Alright so I just came back from visiting a friend of mine who lives in Oaxaca, Mexico and granted while I was prepared for the food to be nothing like what I can get in Flyover, USA I was still pretty astonished at how foreign it was. They have like 10 different kinds of moles alone and the enchiladas looked nothing like what I've seen before.
So this got me thinking, where is Mexican American food actually from in Mexico? Like how most Italian-American food has its roots in southern Italy, is there a particular region in Mexico that influenced America disproportionately?
Bro I'm really high and your post made me laugh so hard haha nice dude
Sebastian Green
The issue with recreating Mexican food accurately outside of Mexico is ingredient availability.
You have to go to an expensive hipster market to acquire stuff like fresh papalo or epazote, let alone the 50,000 kinds of dried chiles. Good luck getting huitlacoche that isn't in the form of revolting black slime from a can.
That's why we get hamburger meat simmered with "spice mix" and topped with Breakstone brand sour cream. Not because nobody wants to try. Because they can't.
Oliver Ramirez
glad I could help
Jace Parker
Any city in the US with a decent sized Mexican population will many latino super markets sell all the stuff you listed and more at rock bottom prices.
They are usually in pretty rough neighborhoods
Joseph Taylor
No they won't. I know this because I used to live in a Mexican neighborhood.
You can get conchas and stuff like that, anything you can replicate with "American" ingredients or non-perishables.
You are not getting fresh huitlacoche at the local Mexican grocery store in the US, I can tell you that. Dried epazote, no problem. Dried chiles, sure. But some things are just not happening.
Nathan Ward
California
Brandon Morales
Fresh huitlacoche is almost always available at Feria Latina on NW 23rd street in my city
The El Mariachi market closer to my house has it sometimes.
Thomas Harris
"mexican" food outside of mexico is generally texmex which is basically anglicisation of mexican food to refine it to fast food/common standards and expectations
Robert Bailey
It's a mix of border food what would be referred to Tex-Mex etc. It isn't exclusive to Texas, Arizona, New México and California have their own particular influences. The majority of immigrants used to come from Western México hence the typical food from there such as Enchiladas Mineras from Guanajuato that have been modified for Americans. Now that there are more people from Southern places like Oaxaca in New York for example you'll see the influence from there begin to show. Others like tacos de carne asada are universal throughout USA/México simply because the ingredients are easy to acquire . Somehow though they're still able to fuck them up in the USA by adding weird things like cheese or tomato to them.
Logan Hill
This. You can get the generals and non-perishables. But you're not going to find fresh Hatch chiles in the east coast, for example.
Blake Campbell
>which is basically anglicisation of mexican food to refine it to fast food/common standards and expectations
Actually that's not at all fucking true, but keep talking.
Tex-Mex started as a combination of American ingredients and northern Mexican staples (fresh and dried beef, flour tortillas, etc). During the 19th century, so not exactly fast food.
Nor was "Mexican" food similar then. Mexico City's cuisine was pretty much directly derived from that of Paris - the fad of pre-colonization dishes came after the Revolution. The southern areas stayed closer to their Mayan roots, but given Mexico takes its name from the Aztecs, claiming banana leaf tamales are the only real "Mexican" food is silly.
This is pretty spot on.
Bentley Rodriguez
OP, there's a pretty good book called Planet Taco that deals with the history of Mexican food.
Unlike Italian food, Mexican food wasn't formed elsewhere then brought here and adapted. Many of the northern styles (Sonoran, Tex-Mex, New Mexican) evolved together.
Meanwhile, many of the southern styles were influenced both by the French, and later waves of immigrants. Tacos al Pastor, for example, come from adaptation of a Turkish dish.
Oaxaca is pretty close to indigenous cuisine in many ways, which is why they're so heavy on the mole.
Ryder Gomez
It's not 1992, the average Mexican neighborhood in the US isn't that
As a matter of fact, the Mexican neighborhoods where I live aren't rough at all
Kayden Collins
>tfw live on Long Island and there's almost no real Mexican food here, just shitty AmeriMex places
Colton Allen
How similar are Mexico City and Puebla cuisine?
The Mexican people where I live tend to be from these places, so the Mexican food is reflective of that. But I'm not sure how much different a place run by someone from Mexico City will be versus a place run by someone from Puebla.
I go to a place owned by a guy from Mexico City, but the cooks are from Puebla. I'm guessing that's a common arrangement.
David Cook
When I went to Mexico, I made a point to learn how they do carnitas. Miles above what we have in America, even in the south where Mexicans are abundant.
Logan Campbell
I guess they take the process more seriously down there
Parker Lewis
Beer, orange, and a lot of care for how the porks cooked. None of the "bland fried pulled pork" you get in the states commonly
Henry Lee
I think of pork as being bland, it's probably just the way it's prepared when I have it
I wonder why Mexico is such a big pork country though, I think chicken is better
Andrew Nguyen
In flyover country it's always 25 years ago
Carson Bennett
Well El Paso and San Antonio are both flyover places with a lot of Mexicans, and they're pretty safe
Ayden Clark
>Chicken >Better than pork
Just kys nigger.
Adrian Smith
If only black people like chicken, then why do white people wait in lines the length of a football field to get chick fil-A?
Eli Jenkins
Are you a Puerto Rican or something? Cuchifrito ass nigga
Luis Rogers
.t juan
Evan Davis
any state with more than 10 million people is not flyover
Leo Walker
Nope, you must be an insecure Trump autist though
Luis Hill
Texas outside the big cities is flyover as fuck
Jaxon King
Every state is flyover outside of the big cities
Jason Sanchez
Well parts of upstate New York have a non flyover charm, despite being rural
Lucas Lee
Non Flyover:
NYC Philly LA San Francisco Bay Area New Orleans Atlanta
Flyover: Chicago Everywhere else
Lincoln Lewis
>have non flyover charm
Eli Wright
Well yeah, the people don't come off as bland Middle Americans
Eli Baker
A T L T L
Aiden Brooks
your an idiot. all those ingredients are available here.
Colton Gray
Huh?
Logan Phillips
San Antonio and El Paso are both pretty good sized cities.
Brayden Gomez
yeah they're big size, but El Paso is kinda flyover still
Is there anything of interest there except for all the Northern Mexican food?
Henry Harris
Beer?
I do mine Micholaden style - braised in lard, Mexican Coca Cola, and oranges.
Colton Walker
You need to listen to Texas is the epitome of flyover - in the middle of nothing, has a couple cool small cities, and people trying REALLY hard to convince themselves that they're in the big boy leagues. Give it up Houston, you're suburbs in a swamp.
Ian Ward
LA is also an overcrowded suburb
Benjamin Murphy
LA makes up for it with culture and its unique industries, and has an actual downtown. Houston does not.
Isaac Wood
That's nice.
Brayden Flores
>I was still pretty astonished at how foreign it was America, the post.
Aaron Peterson
It would be foreign to a European also, I doubt they have a lot of real Mexican food there.
Carter Jenkins
Might want to research Spanish history a little, user.
Cooper Russell
Spain probably has some Mexican immigrants, but there is probably little to no real Mexican food in any other European country
Jose Hernandez
>Spain probably has some Mexican immigrants Please be trolling.
Nathan Sullivan
People from Latin America make up like 3.5 percent of Spain's population
Parker Hill
there's too much military in el paso it really fucks with the culture
Gabriel Rodriguez
What language do you think they speak in Mexico?
Gabriel Wood
Spanish food is a lot different from Mexican food
Adam Cox
>go to Spain >order a "tortilla" at a restaurant >get potato and onion omelette
A common language doesn't make the food similar even if Spain brought us rice and domesticated animals
John Nelson
agreed, I'm disappointed that he would try to make that comparison
Leo Sullivan
is it a faux pas to order a taco with no cilantro?
Jayden Rodriguez
No, it's just shit taste. Cilantro is excellent
Tyler Collins
I don't really mind it mixed with meat, but I have that "soap taste" thing going on so I don't like the way it tastes by itself
Joseph Nguyen
It tastes like soap to me too and I love it. Your mouth needs an upgrade
Julian Turner
like I said, it doesn't really bother me, except for when I get a bite of just cilantro
Gavin Ramirez
Which moles are the best?
Landon Hernandez
Mole Amarillo is pretty dope it's probably the spiciest and doesnt have any chocolate
Aaron Gonzalez
>amarillo >spiciest
kek
I love yellow, but the best would have to be one made with huitlacoche.
Owen Flores
Isn't Oaxaqueno very spicy?
Nathaniel Hall
can be, depends who makes it obviously
Anthony Jones
border cities I imagine Tijuana, Mexicali, etc...
Oaxaca is far from the border so thats probably why its so different
