Mexican Cuisine

History:

Mexican cuisine is primarily a fusion of indigenous Mesoamerican cooking with European, especially Spanish, elements added after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the 16th century. The basic staples remain native foods such as corn, beans and chili peppers, but the Europeans introduced a large number of other foods, the most important of which were meat from domesticated animals (beef, pork, chicken, goat and sheep), dairy products (especially cheese) and various herbs and spices.

While the Spanish initially tried to impose their own diet on the country, this was not possible and eventually the foods and cooking techniques began to be mixed, especially in colonial era convents. Over the centuries, this resulted in various regional cuisines, based on local conditions such as those in Oaxaca, Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula. Mexican cuisine is closely tied to the culture, social structure and popular traditions of the country. The most important example of this connection is the use of mole for special occasions and holidays, particularly in the South region of the country. For this reason and others, Mexican cuisine was added by UNESCO to its list of the world’s "intangible cultural heritage".

Basic Ingredients:

Mexican cuisine is as complex as any of the great cuisines in the world, such as those of China, France and Turkey. It is created mostly with ingredients native to Mexico as well as those brought over by the Spanish conquistadors, with some new influences since then. In addition to staples such as corn and chili peppers, native ingredients include tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla, as well as ingredients not generally used in other cuisines such as edible flowers, vegetables such as huauzontle and papaloquelite or small criollo avocados, whose skin is edible. European contributions include pork, chicken, beef, cheese, herbs and spices and some fruits. Tropical fruits such as guava, prickly pear, sapote, mangoes, bananas,pineapple and cherimoya (custard apple) are popular, especially in the center and south of the country. It has been debated how much Mexican food is still indigenous and how much is European. However, the basis of the diet is still corn and beans with chili pepper as a seasoning as they are complementary foods.

Despite the introduction of wheat and rice to Mexico, the basic starch remains corn in almost all areas of the country. While it is eaten fresh, most corn is dried, treated with lime and ground into a dough. This dough is used both fresh and fermented to make a wide variety of dishes from drinks (atole, pozol, etc.) to tamales, to sopes and much more. However, the most common way to eat corn in Mexico is in the form of a tortilla, which accompanies almost every dish. Tortillas are made of corn in most of the country, but other versions exist, such as wheat in the north or plantain, yuca and wild greens in Oaxaca.

The other basic ingredient in all parts of Mexico is the chili pepper.Mexican food has a reputation for being spicy, but its seasoning can be better described as strong. Many dishes also have subtle flavors as well. Chili peppers are used for their flavors and not just their heat, with Mexico using the widest variety of chili peppers. If a savory dish or snack does not contain chili pepper, hot sauce is usually added, and chili pepper is often added to fresh fruit and sweets. The importance of the chili pepper goes back to the Mesoamerican period, where it was considered to be as much of a staple as corn and beans. In the 16th century,Bartolomé de las Casas wrote that without chili peppers, the indigenous people did not think they were eating. Even today, most Mexicans believe that their national identity would be at a loss without it.

Many dishes in Mexico are defined by their sauces and the chili peppers those sauces contain, rather than the meat or vegetable that the sauce covers. These dishes include entomatada (in tomato sauce), adobo or adobados, pipians and moles. A hominy soup calledpozole is defined as white, green or red depending on the chili pepper sauce used or omitted. Tamales are differentiated by the filling which is again defined by the sauce (red, green, chili pepper strips or mole). Dishes without a sauce are rarely eaten without a salsa or without fresh or pickled chili peppers. This includes street foods such as tacos, soups, sopes, tlacoyos, gorditas and sincronizadas. For most dishes, it is the variety of chili used that gives it its main flavor.

The main contributions of the Spanish were meat and cheese, as the Mesoamerican diet contained very little meat, and dairy products were completely unknown. The main meats found in Mexico are pork, chicken, beef, goat and sheep. Native seafood remains popular especially along the coasts. Cheesemaking in Mexico has evolved its own specialties. It is an important economic activity, especially in the north, and frequently done at home. The main cheese making areas are Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Querétaro and Chiapas. Goat cheese is still made but it is not as popular and harder to find in stores

Street food:

Mexican street food is one of the most varied parts of the cuisine. It can include tacos, quesadillas, pambazos, tamales, huaraches and food not suitable to cook at home including barbacoa, carnitas and, since many homes in Mexico do not have ovens, roasted chicken. One attraction of street food in Mexico is the satisfaction of hunger or craving without all the social and emotional connotation of eating at home, although longtime customers can have something of a friendship/familial relationship with a chosen vendor.

The best known of Mexico’s street foods is the taco, whose origin is based on the pre-Hispanic custom of picking up other foods with tortillas as utensils were not used. The origin of the word is in dispute, with some saying it is derived from Nahuatl and others from various Spanish phrases. Tacos are not eaten as the main meal; they are generally eaten before midday or late in the evening. Just about any other foodstuff can be wrapped in a tortilla and in Mexico it varies from rice, to meat (plain or in sauce) to vegetables and cheese. Preferred fillings vary from place to place with pork generally found more often in the center and south, beef in the north, seafood along the coasts and chicken in most of the country.

Another popular street food, especially in Mexico City and the surrounding area is the torta. It consists of a roll of some type, stuffed with several ingredients. This has its origins in the 19th century, when the French introduced a number of new kinds of bread. The torta began by splitting the roll and adding beans. Today, refried beans can be still be found on many kinds of tortas. In Mexico City, the most common roll used for tortas is called telera, a relatively flat

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