Wander around any Mexican market and you will be struck by the countless chickens on the butchers’ counters. There seem to be hundreds, if not thousands, and it is difficult to believe that there is a demand for quite so many of them!

The “eggs from the ranch” are to be found in every nook and cranny of Mexico – every cook churns them out regularly for breakfast (and only for breakfast), and of all the egg dishes in the repertoire of traditional Mexican cuisine, they are a classic, perhaps the best known and most widely eaten.

No Mexican kitchen is ever without its bubbling earthenware cazuela of frijoles – beans are an integral part of everyday life and food. They are utterly earthy, true Mexican food for the soul, wholesome, soothing, satisfying.

Huevos Divorciados or Divorced Eggs are certainly not a part of historical, traditional Mexican cooking, as the origins of the dish are obviously very present-day!

Mexicans tend to “break the fast” in the early morning with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee spiked with cinnamon and a “pán dulce”, but as the morning progresses, appetites are kindled and it is time for the “desayuno”.

For the past week, the market stalls in Taxco have been decorated with brightly coloured tissue paper cut-outs of pumpkins and skeletons and some very seasonal goods have made their annual appearance.

"Enfrijoladas" are Mexican street food at its simplest but most satisfying and comforting, drawn from poverty cooking – the ingredients are cheap and plentiful, staples to be found under every shabby market awning and in every Mexican household, particularly the pot of beans.

Sweet potatoes, with their rough, scratchy skin and warm orange or deep purple flesh, were one of the first vegetables to be cultivated. They originated in South America, probably Peru, where 8,000 year old traces have been unearthed.

El Poblano, as its name implies, is a native of the state of Puebla but it makes an appearance in virtually all the regional cuisines of the country. It is a handsome chilli, mild-mannered, well fleshed, broad-shouldered, with a smooth shiny skin and a rich dark green to near black colour.

Researching cinnamon in a Mexican cookbook is a perplexing experience, as it can be referred to as Mexican cinnamon, true cinnamon, soft cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon or simply by its Spanish name, canela. The purpose is perhaps to avoid confusion with the bark of the cassia tree.