Mexican Cuisine

Describing Mexican cuisine, like describing the cuisine of any country, is no simple task. The varied geography and influences from all over the world have influenced the flavors of Mexican food giving it a panoply of dishes to suit even the most discriminating of tastes. There are a few staples that everyone associates with Mexican food and these are things like beans, rice, corn, and tortillas. Mexican dishes without tortillas is like Japanese food without rice- it’s going to be there no matter what. You may not automatically think “corn” when it comes to Mexican food, but those sneaky Mexicans, they slip it in there without you even noticing. Corn is there in the tortillas, in the masa (the dough) used to make tamales and gorditas, and plenty of other places you might not think to look. It may be inside of you right now! And of course, Mexican food does not have a reputation for being bland which is why various chili peppers, herbs, and spices play a major role on the preparation.

When the Spanish arrived they found that the Aztecs were eating foods made from corn and often complimented with chilies and herbs and eaten along with beans and tomatoes or nopales which are a prickly pear- a type of cactus looking plant. Though it may not have had a Pace Picante label on it, the Aztecs also had salsa by this time. Other foods they ate, foods which are still associated with exotic or tropical climates even though they are widely available around the world, include chocolate and vanilla, avocado, guava, papaya, squash, sweet potato, tomatillos, and some other not so exotic foods like turkey and, having large coastal regions, fish and other seafood. The invading Spanish introduced a variety of animals like cattle, sheep, chicken, goats and pigs. They also brought rice, barley, olive oil, almonds, wine, parsley and spices that were not native to the land. Call it bioterrorism if you like, but I think it makes for some tasty eating. The conquistadors brought Spanish cuisine with them and perhaps it added a new layer of skill to the preparation and perception of Pre-Columbian food, but I really believe the Spanish got the better end of the deal. For those of you who have not been to Spain, I can tell you that it certainly lacks the flavor and creativity of Mexican food.

As stated above, Mexico has a very diverse geography and as such the six regions of Mexico vary greatly in what you can expect from their food. Of course either coast is going to have plenty of seafood. I personally associate the northwest coast with lobster because my family has been visiting Puerto Nuevo in Rosarito since well before I was born. Visiting Cancun I remember seeing plenty of shrimp on the menu.

My father, being from Sonora in the north, remembers having flour tortillas at the table while my mother, hailing from an area closer to Mexico City, rarely had flour tortillas and saw them as a treat and a break from the usual corn tortillas. Regions in the north are going to have dishes with more meat in them as these areas produce a great deal of beef, ostrich, and goat. As you head further south you may find more sauces and sweeter mole on your chicken. Mole is a sauce that is not terribly unlike a savory chocolate sauce; so if you like chicken and you like chocolate then you are in luck. As you head south the cuisine might be more sweet than spicy as they can take advantage of the widely grown produce. Head to Jalisco, the mountainous region in the west, and get ready to have amazing birria, a dish of goat in a spicy, tomato-based sauce. The southeast will get you more chicken dishes that are a bit spicier and that is due to the Caribbean influence. Dish of spicy chicken and rice with perhaps a touch of cocoanut from this area would not be unlike a dish you could find in Haiti. In the Yucatan they have been bee-keeping for thousands of years and so honey makes its way into the food. Find your way into some of the pueblos or villages and that’s where you find cuisine that truly has its roots in the idea of making do with what you’ve got. This is where you can get some of the flavors that you are not going to find at El Torrito like rattlesnake, spider monkey, iguana, grasshoppers and other insects. I haven’t had anything that exotic but I’m rarely disappointed with the taste of any animals I’ve eaten. I’ve got two personal philosophies when it comes to food: 1) If God didn’t want us to eat animals He wouldn’t have made them all out of meat. And 2) If it walks on God’s green earth then I’ll probably eat it someday.

Lastly we get to Central Mexico. This region’s cuisine is heavily influenced by all of Mexico and that makes sense as it has been the cultural and political center of Central America for millennia. They get a little bit of everything but they also have a few dishes that are credited to the region like carnitas, pozole, and menudo( the food, not the boy band), which any Mexican will tell you is THE cure for a hangover.

It’s important to recognize how many different influences have come into Mexican cooking. Aside from the Spanish, other would-be conquerors and immigrants include the French, Irish, Germans, and Portuguese. Each of those nations was once in whole or in part dominated by the Romans who trace their roots to the Macedons or were conquered by the Moors… It’s all in there. We wouldn’t have chorizo without sausage and it didn’t look like the Aztecs were making sausages before the Europeans made their way over. Likewise it’s great to see how much influence Mexican cuisine has exerted across the globe. Ever had salmon with a mango salsa? Or a steak with chipotle? Hell, ever had chocolate anything?

You’ll notice I did not say anything about burritos, or nachos. The reason for this is because that’s not exactly Mexican food. I’ll get to the difference between Mexican food and Tex-Mex soon enough but you should be able to make the distinction between the two by the time I’m done with you. In the mean time, go out and find yourself some real Mexican food if you can. Don’t be afraid of the spicy! Salsa should not taste like ketchup with onions in it, it should give your tongue a tingle. Also, someone please correct me if I’m wrong but I never hear of Mexicans who get heartburn yet I hear of people getting heartburn whenever they eat something spicy. This requires more research.

Mexican Food in America

It used to be very rare that I would get a craving for Mexican food. Nights out at the bars and clubs, when others wanted to hit up King Taco (On Cypress in East LA- or the one in Pasadena), I was more partial to grabbing a burger or one of those hot dogs wrapped in bacon from the street vendor at the corner. When meeting with a group of friends and trying to decide what to do for dinner I rarely supported the option of going out for Mexican. That’s not to say I didn’t like Mexican food; I frequently got a delicious burrito from Boca Del Rio or tacos from Mexico Taco in La Habra. The whole family would get together for certain birthdays or holidays at the El Cholo or El Torrito Grill. I was never disappointed. Enchiladas, tamales at Christmas, carne asada… it’s all good. I think the reason I never wanted to go out of my way to get is because it was always around growing up.

My dad used to make bean burritos for me to take to lunch when I was a kid. (Just a little side note- I know that burritos aren’t exactly Mexican food but more like tex-mex, but that’s a topic for another post). Staying with grandma in the evenings she was always making chile rellenos or albondigas or chilaquiles (which remarkably has no chile) or something to that effect. So it was all readily available and, if not that, there were plenty of wonderful Mexican restaurants all over the place.

Then I left Los Angeles.

San Francisco, for all its wonderful cuisine and gastronomic tantalization really has second rate Mexican food. You can find some a palatable burrito here and there but they truly are few and far between. This was confusing to me as San Francisco has the Mission District which is a hub of Latin-Americans. In my naiveté I presumed that would mean there are lots of Mexicans. There are many but what I came to find out is that there is an even greater concentration of peoples from El Salvador. This really puts a damper on the Mexican food for me because it never tastes quite right. Don’t get me wrong, if you want a good pupusa this is the place to go but as for their Mexican food… Well, it’s like kissing your stepsister. It’s better than nothing but it certainly is not ideal.

Then I left San Francisco.

New York also has a wealth of restaurants of every possible cuisine from Ethiopian to Thai to Scottish to Argentine… unfortunately their Mexican food is absolutely bland and tired. Every place I’ve gone has been a disappointment. I’ve only been here a year and tried just a handful of places but each one has given me less of a reason to try another. There is supposed to be a wonderful street vendor in SoHo called Calexico but I’ve yet to get to it. I’ve been told that there are a couple of great places out in the Bronx or in Brooklyn but that’s a trek and I don’t see myself heading out that way for what may just amount to be a Taco Bell is disguise. When it comes to my food, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Now, every time I get back to LA I hit up my favorite Mexican food places. If I’m headed through downtown I may even make a stop at Olvera Street to the place at the end where you can still find the ladies making the tortillas by hand. Standing in line as a child, my brother and I would always head up the steps that looked over the kitchen where we could peer over and watch their hands clap-clap-clap as they formed the tortillas.

My experience with Mexican food in America is limited to California and New York. I’ve been through Arizona and New Mexico (that’s right, there’s a New Mexico!) but I don’t remember my reaction to their Mexican food well enough to comment on it. I’m sure it’s great though. It seems to me the closer you get to the border the more likely you are to find something delicioso y sabroso. Next week I’ll get into some specifics about how crazy Mexican food can get, like eating tongue and brains, roasting up a goat head or the process of making carnitas from scratch. Good times.

Taco Bell

No.

Why so many Kids?

It’s a stereotype that is not entirely inaccurate, that of a dozen kids piling into the car of a Mexican family. I myself only have one sibling and by Mexican standard that makes for a very small family. My parents also came from relatively small families- my mother as one of four children and my father the same. I do have a couple of aunts and uncles who have had five children and that seems to be a little more like it. But the ones who take the tamale have got to be my buddy David’s parents. His mother and father are one of seven and one of twelve respectively. I’ve got a total of over twenty cousins (just counting the first cousins) and on Christmas it does make for a full house. It was always a sad event find yourself at the back of the piñata line at birthday party because there was absolutely no hope of taking a whack at that thing. But I’ve been to David’s house on Christmas Eve and there are so many Mexicans there you would think they were giving away _______ (insert your own joke here- I suggest the following: Budweiser, Green Cards, jobs in front of the Home Depot, tacos… the possibilities are endless!).

It does beg the question: what’s up with Mexicans having so many kids?

This query does not have one simple answer but I have my theories. First, there’s the reason that all agriculture based economies had so many kids. Just like America prior to WW2, families on the farm needed the farm hands. Same goes for Mexican farms. But that isn’t the only answer. The second reason off the top of my head is Catholicism. There are some strict interpretations of the Bible that some argue prohibit any and all forms of birth control. The old catholic guilt will tell you that the only purpose for sex is to procreate. In fact the only reason a man’s seed should ever leave his body is for this reason otherwise he is guilty of onanism (which is just a fancy dirty word named after Onan, a guy from the Bible). Third, it’s just one of the dominant cultural values. Mexican families place great value on the family and on taking care of one another in a way that is very different from American values. It isn’t as common or acceptable for a child to go away to college far away and never return. Nor is it considered acceptable to place the old and infirmed in an old-folks home. The elders are to stay with the family and that’s that. This sense of family togetherness is related to the desire to have a large family.

I don’t really think there is much else to it than that: the farm, the no-birth-control-of-any-kind, and the family togetherness. To those of you who are waiting to start a family I would suggest this: don’t even look at a Mexican woman the wrong way (especially if she still has her catholic school uniform) because you could end up a daddy before you know it.