. It’s a big surprise to many international visitors, partly because it’s so mild. Especially in central Mexico, it’s an asolute staple.

Milpa Alta’s economy of today is largely based on experimentation attributed to a man named Florentino Flores who managed to successfully reintroduce the nopal cactus species into the fields of Milpa Alta. Reactivating the local agricultural economy helped to reverse the massive migratory exodus which was mostly headed to central Mexico City. The nopal is credited with being not only highly nutritional, but also medicinal. It’s certainly a big part of the daily turnover at the Mercado Benito Juárez.

Visitors to Villa Milpa Alta will want to check out the Regional Museum of Altepepialcalli, as well as the number of architecturally outstanding chapels surrounding Parish Church of the Assumption. Most of them are but a short walk from the town center, laid out to encourage friendly walks.

Works cited on this page:
NosotrosMX: El nopal de los milpaltenses, alimento y medicina