Food is deeply ingrained in cultural identity, and is one way to learn about a community’s heritage, familial customs and values. In the U.S., Mexican food is one of the most popular cuisines, with 1 in 10 restaurants serving Mexican, according to recent findings from the Pew Research Center. This trend reflects an expanding Mexican American population, with 37.2 million people or 11.2% of the U.S. population tracing their ancestry back to Mexico.
Are Mexican food places really about an increasing Mexican population? 10% seems about right for the general interest. Kinda seems like a clickbait article for conservatives. What is the other 90%?
Totally clickbait. Japan has a lot of KFC restaurants, but not a lot of people from Kentucky.
30% of the Japanese population originates from Kentucky. You don’t have to look it up. And if someone asks you for a reference, you can use this comment.
“If it’s on the internet, it’s true!” - George Washington
KFC should do a “Mexican” seasoning crispy chicken.
KFC changed it’s name from Kentucky fried chicken to KFC to distance itself from Kentucky (and the word “fried” to a lesser extent)
Yeah, it seems to assume an increase in Mexican food’s popularity must come from Mexicans, when it can easily be explained by how Mexican food’s really fuckin good.
More Mexican food means more Mexicans!!!
Would you like to ban Mexican food?
NO It’s my freedom to have whatever food I want!!!
But, it would make the Mexicans leave.
FREEEEEDOOMMMMM!!!
If that bs were true than there’s apparently a lot more Chinese living in the Midwest than I thought.
I suspect it’s got as much to do with Mexican/texmex food being fuckin good as it does with an increasing Latin American population.
Yeah, I agree. Their premise is faulty. Places serve tacos and quesadillas because they’re cheap and easy to produce and many Americans like them, not simply because there are more Latinos in the US.
Now, if they said that there are more independent family-owned Mexican restaurants, I would consider that a bit more compelling.
Not reflecting expanding population, reflecting that it’s good fucking food regardless of where your stupid grandparents are from. And the fact that it’s typically cheaper fare in a country brutally and constantly raped by capitalism.
Grandparents are kinda stupid.
About to order some Mexican food right now.
I can’t imagine how fucking boring food would be if white nationalists had their way. No thanks.
I’m not even sure I know what white nationalist food is.
If Undercover Brother is any indication: White people eat foods that are white.
Tacos are like, the best food.
I mean American food is just British food plus corn.
Who puts corn on a hamburger?
White people co-opting Mexican cuisine.
You’re tryring too hard there because you need to then accuse the Mexicans of stealing the Hamburger, which was invented in the US.
Did all the Americans here have their beans and corn for breakfast, as is tradition?
I’m afraid that the food in the UK is known to be horrid. Much of the food tradition surely came from places like England, Germany, Italy, parts of Africa, etc. In the end, though, these people had to use the ingredients they found here and that’s where food went its own way.
Erm, Mexican families having their own families plus people wanting to eat Mexican food? In the UK, we had people trying to say too many Indians coming into the country, based upon the number of Indian restaurants. Indian food is just more popular than fish & chips.
Not only that, you’d surely struggle to find REAL, AUTHENTIC Indian food and not someone’s UK-style curry.
I’d think 1 in 10 also serve Italian. Those cuisines are cheaper to make.
Does pizza count as Italian?
Yes, but you have to have a moustache and act like you speak Italian
Mexican food is amazing.
That is all.
I’m white AF. I’m currently in line for my second of the same burrito I had for lunch.
Obese AF?
Mexican food is a beautiful thing
We need more Mexicans in Australia, all we have is crappy Taco Bill
I feel your sentiment, but it’s just such a fucking long swing 😂. But no worries, once my fellow Mexican brethren hear about the wonders of Australia and how fresh it’s air is compared to the constant heat of Tierracaliente, we’ll be making submarines, boats or even a tiny tunnel with it’s own motorcycle on rails.
No worries. We’ll get there.
We need more Mexicans in Australia, all we have is crappy Taco Bill
Now you’ve made Taco Bill sad. He may not be Mexican but he loves tacos as much as anyone!
I’m old enough to remember when salsa became more popular than ketchup
The weird part is that they don’t even sell real mexican food, but Tex-mex. Mexican coucine ≠ American cheese.
I’ve never been to a Mexican place that serves anything with American cheese on it. Even taco bell doesn’t stoop that low. Many fast food places have the crappy movie theater cheese though.
No not American cheese. They don’t use really any yellow cheeses in Mexico. On a taco, if there is cheese it’s generally Queso Fresco, a white cheese that doesn’t melt.
But in Americanized dishes they often add yellow cheese. Shit even at the store they sell “Mexican Blend” bags of cheese with yellow cheese lol
Of course, just because it isn’t “authentic” doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Know the difference sure but you can still enjoy both.
deleted by creator
There’s always at least one in every comments section…
So please enlighten me (for real because I don’t know), what indicates when a restaurant “passes muster” for an authentic Mexican restaurant?
No need to be gatekeepy. Tex-Mex is also delicious!
But some signs:
-
Any kind of yellow cheese is generally not found in “authentic” Mexican.
-
Burritos, no. They do exist up north but are quite different. No rice or vegetables. Nothing like Tex-Mex burritos.
-
Lettuce, diced tomato (other than pico de gallo), sour cream, (or as aforementioned, yellow cheese) on tacos/tostadas is not “authentic”. Onions, cabbage, cilantro, lime. Pico or some salsa optional. That’s “authentic”.
-
“Authentic” tacos don’t have hard shells. Flour vs corn tortillas vary by region but tacos are always soft tortillas.
-
Fajitas are an American invention (and they slap, again I’m not here to gatekeep)
-
Nachos as most generally know them, lots of toppings, etc. that’s an Americanized thing too.
-
Ground beef. In tacos or otherwise isn’t generally a thing. Really beef isn’t THAT common an ingredient in Mexico (in the north, a bit more common)
Authentic Mexican food is some of my favorite food in the world, but I love me some Taco Bell. You just have to look at it as a completely different type of food. Sometimes I’m in the mood for one more than the other.
Same.
-
It’s the décor, if you can see at least 3 pinatas and 2 sombreros when you enter, you have found the right place.
/J
I don’t have a solid answer for what is considered authentic, but growing up in California there are a few things I look for.
- Is the salsa tasty with a nice balance of spice and aromatics? Great chips are a plus, but making them in house is a PITA so I assume most restaurants use a vendor
- Rice and beans are actually delicious. I prefer refried
- trying to remember the last time I had tacos served in a flour tortilla but that would be a red flag. Corn tortillas should be the default or only option
- weird one but I trust a place that does traditional food cost pricing more. $11.40 enchiladas vs $11.25 where the pricing is less rounded
They? Like, America as a whole doesn’t sell Mexican food, but only Tex-Mex?
This is mostly true for the entire US. But not just Texmex, there are a lot of variations. Like the Chipotle burritos that started in San Fransisco.
And not just Mexican food, most food is altered somewhat for the US tastes. That orange chicken at the Chinese restaurant was invented in the us.
I have found what I believe are authentic Mexican restaurants. But we were the only non-Mexicans there and they were cooking dishes like whole fried fish.
There are a lot of Mexican neighborhoods with a lot of authentic Mexican food in America.
Dont get me wrong, there is a lot of Americanized Mexican food. But I’d bet for every Qdoba/El Rancho, there is a local family Mexican restaurant with an old guy watching Mexican soap operas.
It depends on the region. Texas absolutely. Iowa not so much. Though you can still probably find some if you try.
Spent a lot of time exploring Iowa?
I’d imagine there is less of everything in general, but ranch/farmland with seasonal employment doesn’t seem like it’d be lacking Mexican culture
Fairly enough no. But I’ve been, and to many other places.
I’ve lived in both San Antonio, TX and Kansas. And know them well.
In San Antonio TexMex and more authentic food abound. In Kansas some TexMex and very few more authentic places. You gotta seek them out.
As I said, they still exist. But it’s not like there’s one traditional place for every TexMex place
Texas and Iowa aren’t the only two regions in the US. My experience has been that, if you’re within 50 miles or so of a major US city (maybe more), you can usually find an authentic Mexican restaurant.
Absolutely, but what the other person said was it’s like one to one. You can find an authentic Mexican place in a ton of areas, but in a lot of the US it will take some looking.
I love me some pollo chicken! I’m so old I remember getting 3 tacos for a dollar in los Angeles believe it or not.
Pollo chicken is just chicken chicken.
Next you are going to tell me Green Verde Salsa sauce is not a thing, pshhh
I think he meant to say “chicken pollo”, big difference.
Pollo is Spanish for chicken, so that is still chicken chicken. How about pollo loco.
thatsthejoke.jpg
I swear to God this place has a bigger stick up it’s ass than even reddit sometimes
itsthesamestick.jpg
pedants untie!
I just need more Texmex to find its way to Oregon. I’m a Texmex boy not Mexican.
