Dozens of versions of one of Mexico's most labor-intensive dishes will take over Gloria Molina Grand Park in Downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, October 11, as La Feria de los Moles returns for a day of free admission, more than 80 food vendors and sauces that can take days to prepare. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 200 N. Grand Ave., and while getting in costs nothing, attendees will need cash or cards on hand for food and drinks sold throughout the park.
General admission requires no ticket or registration, according to feriadelosmoles.com, though organizers are also selling a $50 VIP experience that includes mole tastings, mole-flavored nieve de garrafa, agua fresca and an assigned table for an hour. The event has drawn crowds to Los Angeles since 2008, per the same site, as a gathering built around mole, Mexican music and tradition.
This year's edition will spotlight the state of Michoacán, with traditional cooks from the city of Uruapan preparing corundas de mole, mole de carne and agua de aguacate, according to Vesper Public Relations. The same release lists a wide spread of regional moles on offer, including mole poblano, shrimp mole, green pipián, Oaxacan black mole and mushroom mole, a lineup that echoes a region Vesper describes as home to at least seven distinct mole varieties.
More Than 80 Vendors Fill Grand Park
Organizers expect more than 80 food exhibitors and over 50 artisans this year, plus a Teatro del Pueblo stage, according to DowntownLA.com. As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, La Feria de los Moles will include invited guest chefs from Mexico alongside more than 80 local mole vendors, and the two sets of figures point to a sprawling spread of food stalls across the park. Vendors and guest chefs will serve numerous versions of mole sauce, with attendees expected to try green pipián, black, red and poblano moles, plus shrimp, almond and vegan varieties, the Daily News reports, all of it ladled over taquitos, steaks, chilaquiles and tortas.
Mole's complexity is part of its draw. The Daily News notes that a single mole sauce can include up to 30 ingredients and take days to make, with roots in Oaxaca and Puebla that blend indigenous ingredients like tomato, cocoa, vanilla and spices. Traditionally, those ingredients were ground in a metate, according to the Daily News, before cinnamon, cloves and almonds were folded in during colonial times — leaving a thick sauce that carries a savory, slightly sweet taste, with poblano versions offering a hint of chocolate.
Indigenous Roots, Centuries of Influence
The dish's layered history extends beyond Mexico's borders. Mole incorporates influences from Indigenous Mexico, Europe and even the Middle East, according to National Geographic, which traces the dish's name to the Nahuatl word mōlli, meaning sauce. The outlet describes a single Tres Generaciones mole containing 27 ingredients, with preparation that commonly spans several days: ingredients toasted separately, ground into a paste, fried, then loosened with stock.
Vanessa Motolinia described the gathering simply as a big Mexican food party celebrating mole, per the Daily News. That party atmosphere extends to dessert, where Los Angeles-based Nieves Xochi Oax plans to serve its take on mole in frozen form.
A Scoop of Mole, Courtesy of a Longtime Vendor Family
Benito Ríos, co-owner of Nieves Xochi Oax, created a mole ice cream that leans on the sauce's spice and sweetness as its main flavor, according to the Daily News. Ríos said he plans to prepare the ice cream a couple of days before the festival, and told the paper that mole ice cream and moles more broadly help him share his culture. Nieves Xochi Oax offers more than 22 flavors, including nieve de mole, according to La Opinión, which reported that Ríos's family became one of the festival's principal vendors back in 2009.
The festival's footprint may soon extend beyond Los Angeles. Organizers are weighing plans to bring the concept of La Feria de los Moles to New York and other U.S. cities in 2027, according to Cinco Radio. For now, Sunday's gathering in Grand Park remains the main event, with the festival's program built around traditional techniques, history, pairings and new trends in Mexican gastronomy, per feriadelosmoles.com.
