Oaxacan Chef Thalía Barrios García Earns a Michelin Star
Chef Thalia Barrios Garcia, 28, is making strides in the culinary world and representing Oaxaca

Photo: Instagram/@thalia.levadura
Latina chefs have made huge strides in recent years, earning accolades and recognition for their work as well as uplifting the tastes and aromas of our cultura. Late last year, Mexican American chef Ana Liz Pulido won Best Chef in Texas at the James Beard Awards—known as the Oscars of the culinary world—and in 2023 Elena Reygadas was named World’s Best Female Chef by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization. Oaxacan chef Thalia Barrios García is putting Oaxacan cuisine on the map after earning a Michelin star and receiving MICHELIN Guide Mexico Young Chef Award in May 2024. The 28-year-old chef is the owner of two restaurants, Levadura de Olla and Cocina de Humo, located in Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico—the former earned the chef her first Michelin Star.
The Michelin Guide has award Oaxacan restaurants before but only introduced the Michelin Guide in Mexico last year. According to the Michelin Guide, there are 18 Oaxacan restaurants that have earned a coveted Michelin star. There are over 3,000 restaurants around the world that have recieved at least one star, making Barrios García’s achievement that much more significant.
Her restaurant, Levadura de Olla, meshes Barrios García’s memories of her hometown and traditional Oaxacan cuisine. The location’s menu is vegetable-forward with meals like the starter salad highlighting local tomatoes over a beet puree or their meatless tamales. Oaxacan delicacies like mole and chicatanas (ants) stand out as well as the sweet fermented beverages like traditional tepache and pulque, as well ticunchi—an agave drink from the Mixteca region.
Raised in San Mateo Yucutindoó in the Sierra Sur de Oaxaca, Barrios García has been one of the most prominent chefs in the Oaxaca restaurant scene since opening her Michelin star-rated Levadura de Olla in 2019—Cocina de Humo came in 2021. The young chef showed interest in the culinary arts from an early age and went on to pursue it when she majored in Gastronomy at the Technological University of the Central Valley of Oaxaca.
“You have to understand food in pueblos. It’s not romantic as is, it’s more so something quotidian you start getting involved in since you were born and your mom carries you on her back while she makes tortillas. Then you start growing older and you don’t realize, that soon, you’re the one in charge of making the tortillas or the meals, for example. You just start helping out and it starts happening. It’s very authentic and quotidian,” she told Food & Travel.
Her Michelin star and Young Chef Award are not the first time Barrios García has been celebrated for her culinary work. She previously earned the Young Chef of the Year award by Mexico’s national restaurant association, Canirac. Levadura de Olla was also listed among 100 of Latin America’s best restaurants by 50 Best. Barrios García’s Michelin star is not just a major win for her in the culinary world, but is also exemplary of the talent of Latinas in that industry—showing that our cultures and food are more than deserving of praise.