Mexico has a definite and deeply rooted bread tradition. Though wheat isn’t native to the nation, it has been cultivated there for hundreds of years. Following colonization, European baking traditions blended with indigenous components and methods, leading to a uniquely Mexican strategy to breadmaking.
Right now, students estimate that as many as 2,000 kinds of breads and pastries are produced throughout the nation—a testomony to centuries of culinary evolution.
So, with that in thoughts, it’s straightforward to see why British baker Richard Hart, proprietor of Mexico Metropolis’s Inexperienced Rhino Bakery, precipitated an uproar when he recommended that Mexico doesn’t actually have “a lot of a bread tradition.”
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Hart made the feedback on the PopFoodie Radio podcast in April 2025, although they didn’t acquire widespread consideration till the top of the 12 months. Within the interview, he criticized Mexican wheat as being “extremely processed and filled with components,” and dismissed tortas as being made on “white ugly rolls which can be fairly low cost and industrially made.” The rolls he was referring to are bolillos, a savory, crusty, oval-shaped bread that could be a staple of on a regular basis consuming throughout the nation.
Unsurprisingly, the remarks struck a nerve, not solely as a result of many considered them as inaccurate, however as a result of they got here at a second when tensions round gentrification in Mexico Metropolis have been already working excessive.
Bread, gentrification, and cultural rigidity in Mexico Metropolis
Over the previous 12 months, residents have taken to the streets in massive numbers to protest rising rents, rising tourism, and the unfold of unregulated short-term leases.
Towards that backdrop, Hart’s feedback have been extensively interpreted as emblematic of a broader cultural disconnect. On TikTok, pastry chef Tania Medina recommended Hart “desires to be the Christopher Columbus of bread.” She added: “It’s not truthful so that you can stomp on the place you’re going to open, and even much less so if it’s not your nation and that nation is welcoming you with a lot affection, a lot love.”
Others directed their criticism towards Hart’s enterprise itself. His bakery is positioned in Roma Norte, an space extensively thought to be one of many metropolis’s most gentrified neighborhoods. Chatting with The Guardian, Rodrigo Sierra, who made a viral Instagram video on Hart’s feedback, argued that dismissing bolillos as “ugly” ignored their position in serving communities that can’t afford premium-priced bread.
“Classifying [bolillo] as an ‘ugly’ bread simply because it serves the wants of a inhabitants that may’t spend 100 pesos on the bread that this baker sells in his bakery appears to me like a really poor viewpoint,” he stated.
Hart has since apologized for his feedback. “Since I moved to Mexico, I fell in love with the individuals and this metropolis,” he stated in an Instagram assertion. “Nevertheless, my phrases didn’t replicate that respect – on this nation, I’m a visitor, and I forgot to behave like one.”
The fact is that nice bread in Mexico Metropolis is all over the place. Vegan superstar chef and cookbook writer Eddie Garza factors to the fixed crowds outdoors Rosetta, for instance, which is a well-liked neighborhood bakery he frequents in Mexico Metropolis (it provides just a few unintentionally vegan choices).
Garza emphasizes, nonetheless, that the town’s true culinary popularity lies in its over-the-top tortas: hearty sandwiches constructed on delicate bolillo rolls. Among the many standouts are the pambazo, soaked in guajillo chile sauce and stuffed to order; the torta de chilaquiles, a beloved native favourite filled with saucy fried tortillas; and the “notorious” guajolota—an indulgent creation that stuffs a complete tamal right into a sandwich and layers it with further toppings.
5 bakeries providing a number of the finest vegan bread and pastries in Mexico Metropolis
If you happen to’re in search of distinctive bread in Mexico Metropolis, you’ll discover it in panaderías, markets, and road stalls all through the town. Beneath, we’ve highlighted a number of the finest all-vegan bakeries price searching for out. However, in reality, this listing barely scratches the floor of what Mexico Metropolis has to supply. By accident vegan gems can be present in conventional bakeries all through the town.
Peace of Cake
1 Peace of Cake
Based in 2015, Peace of Cake remains to be going robust greater than a decade later. The bakery’s chocolate rolls instantly stand out—delicate, fluffy spirals full of cashew-based chocolate and completed with a candy glaze. Different tempting candy breads embrace orange scones, cinnamon rolls, chocolate doughnuts, and the No Gansito, a vanilla bread with frosting and jam coated in chocolate—a vegan tackle the favored Gansito.
I Give up
2 I Give up
Additionally in Roma Norte, you’ll discover the favored vegan bakery I Give up. Its cinnamon rolls are significantly beloved, however its brunch menu can be effectively price lingering over, that includes dishes like French toast, flaky croissants, and specialty espresso made with quite a lot of dairy-free milks.
Vegamo
3 Vegamo
For a vegan feast in Mexico Metropolis, Vegamo needs to be on the prime of your listing. The café provides a variety of savory choices—together with waffle sandwiches and smoked eggplant enchiladas—however its candy breads, equivalent to banana marble bread and pear-and-cardamom loaf, are to not be ignored.
Miga Vegana
4 Miga Vegana
For vegan pan dulce, together with croissants and chocolatines, Miga Vegana in Roma Sur is looking your identify. Savory choices, equivalent to pizza rolls and hearty vegan meat sandwiches, will even hold you coming again for extra.
Cafe Vegetal
5 Cafe Vegetal
If you happen to’re craving cinnamon rolls, housemade desserts, and wealthy vegan brownies, Cafe Vegetal is a simple alternative. Ensure that to settle in with a cup of conventional Mexican sizzling chocolate, or go for an natural espresso or matcha, for the total expertise.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and author primarily based in sunny Southsea on England’s southern coast.
