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The Essential
Guide to Mexican Food
In the past decade, Mexican food has truely
spread far and wide and is now considered as one of the major
cuisines of the world. However as with many cuisines, a lot of the
fare found is often non-authentic. This guide aims to introduce you
to the wonders of true Mexican food.
What is Authentic Mexican Food?
When talking about what is truly authentic Mexican food you will not be surprised that the food you just ordered from the fast food restaurant nearby does not fit into that category. That is because so much of what Americans eat is foods from other countries that have become americanized to meet the different tastes of the American people.
Steaks
Online This is also true of much of the Mexican food that is sold in stores, bought in fast food outlets and even prepared in our homes. The food is likely less spicy and combined with other styles to give it the taste you are enjoying.
A variety of meats such as chicken, fish,
and pork
are used in Mexican food.
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A good example of the lack of authentic Mexican food in your diets would be the combination of Texan and Mexican foods, called Tex-Mex, or Californian and Mexican foods known as Cal-Mex.
Mexico is also known as a producer of gourmet food. New Mexico has their own style known, not surprisingly, as New Mexican foods. All of them incorporate the standard things that make these Hispanic dishes such a delight like refried beans and corn tortillas and then make them into a selection of modified tasty treats.
The original foods incorporated the styles of the Aztecs and Mayans along with the elements the Spanish brought to them. To this day corn is still an important part of what the Mexican people enjoy. It is used in the making of the tortillas which are still a main element in the foods eaten daily. They are often compared to the bread in an American kitchen. Another main ingredient in authentic Mexican food is tomatillo which is a husk tomato and is used in sauces and to dampen some of the spicy taste of foods. Tomatillos are used when they are green; before they have ripened. They are smaller than the average tomato with a thin paper like skin to them. They can also be used in soups. These two items, the tomatillos and corn, are the mainstay of Mexican foods.
The Roots of Typical Mexican
Food
Typical Mexican food has a history as rich as its flavor. Dating back thousands of years to the Aztecs and Mayans, the biggest staple of typical Mexican food is corn. Corn even had its own Goddess
the Mother of Maize. Go figure. Corn was generally ground into meal,
as a way to preserve it in a dried form and from there it could be made into tortillas, which have an infamous place in Mexican cuisine.
Aside from corn, the Mexican diet included (and still includes) cactus leaves, tomatoes, pumpkin, beans, peppers, chocolate and avocados. (Chocolate and Avocados. Mmm.) A variety of meats were also included over time, including chicken, fish, beef and pork. For a long time, however, the only source of protein in the Mexican diet was its beans. Ancient Central Americans would dry the beans in large clay pots, using a process that has remained unchanged since it was invented.
It is said that chefs for ancient Aztec royalty cooked hundreds of
unique dishes every single day. There were also, as you might
imagine, runners whose sole purpose was to bring ingredients everything from tubers to fowl--to the royal kitchen, day in and day out.
Where the leftovers went, no one knows, but one thing is for certain: those chefs were damned some creative people. They are very likely the inventors of what we today recognize as guacamole.
Modern Mexican cuisine includes fruits, too, as one might expect. A common fruit drink, Batitos (An odd cross between a milkshake and a smoothie), is made from a large variety of fruits, including banana, mango, oranges, and strawberries.
And speaking of traditional Mexican food and drinks, did you know that hot chocolate originally came from South America? It used to be made by boiling the chocolate beans in water, and then adding vanilla, honey and cinnamon. The result tasted so good, that when the Spanish Conquistadors encountered it, the Catholic Church outlawed it. Hot chocolate was the marijuana of the 1400s!
In conclusion, Mexican food has a very
long history and it would be a pity if you do not sample it to the
full!
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