Mexican cuisine

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Not to be confused with Tex-Mex cuisine, which is often referred to as "Mexican food" in certain regions of the US and Canada.

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Chiles en nogada, a popular dish from Mexico 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 staples are native foods, such as corn, beans, avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers, along with rice which was brought by the Spanish. Europeans introduced a large number of other foods, the most important of which were meats 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. African and Asian influences were also introduced into the mixture during this era as a result of African slavery in New Spain and the Manila-Acapulco Galleons.[1]

Over the centuries, this resulted in regional cuisines based on local conditions, such as those in Oaxaca, Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula. Mexican cuisine is an important aspect of the culture, social structure and popular traditions of Mexico. The most important example of this connection is the use of mole for special occasions and holidays, particularly in the South and Center regions of the country. For this reason and others, traditional Mexican cuisine was inscribed in 2010 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.[2]

Contents [hide]

1 Basic elements

1.1 Corn

1.2 Chili peppers

1.3 Spanish contributions

2 Food and society

2.1 Home cooking

2.2 Food and festivals

2.3 Street food

3 History

3.1 Pre-Hispanic period 3.2 Post-conquest

4 Beverages

5 Regional cuisines

5.1 Northern Mexico

5.2 Oaxaca

5.3 Yucatán

5.4 Mexico City

5.5 Western Mexico

5.6 Veracruz

5.7 Chiapas

6 Mexican food outside of Mexico

6.1 United States

7 See also

8 References

9 Bibliography

10 External links

Basic elements[edit]

Various ingredients at a market in Mexico City, including huitlacoche, quintoniles and squash flowers.

Mexican cuisine is as complex as any other world cuisine, such as those of China, France, Italy and Japan.[3] 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.[4] In addition to staples, such as corn and chile peppers, native ingredients include tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla,[5] as well as ingredients not generally used in other cuisines, such as edible flowers, vegetables like huauzontle and papaloquelite, or small criollo avocados, whose skin is edible.[6] European contributions include pork, chicken, beef, cheese, herbs and spices, as well as 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.[7] It has been debated how much Mexican food is still indigenous and how much is European.[8] However, the basis of the diet is still corn and beans, with chile pepper as a seasoning, as they are complementary foods.[9]

Corn[edit]

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 called masa.[10][11] This dough is used both fresh and fermented to make a wide variety of dishes from drinks (atole, pozol, etc.) to tamales, 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.[5][10]

Chili peppers[edit]

A molcajete and tejolote, the traditional mortar and pestle of Mexico.

The other basic ingredient in all parts of Mexico is the chile pepper.[12] Mexican food has a reputation for being very spicy, but its seasoning can be better described as strong. Many dishes also have subtle flavors.[3][6] Chiles are used for their flavors and not just their heat, with Mexico using het widest variety. If a savory dish or snack does not contain chile pepper, hot sauce is usually added, and chile pepper is often added to fresh fruit and sweets.[12]

The importance of the chile 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 chiles, the indigenous people did not think they were eating. Even today, most Mexicans believe that their national identity would be at a loss without chiles.[9]

Many dishes in Mexico are defined by their sauces and the chiles 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 called pozole is defined as white, green or red depending on the chile sauce used or omitted. Tamales are differentiated by the filling which is again defined by the sauce (red or green chile pepper strips or mole). Dishes without a sauce are rarely eaten without a salsa or without fresh or pickled chiles. This includes street foods, such as tacos, tortas, soups, sopes, tlacoyos, tlayudas, gorditas and sincronizadas.[13] For most dishes, it is the type of chile used that gives it its main flavor.[9]

Spanish contributions[edit]

Pechuga adobada, chicken breast in adobo with a side of chayote, mushrooms, corn and poblano rajas. Adobo, including a key item, vinegar, arrived with the Spanish. A common characteristic of Mexican adobo is its incorporation of chile ancho.

The main contributions of the Spanish were meat and cheese, as the Mesoamerican diet contained very little meat besides domesticated turkey, and dairy products were absent. The Spanish also introduced the technique of frying in pork fat. Today, the main meats found in Mexico are pork, chicken, beef, goat, and sheep. Native seafood and fish remains popular, especially along het coasts.[14]

Cheesemaking in Mexico has evolved its own specialties. It is an important economic activity, especially in the north, and is 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 is harder to find in stores.[15]

Food and society[edit]

Home cooking[edit]

An 1836 lithograph after a painting by Carl Nebel of Mexican women grinding corn and making tortillas in Mexico

Guacamole, an avocado-based dip that began in pre-Hispanic Mexico.

In most of Mexico, especially in rural areas, much of the food is consumed in the home with the most traditional Mexican cooking done domestically based on local ingredients.[16] Cooking for family is considered to be women’s work, and this includes cooking for celebrations as well.[17] Traditionally girls have been considered ready to marry when they can cook, and cooking is considered a main talent for housewives.[18]

The main meal of the day in Mexico is the "comida", meaning 'meal' in Spanish. This refers to dinner or supper. It begins with soup, often chicken broth with pasta or a "dry soup", which is pasta or rice flavored with onions, garlic or vegetables. The main course is meat served in a cooked sauce with salsa on the side, accompanied with beans and tortillas and often with a fruit drink.[19]

In the evening, it is common to eat leftovers from the comida or sweet bread accompanied by coffee or chocolate. Breakfast is generally heartier than in other countries and can consist of leftovers, meat in broth (such as pancita), tacos, enchiladas or meat with eggs. This is usually served with beans, white bread or tortillas, and coffee or juice.[19]

Food and festivals[edit]

Mexican cuisine is elaborate and often tied to symbolism and festivals, one reason it was named as an example of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.[5] Many of the foods of Mexico are complicated because of their relation to the social structure of the country. Food preparation, especially for family and social events, is considered to be an investment in order to maintain social relationships.[20] Even the idea of flavor is considered to be social, with meals prepared for certain dinners and certain occasions when they are considered the most tasty.[21]

The ability to cook well, called "sazón" (lit. seasoning) is considered to be a gift generally gained from experience and a sense of commitment to the diners.[22] For the Day of the Dead festival, foods such as tamales and mole are set out on altars and it is believed that the visiting dead relatives eat the essence of the food. If eaten afterwards by the living it is considered to be tasteless.[21] In central Mexico, the main festival foods are mole, barbacoa, carnitas and mixiotes. They are often prepared to feed around five hundred guests, requiring groups of cooks. The cooking is part of the social custom meant to bind families and communities.[23] Mexican regional home cooking is completely different from the food served in most Mexican restaurants outside Mexico, which is usually some variety of Tex-Mex.[6] Some of Mexico’s traditional foods involved complex or long cooking processes. Before industrialization, traditional women spent several hours a day boiling dried corn then grinding them on a metate to make the dough for tortillas, cooking them one-by-one on a comal griddle. In some areas, tortillas are still made this way. Sauces and salsas were also ground in a mortar called a molcajete. Today, blenders are more often used, though the texture is a bit different. Most people in Mexico would say that those made with a molcajete taste better, but few can do this now. [24]

Mole poblano is considered Mexico's national dish.

The most important food for festivals and other special occasions is mole, especially mole poblano in the center of the country.[25] Mole is served at Christmas, Easter, Day of the Dead and at birthdays, baptisms, weddings and funerals, and tends to be eaten only for special occasions because it is such a complex and time-consuming dish.[26] While still dominant in this way, other foods have become acceptable for these occasions, such as barbacoa, carnitas and mixiotes, especially since the 1980s. This may have been because of economic crises at that time, allowing for the substitution of these cheaper foods, or the fact that they can be bought ready- made or may already be made as part of the family business.[27]

Another important festive food is the tamale, also known as tamal in Spanish. This is a filled cornmeal dumpling, steamed in a wrapping (usually a corn husk or banana leaf) and one of the basic staples in most regions of Mexico. It has its origins in the pre-Hispanic era and today is found in many varieties in all of Mexico. Like mole, it is complicated to prepare and best done in large amounts.[28] Tamales are associated with certain celebrations such as Candlemas.[29] They are wrapped in corn husks in the highlands and desert areas of Mexico and in banana leaves in the tropics.[30]

Street food[edit]

Main article: Mexican street food

View of a taco stand in the Tacubaya neighborhood of Mexico City Mexican street food is one of the most varied parts of the cuisine. It can include tacos, quesadillas, pambazos, tamales, huaraches, alambres, al pastor, and food not suitable to cook at home, including barbacoa, carnitas, and since many homes in Mexico do not have or make use of ovens, roasted chicken.[31] 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.[32]

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.[10] The origin of the word is in dispute, with some saying it is derived from Nahuatl and others from various Spanish phrases.[33] 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 cream, to vegetables, to cheese, or simply with plain chile peppers or fresh salsa. Preferred fillings vary from region to region with pork generally found more often in the center and south, beef in the north, seafood along the coasts, and chicken and lamb in most of the country.[34]

Tortas being prepared in Oaxaca

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 still be found on many kinds of tortas. In Mexico City, the most common roll used for tortas is called telera, a relatively flatroll with two splits on the upper surface. In Puebla, the preferred bread is called a cemita, as is the sandwich. In both areas, the bread is stuffed with various fillings, peciallyes if it is a hot sandwich, with beans, cream (mayonnaise is rare) and some kind of hot chile pepper.[35]

The influence of American fast food on Mexican street food grew during the late 20th century. One example of this is the craving of the hot dog, but prepared Mexican style. They are usually boiled then wrapped in bacon and fried together. They are served in the usual bun, but the condiments are typically a combination of diced tomatoes, onions and jalapeño peppers.[35] Besides food, street vendors also sell various kinds of drinks (including aguas frescas, tejuino, and tepache) and treats (such as bionicos, tostilocos, and raspados). Most tamale stands will sell atole as a standard accompaniment.

History[edit]

Pre-Hispanic period[edit]

Further information: Aztec cuisine

A Maya lord forbids an individual from touching a container of chocolate.

Aztec men sharing a meal as depicted in the Florentine Codex.

Around 7000 BCE, the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America hunted game and gathered plants, including wild chile peppers. Corn was not yet cultivated, so one main source of calories was roasted agave hearts. By 1200 BCE, corn was domesticated and a process called nixtamalization, or treatment with lye, was developed to soften corn for grinding and improve its nutritional value. This allowed the creation of tortillas and other kinds of flat breads.[36] The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica had numerous stories about the origin of corn, usually related to being a gift of one or more gods, such as Quetzalcoatl.[37]

The other staple was beans, eaten with corn as a complimentary protein. Despite this, studies of bones have shown problems with the lack of protein in the indigenous diet, as meat was difficult to obtain. Other protein sources included amaranth, domesticated turkey, insects such as grasshoppers and ant larvae, iguanas, and turtle eggs on the coastlines.[38] Vegetables included squash and their seeds; chilacayote; jicama, a kind of sweet potato; and edible flowers, especially those of squash. The chile pepper was used as food, ritual and as medicine.[38]

When the Spanish arrived, the Aztecs had sophisticated agricultural techniques and an abundance of food, which was the base of their economy. It allowed them to expand an empire, bringing in tribute which consisted mostly of foods the Aztecs could not grow themselves.[9] According to Bernardino de Sahagún, the Nahua peoples of central Mexico ate corn, beans, turkey, fish, small game, insects and a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, pulses, seeds, tubers, wild mushrooms, plants and herbs that they collected or cultivated.[39]

Post-conquest[edit]

A reconstructed kitchen at the former monastery of San Miguel, Huejotzingo, Puebla.

Mexican educator Justo Sierra said that "the grocer, not the conquistador, is the real Spanish father of Mexican society.”[15]

After the Conquest, the Spanish introduced a variety of foodstuffs and cooking techniques from Europe. Spanish cooking at that time was already a mixture of ingredients because of eight centuries of Arab influence.[8] The original aim of the introduction was to reproduce their home cuisine, but over time it was incorporated with native ingredients and cooking techniques.[39] Introduced foods included olive oil, rice, onions, garlic, oregano, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, and many other herbs and spices.[8] More importantly, they introduced domesticated animals, such as pigs, cows, chickens, goats and sheep for meat and milk, raising the consumption of protein. Cheese became the most important dairy product.[8][15] The most important cooking technique introduced by the Spanish was frying.[8]

Despite the domination of Spanish culture, Mexican cuisine has maintained its base of corn, beans and chile peppers.[8] One reason for this was the overwhelming population of indigenous people in the earlier colonial period, and the fact that many ingredients for Spanish cooking were not available or very expensive in Mexico. One of the main avenues for the mixing of the two cuisines was in convents. [8]

For example, the Spanish brought rice to Mexico and it has since grown well in Veracruz. New World tomatoes eventually replaced the use of expensive Spanish saffron, as well as other local ingredients.[11] Sugarcane was brought to the country and grew as well, leading to the creation of many kinds of sweets, especially local fruits in syrup. A sugar-based candy craft called alfeñique was adapted, but often with indigenous themes, especially today for Day of the Dead. [40]