Tortillas, enchiladas, ground beef in a crunchy taco shell, entrees burning with the spicy flavor of jalapeños—these are the stereotypes that epitomize Mexican food in the United States.
Unfortunately, those living in the United States have only a small taste of the variety in Mexican cuisine that has been dumbed down, generalized and spiced up for a wider American audience.
Students at N.C. State have to look no further than Talley Student Center to see how much our culture values this food. On Hillsborough Street right across from campus, there is not one, but two restaurants that contain “Mexican” in their description: Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Chile Bomba, Mexican Eatery.
In the context of what Mexican nationals eat, how authentic is a taco or burrito, or salsa and tortilla chips? Regional Mexican cuisine, particularly home-cooked meals, is completely distinct from the food served in most Mexican restaurants outside of Mexico, which usually has its origins in Tex-Mex food. These foods hardly represent the northern states of Mexico, much less the rest of the country with the highest population of immigrants to the United States.
If you’re searching for an American concept of Mexican food, don’t bother looking south of the border. Tamales and nopales, ceviche and sopes are far more likely to greet you.
It would seem that as the burrito crossed the border into the United States, its contents tripled. What was once a simple stuffed tortilla has become the empty shell for rice, beans, and any number of additional spiced ingredients.
Even at more expensive restaurants, the biggest difference is the quality of the meat, not the quantity. High-end Hispanic food is full of steak while cheaper restaurants serve, at best, an imitation of spiced ground beef.
The Tex-Mex express Taco Bell has become a paradigm of the Americanization of Latin foods, and has had a significant impact on one staple Mexican cuisine, the taco. Founder, Glen Bell knew that, “he would need to make them easier to eat. So he created the first fast food crunchy taco shell and filled it with the perfect mix of Mexican ingredients for the American palate,” according to their website.
This isn’t the first time Americans have added to an ethnic cuisine from another country in order to make it more satisfying to the larger Western diet. Pizza is a perfect example.
The American palate’s gusto for the spiciness that is common to some regional Mexican foods was first translated to Tex-Mex and has become the automatic assumption that some people continue to make when guessing the favorite type of cuisine among Hispanics.
It is easy to see why this assumption exists, when searching for Latin American food on UrbanSpoon yields more Mexican restaurants than restaurants from other countries, such as El Salvador or Ecuador.
Just like in the United States, even foods such as tacos, tamales, and empanadas–three foods that represent more commonly known from Latin America–vary widely according to the region of the country in which they are prepared.
However, to the non-Hispanic mainstream American, would Hispanic food be as appealing if it wasn’t so spicy, or so big? Perhaps yes. But Americans love the spicy, bold flavors of Americanized Hispanic food the same way they love Chinese food from the buffet next to the Mexican restaurant.
As the number of Mexicans and Hispanics in this geographical area grows, the variety in truly authentic Mexican and Latin American cuisine will follow. In the same way that nachos and fajitas have found a place in the American diet, empanadas and sopes are sure to follow.
