Earlier this year, we attended a music festival on the Barra de Colotepec near Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. This is where the Colotepec River meets the Pacific Ocean, creating a rich natural environment away from the bustle of the city.

For this outdoor event, called NAAFI Club de Playa and featuring DJs from all over Mexico and abroad, young Mexico City culinary talents Niki Nakawaza, Hugo Durán and Kenny Curran created a pop-up restaurant. The last day of the event, which was New Year’s Eve, culminated in a feast: a whole roast pig with freshly pressed tortillas, salsas and sides. The young chefs enlisted the help of some local experts, Rosalino and Beto, to butcher and cook the pig with maguey leaves in the traditional barbacoa preparation.

These images in the slideshow below chronicle the rustic yet sophisticated – and time- and labor-intensive – process of cooking pork barbacoa.

Published on May 04, 2015

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