Uruapan has excellent Michoacán food centred on the Mercado de Antojitos at the main plaza, where stalls serve uchepos, corundas, carnitas, and chocolate atole at low prices. The carnitas tradition in Michoacán is its own art form — cooked slow in copper pots and sold by weight — and Uruapan has several dedicated carnitas restaurants around the market area that open from early morning until sold out.
La Lucha on the road through the national park is popular with locals for its weekend pozole and birria. For a more sit-down experience, several restaurants along Avenida Emilio Carranza serve regional dishes with a slightly more formal setting and slightly higher prices, though still very reasonable by any standard.