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Taco USA (An Amusing History of Mexican Food in the United States)
Reason ^ | June 2012 | Gustavo "Ask a Mexican" Arellano

Posted on 05/16/2012 2:34:51 PM PDT by mojito

....There is nothing remotely Mexican about Potato Olés—not even the quasi-Spanish name, which has a distinctly Castilian accent. The burrito was more insulting to me and my heritage than casting Charlton Heston as the swarthy Mexican hero in Touch of Evil. But it was intriguing enough to take back to my hotel room for a taste. There, as I experienced all of the concoction’s gooey, filling glory while chilly rain fell outside, it struck me: Mexican food has become a better culinary metaphor for America than the melting pot.

Back home, my friends did not believe that a tater tot burrito could exist. When I showed them proof online, out came jeremiads about inauthenticity, about how I was a traitor for patronizing a Mexican chain that got its start in Wyoming, about how the avaricious gabachos had once again usurped our holy cuisine and corrupted it to fit their crude palates.

In defending that tortilla-swaddled abomination, I unknowingly joined a long, proud lineage of food heretics and lawbreakers who have been developing, adapting, and popularizing Mexican food in El Norte since before the Civil War. Tortillas and tamales have long left behind the moorings of immigrant culture and fully infiltrated every level of the American food pyramid, from state dinners at the White House to your local 7-Eleven. Decades’ worth of attempted restrictions by governments, academics, and other self-appointed custodians of purity have only made the strain stronger and more resilient. The result is a market-driven mongrel cuisine every bit as delicious and all-American as the German classics we appropriated from Frankfurt and Hamburg.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; History; Society
KEYWORDS: cookery; mexicanfood; mexico; tacos; texmex
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Long, but funny and informative article.

And I make my chile con queso proudly with American cheese.

1 posted on 05/16/2012 2:34:54 PM PDT by mojito
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To: mojito

Bad timing dude. Just my opinion.


2 posted on 05/16/2012 2:38:10 PM PDT by allmost
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To: mojito
We use extra sharp aged cheddar ~ less milk sugar ~ everybody here has a lactose intolerance problem.

Still, a "tater tot burrito?"

Say it isn't so ~ please!

3 posted on 05/16/2012 2:40:03 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: mojito

“Mexican” and “Chinese” food in the USA is completely Americanized.

Sort of like Cinqo de Mayo is really an American (advertising) holiday that isn’t really celebrated in Mexico.


4 posted on 05/16/2012 2:40:55 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Democrats are dangerous and evil. Republicans are just useless and useful idiots.)
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To: mojito
I do love me some authentic northern New Mexican cuisine.

Talking about Mexican food is like talking about French or Italian or Spanish food. Which part? Brittany isn't the French Med food, Northern Italian is very different than southern, it's all regional.

Vive la difference!

/johnny

5 posted on 05/16/2012 2:43:51 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: mojito

I have nothing against Mexican food. I have enjoyed it on occasion. No more. I don’t like what’s happening to our country, and the militant invasion of our Southern border, so I will not patronize anything Mexican. Sorry, but that’s just me. When the illegals return to their country, and Mexico becomes a good neighbor, then I’ll reconsider. Not before.


6 posted on 05/16/2012 2:44:05 PM PDT by bcsco
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To: Fledermaus
Sort of like Cinqo de Mayo is really an American (advertising) holiday that isn’t really celebrated in Mexico.

...just as St. Patrick's Day was never celebrated in Ireland until American tourists started coming expecting to see the celebrations.

7 posted on 05/16/2012 2:44:51 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: muawiyah
Sonics got em.

If ya can stomach Moe's skunk flavored cooking oil.

8 posted on 05/16/2012 2:46:20 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one," Jeremiah 50:31)
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To: Fledermaus
Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico kicking France's arse.

I'll drink a beer to that. And I did.

/johnny

9 posted on 05/16/2012 2:46:52 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Fledermaus
We just watched a "tater tot breakfast burrito' advertisement on TV ~ on COX Cable ~ in Fairfax County, VA.

We are all doomed!

10 posted on 05/16/2012 2:49:00 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Fledermaus

There is a big difference between “Mexican” food in San Diego and Mexican food in Tijuana. Burritos and tacos on the U.S. side are much bigger than they are south of the border. My favorite Mexican food are tamales. Good tamales are very hard to find here. They have to be made fresh every day. The best tamales are the Oaxacan style wrapped in banana leaves (hojas de plantana). I think they taste so good because they are made with real lard.


11 posted on 05/16/2012 2:51:09 PM PDT by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: bcsco
What grows where I live lends itself to Mexican style food. And I grow a lot of what I eat, so I'll eat what I grow, using traditional recipes from this area.

Don't confuse illegals with legals, and the addition to our culture that they bring. Including cooking styles.

/johnny

12 posted on 05/16/2012 2:51:46 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: rawcatslyentist

I like the homewrecker at moes. I was surprised when I went to Mexico and the taco meat wasn’t ground beef. It was chunks of steak.


13 posted on 05/16/2012 2:53:18 PM PDT by goseminoles
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To: mojito

Two nightmares I have experienced:
1. A pizza in Paris (” Did they just plop an egg on that?”)
2. A lasagna in Landstuhl (Germany)


14 posted on 05/16/2012 2:54:18 PM PDT by clbiel (Islamophobia: The irrational fear of being decapitated)
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To: mojito

I will boldly state from experience that the average Mexican food in America is better here than there. Ditto for Chinese food. Better ingredients and bigger portions. I don’t care about “authentic”, I care about what tastes good.


15 posted on 05/16/2012 2:54:28 PM PDT by Hugin (tHE)
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To: forgotten man
Mmmmm. I make my tamales with real manteca. Nothing better.

/johnny

16 posted on 05/16/2012 2:55:14 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

What grows where I live lends itself to American cooking. Mexican restaurants here are an outgrowth of the illegal farm workers the migrated to the area. Sorry, but I’ll stay with my American cuisine.


17 posted on 05/16/2012 2:56:59 PM PDT by bcsco
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To: Fledermaus

>>“Mexican” and “Chinese” food in the USA is completely Americanized<<

When I want Mexican food, I go to Mexico. It is amazing just how much Americans destroyed it. For example, Gringos seem to think that you slather salsa of some kind or another on EVERYTHING. That is wrong — you marinate the meat and add salsa sparingly (or, better still, eat small chiles between bites).

And how we changed things I don’t know. What we call a “burrito” (generally) they call a “taco.” What we call a “taco” they call a “taquito.” What we call a “taquito” they call a “flauta.”

And they still cook on open mesquite ovens and use the BLESSED ingredient LARD (heaven!).

American Mexican food is just American Food — a few steps from a hamburger.


18 posted on 05/16/2012 2:57:07 PM PDT by freedumb2003 ('RETRO' Abortions = performed on 84th trimester individuals who think killing babies is a "right.")
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To: forgotten man

Heck, there is a big difference between Calif and what I get in Tenn when it comes to tacos and burritos.

We buy tamales from a Mexican woman that makes them in her home. But they are the bready kind with lots of masa. Filling though.


19 posted on 05/16/2012 2:58:14 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Democrats are dangerous and evil. Republicans are just useless and useful idiots.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

I like dishes from New Mexico such as green chile stew and stuffed sopaipillas. I also like cuisine from central and southern Mexico, such as pollo en pipián or mole poblano. Incidentally, I first tasted pollo en pipián in a restaurant in Australia whose waitress was from northern England.


20 posted on 05/16/2012 2:59:58 PM PDT by Fiji Hill (Deo Vindice!)
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