A Tale Of Chips And Salsa

Why does the Mexican food in Mexico not taste like Mexican food?

This isn't Mexican food!

I hear this often, especially out of the mouths of people from the United States who can't square their U.S. experience of Mexican food with the food in Mexico. The experience many people from the U.S. and Canada have when eating Mexican food in Mexico can be summed up in the following two assertions:

1. I can't find the Mexican food I'm used to

   1. OK, you must be in the "real" Mexico - somewhere that doesn't cater to tourists from the U.S. and Canada (as an aside, I don't like the term "real" Mexico; it's all real, hermano - just different kinds of reality. But I'm using it here because it illustrates a point and I'm lazy). When you are in this part of Mexico, you won't find the typical fare served at U.S. "Mexican" restaurants like Chevy's, Albertos or El Torito (and do I even have to mention Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Qdoba?). A lot of what the U.S. calls Mexican food is a uniquely U.S. interpretation of a very small subset of Mexico's cuisine: tacos, enchiladas, burritos and the like.

2. This [burrito, taco, chips & salsa, tostada] doesn't look or taste like the ones I'm used to

   1. So yeah, you're probably in a touristy area, and you're wondering why your taco doesn't have cheese on it. Or why the burrito isn't stuffed with 2 dozen different ingredients ("excuse me, my burrito seems to be missing French fries"). Or why you can't find flautas on the menu at all. Or why the chips are so thick and not very crunchy, and the salsa is in a bottle.

The brutal, hard, cold, ugly truth

I'm just going to say it, so brace yourself: that stuff you're eating at Chevy's in downtown Los Angeles? That isn't Mexican food. Here's the deal: "Mexican" food in the U.S. falls into two categories (there are exceptions, btw - but I'm not going to get into things like the true Mexican food found in traditionally Mexican neighborhoods, like Pilsen in Chicago; or fine-dining establishments - these exceptions don't help my thesis, so I'm going to ignore them): California Mexican food, and Tex-Mex (i.e. Texas Mexican food). For its part, I give Texas major props for having the amazing foresight to disambiguate what they are serving by throwing that "Tex-" in there. Tex-Mex is obviously not Mexican food - it's a fusion of Texas and Mexico cuisine. Of course you're not going to go to Mexico and say "give me some of that Tex-Mex y'all are so famous for".

And California Mexican food? Come on, California - couldn't you have taken Texas' lead and called it Cal-Mex? It would have removed so much confusion, because just calling it "Mexican" and then exporting it to every state in the U.S. is the source of all the confusion over what people are eating north of the U.S.-Mexico border vs. south of it.

A plate-by-plate examination of your three favorites

Chips and salsa

Couldn't be more American if you served it in a bald eagle's nest and topped it with apple pie. Chips and salsa is a U.S. invention, full stop. Restaurants in touristy places in Mexico serve it, because their tourist customers expect and demand it. And it tastes different because it is not a dish that Mexicans are accustomed to serving. Seriously, there are better things to do with tortillas than break them up into triangles and deep fry them. This is not saying, however, that I wouldn't eat a whole basket of them given half a chance.

Burritos

Yeah, American. OK - real burritos probably originated in the Mexican border state of Chihuahua. But they are traditionally much smaller than their U.S. cousins - typically consisting of only one or two ingredients. But the burritos that U.S. diners are accustomed to pretty much only share a flour tortilla wrapping with their Mexican counterparts. Burritos in the U.S. tend to be of the "Mission" variety - gigantic rolled tubes invented in the Mission district of San Francisco. But these are no more Mexican than spaghetti.

Tacos

Finally, we get to a true Mexican dish. Tacos are quintessentially Mexican and can be found all over Mexico, not just the border areas. But again, the U.S. has overdone their copies these stalwarts of Mexican breakfasts and late night street food. In Mexico, a taco is usually meat, onion and cilantro served folded in a corn or flour tortilla. Topped with thick and spicy salsa, there is no better eating in the world than a true Mexican taco. Contrast this with the U.S. variation that is typically stuffed with meat, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and (OMG) cheese - UGH! Mexican tacos don't have cheese! JUST STOP WITH THE CHEESE ALREADY!! Yeah, if you’re used to U.S. tacos, the tacos in Mexico will feel pretty alien to you. But dig in, they’re like 5,000 times better in Mexico.

Wrapping up

That's a pun - get it? "Wrapping"? Like burritos are wrapped? Never mind. I'm still just upset about the cheese. Anyway, hopefully this gives you a tiny, sub-atomic particle sized bit of insight into why the food you order in Mexico doesn't conjure up the joys of dining at the local Del Taco in Wichita, Kansas. Not that the food at the local Del Taco is bad (except, it is) - it just isn't Mexican food.