Mexican cuisine

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This topic should not be confused with Tex-Mex which is commonly refered to as "Mexican food" in the U.S..

Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico.

Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and its variety of spices. Mexican gastronomy, in terms of diversity of appealing tastes and textures, is one of the richest in the world in proteins, vitamins, and minerals, though it is characterized by some as excessively spicy.

When Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (the ancient city on which Mexico City was built), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chilis and herbs, usually complemented with beans and squash. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut and turkey. The totopo (a salted corn tortilla cooked in a fire oven) may have been created as part of this cuisine.

Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. Quesadillas, for example, are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (often a Mexican-style soft farmer's cheese such as Queso Fresco), beef, chicken, pork, and so on. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional foods is the chile pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables (among them are the chili peppers, green peppers, chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes) and meats in Mexican food. There is also a sprinkling of Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucatán. The French occupation of Mexico also yielded some influences as well: the bolillo (pronounced bo-lee-yo, with the "o" as in "bore"), a Mexican take on the French roll, certainly seems to reflect this.

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 production and meat dishes. Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. Seafood is commonly prepared in the state of Veracruz.

There are also more exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Mayan style, with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, and even some kinds of insects. This is usually known as comida prehispánica (or prehispanic food), and although not very common, is relatively well known.

A distinction must be made between truly authentic Mexican food, and the Cal-Mex (Californian-Mexican) and "Tex Mex" (Texan-Mexican) cuisines. Mexican cuisine combines with the cuisine of the southwest United States (which itself has a number of Mexican influences) to form Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex cuisine. Another style of cuisine that is commonly mistaken for Mexican food is New Mexican cuisine, which is, of course, found in New Mexico, USA.

Contents

[edit] Traditional dishes

Enchilada with mole sauce
Enchilada with mole sauce
Salsa verde, salsa roja
Salsa verde, salsa roja
Pico de gallo ("salsa mexicana")
Pico de gallo ("salsa mexicana")
Assorted tacos
Assorted tacos
Guacamole
Guacamole
Ensalada de nopales
Ensalada de nopales

Foods that are part of the Mexican culinary tradition include:

[edit] Appetizers (botanas) and side dishes

[edit] Entrees

[edit] Drinks

[edit] Desserts and sweets

Mexico's candy and bakery sweets industry, centered in Michoacan and Mexico City, produces a wide array of products.

  • Arroz con leche, rice with milk and sugar
  • Pastel de queso, cheesecake
  • Jamoncillos
  • Cajeta
  • Capirotada
  • Carlota de limón
  • coyotas
  • Empanadas
  • Flan
  • Pastel de tres leches (Three Milk Cake)
  • Platano
  • Alegrías
  • ates
  • Churros
  • Dulce de leche
  • Chongos zamoranos, a milk candy named for its place of origin, Zamora, Michoacán.
  • Jarritos (spicy tamarindo candy in a tiny pot), as well as a brand of soda
  • Pan dulce sweet pastries, like American doughnuts, very popular for breakfast. Nearly every Mexican town has a bakery (panaderia) where these can purchased.
  • Pepitorias
  • Obleas
  • Glorias
  • Pan de Acambaro, (Acambaro bread) named for its town of origin, Acambaro, Guanajuato. Very similar to Jewish Challah bread, which may have inspired its creation.
  • Ice Cream. Pancho Villa was noted as a devotee of ice cream. The Mexican ice cream industry is centered in the state of Michoacan, most ice cream stands in Mexico are dubbed La Michoacana as a tribute to Michoacan's acknowledged leadership in the production of this product.
  • Popsicles (or ice lollies), paletas, the street popsicle vendor is a noted fixture of Mexico's urban landscape.

[edit] External links

Wikibooks
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