12 Food photos that will make you want to travel to Mexico

Although burgers are brilliant and pizza is pretty much perfect, there's nothing that quite hits the spot like a good bit of Mexican food. Whether you're talking tacos, burritos, quesadillas or even the bizarrely glorious enigma that is Tex-Mex, you're in for some delicious food, and a lot of it at that.

But it's weirdly easy to forget that you're eating Mexican food, but are nowhere near Mexico at the same time. What kind of food do they have in the birthplace of tacos? Take a look below at the delicious food available just south of the border, and it'll give you just a few more reasons to visit Mexico one of these days.

1. Nopalitos

If you're looking for a new kind of vegetable to stir into your various lunches and dinners, then you could do a lot worse than nopalitos. Nopalitos literally translates as "little nopales", which are the flat, pad-like stems of the prickly pear. You can usually find them in a salad, or maybe at the breakfast table, with some avocado and some egg.

2. Elote

At first glance, it seems like just a fancy way of talking about corn on the cob, but take a bit into some elote, and the different will be as delicious as it is distinct. Primarily a Mexican street food, elote is usually served to you covered in any of salt, chili powder, butter, cheese, sour cream or mayonnaise. Delicious.

3. Chilaquiles

While over here in the US, we're pretty well-acquainted with nacho chips, chilaquiles are what you get if you forgo some of the cheese and instead go with salsa or guacamole. Then, add some chicken, other meats (or cheese if you're really gagging for some queso), and then you're good to go.

4. Fideo

Served either dry or in a thick, delicious soup, fideo is a little bit like spaghetti or ramen, served Mexican style. With a tomato-based sauce, usually, you can enjoy fideo with clams, cilantro or queso fresco (that's fresh cheese, for all you non-Spanish speakers). Doesn't that sound awesome?

5. Flautas

Whether you call them flautas (flutes) or taquitos (little tacos), one thing you can always call this Mexican dish is "delicious". Flautas are typically rolled, fried tortillas, with a meat or cheese filling (both, if you want to truly enjoy life). Then, top it off with some salsa, sour cream and/or guacamole, and tuck in.

6. Sopes

Here are sopes, another type of street food you might enjoy on your travels in Guadalajara, Cancun or Mexico City. Made from masa (corn flour dough) which makes it a little like a thicker version of a tortilla, sopes are usually topped with beans, cheese and meat, not to mention lettuce, salsa and other veggies.

7. Birria

Now, moving away from the deep fried, cheesy dishes for a while, birria is something you definitely won't find in your average Taco Bell or Chipotle. It's a popular stew in the city of Guadalajara, made with marinated goat meat, plus some cilantro and onions for extra flavor. Grab yourself some tortilla bread, and dig in!

8. Mole

You've heard of guacamole, but what you might not know is guacamole is just one of several moles out there in Mexico, just waiting for you to discover them. "Mole" is just a Mexican term for a sauce of any type, but one of the more interesting ones is mole pablano, which is made from chili peppers and chocolate. Holy mole!

9. Torta ahogada

Torta ahogada is one of the simpler dishes we're going to talk about today, but it's also by far one of the spiciest. A torta ahogada is a pork or chicken sandwich, but not one you've seen before: this sandwich is "drowned" in a dried pepper sauce, making it super spicy - not to mention super delicious. If you're not one for spicy food, the torta ahogada can also be cooled down using a tomato-based sauce.

10. Pozole

Now, it's time to talk about some soup. A soup-er idea, I think. Here's pozole, a hominy soup made with pork, onion and chili peppers usually, topped off with radishes, limes, avocado and lettuce. Doesn't it look rather delectable?

11. Pan dulce 

Mmmm. After all that food, it might be time for something a little sweeter to round off your delicious, hypothetical Mexican meal. To that end, why not try some pan dulce? This translates literally to "sweet bread", so you can probably guess as to what this is. Served either at breakfast or for dessert, dip in some Mexican hot chocolate for un noche mucha dulce.

12. Cajeta

Not a big fan of bread? That's all right, we've got cajeta for those of you with a bit more of a sweet tooth. Cajeta is pretty much just caramelized goat milk, and not only can you turn it into candy, you can spread it onto bread, or even dip it into a churro, where you will be surely taken to Mexican dessert heaven. Take me there now, please.

Well, then: wasn't that a nice little culinary trip to Mexico? The best part of any trip, I think you'll agree, is getting to try all the different food, so I hope that this little tour has got your tastebuds for not only a trip to Mexico, but for Mexican food as well.