Mexican cuisine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2008) |
Mexican cuisine is a style of food that originated in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is known for its varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices and ingredients, many of which are native to the country.
Contents |
[edit] National cuisine
When conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chiles and herbs, usually complemented with beans and tomatoes or nopales. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the native indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, huitlacoche, tomato, vanilla, avocado, guava, papaya, sapote, mamey, pineapple, soursop, jicama, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut, achiote, turkey and a local variety of fish.
Corn is its traditional staple grain, but today, rice is equally important and Mexico's rice harvest is abundant. According to food writer Karen Hursh Graber, the initial introduction of rice to Spain from North Africa in the 4th Century led to the Spanish introduction of rice into Mexico at the port of Veracruz in the 1520s. This, Graber says, created one of the earliest instances of the world's greatest fusion cuisines.[1]
In Pueblos or villages, there are also more exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Mayan style (known as comida prehispánica) with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, grasshoppers, ant eggs, and other kinds of insects.
[edit] Common dishes on a national level
See List of Mexican cuisine dishes.
[edit] Regional cuisine
Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef, goat and ostrich production and meat dishes, in particular the well-known Arrachera cut.
Central Mexico's cuisine is largely made up of influences from the rest of the country, but also has its authentics, such as barbacoa, pozole, menudo and carnitas.
Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. The cuisine of Southeastern Mexico also has quite a bit of Caribbean influence, given its geographical location. Seafood is commonly prepared in the states that border the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, the latter having a famous reputation for its fish dishes, a la veracruzana.
In modern times, other cuisines of the world have become very popular in Mexico, thus adopting a Mexican fusion. For example, sushi in Mexico is often made with a variety of sauces based on mango or tamarind, and very often served with serrano-chili blended soy sauce, or complimented with habanero and chipotle peppers. mostly using hot spices in many dishes such as menudo and pozole
[edit] Mexican cuisine outside of Mexico
Authentic Mexican food was adapted and Americanized as "Tex Mex" (Texan-Mexican) cuisine. Mexican cuisine has also had a strong influence on the cuisine of the southwest United States and in California where their version of "Tex-Mex" is sometimes called Cal-Mex. Nachos for example are rarely eaten in Mexico, whereas they are widely popular in the rest of the world.
The six regions of Mexico differ greatly in terms of cuisine-style; it is almost as if each region is their own separate country with separate cuisines. In the Yucatan, for instance, a unique, natural sweetness (instead of spiciness) exists in the widely used local produce along with an unusual love for achiote seasoning. In contrast, the Oaxacan region is known for their savory tamales and celebratory moles, while the mountainous regions of the West (Jalisco, etc) are known for goat birria (goat in a spicy tomato-based sauce).
While Mexican Restaurants can be found in almost any town throughout North America, and in many cities around the world, restaurants outside the American Southwest often feature nontraditional ingredients, such as grated American-style cheese, "nacho" cheese or tomato-based sauce substitutes for Mexican chile-based sauces or mole. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, and parts of Florida and Illinois have large expatriate Mexican populations, and a variety of authentic Mexican restaurants can be found in these states. In other areas of the United States and Canada, Mexican dishes and restaurants vary as much as Chinese restaurants and dishes do between China and many locations in the western Hemisphere.
New Mexico's long tradition of Mexican settlement and history and native American influence as well, has created a distinct form of New Mexican cuisine. Even though many of the dishes vary from their Mexican counterparts, they are still considered "authentic" or "traditional" for New Mexican cuisine. Both Mexicans and New Mexicans typically find each other's cuisine somewhat similar, yet unfamiliar, and non-traditional, typically missing the true taste that they desire. Rarely are Mexican restaurants specializing in New Mexican cuisine found outside of New Mexico except in the state of Colorado.
In Mexico, it is very unusual to put cheese in tacos or tostadas (unless it is the typically Mexican panela cheese).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hursh Graber, Diana. "Rice, the Gift of the Other Gods" 2003.
 |
Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cuisine of Mexico |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||||||||
