Tex-Mex and Traditional Mexican food have their own history and flavors. What are the differences? Read today’s blog to learn more.
Traditional Mexican food has a long history. Mexican food has been thought to have derived from Mayan Indians. The Mayan Indians ate corn tortillas with bean past. In the 1300’s the Mayan Indians expanded their food to using: chili peppers, honey, salt, and chocolate. The next change came in 1521 when Spain invaded Mexico. They brought other foods, such as new livestock, new herbs, and spices. Traditional Mexican food continued to have grown in variety to what we see today.
Tex-Mex has an interesting history. The abbreviation, Tex-Mex came from Texas Mexican railroad. This abbreviation came about to describe the people who lived in Texas. Like most of the U.S. Native Americans lived in Texas for thousands of years. The European settlers came in the 1500’s and declared Texas as part of New Spain. In 1845 Texas became a state in the U.S.. Texas has a unique culture and many subcultures due to the different settlers. The mixing of cultures gave a new mix of cuisine known today as Tex-Mex.
Tex-Mex has grown further out from Texas to the rest of the country. This style of cooking is a whole different category of food than traditional Mexican cuisine with distinct differences. The key difference between the two styles of food are the ingredients. Tex-Mex food uses, beef, yellow cheese, wheat flour, black beans, caned vegetables and cumin. These ingredients are harder to find in Mexico therefor not used in traditional Mexican food. Out of the ingredients used in Tex-Mex cumin is the most interesting. Cumin is a spice that came from India. Tex-Mex has a lot of different culture’s food mixed in to create the unique style of food, separate from traditional Mexican food.
Prior to writing this blog I did not know the history of traditional Mexican food or Tex-Mex. The history of the two styles of food are interesting to me but also came to no surprise. I imagine that most food groups have changed and grown with people. People have found new ingredients to add with a growing plait. Food can also change when new cultures are introduced such as Spain’s food culture and India’s food culture. I do wonder the history of other food styles.
Living in the U.S. I have been mostly exposed to Tex-Mex food. Most of the restaurants I have been to with this style of food claim to be Mexican food. However After learning the difference in ingredients between the two styles I have come to relies that I have been mostly eating Tex-Mex. I enjoy elements of both though. I do like flour tortillas but I also like corn tortillas. Both styles are unique and delicious, I have enjoyed learning more and I hope you have learned some too!What’s the Scoop?
We came together as a six-pack of marketing majors with a passion for food. What better way to find others like us than creating an interactive site for other foodies? On Food Friendzy, we are a circle of friends who like to eat. By exploring our site you can find our favorite mouth watering recipes, raving restaurant reviews, and feel the heat of our spicy blogs.
Each week will have a different cuisine theme, featuring some global favorites. This coming week we will kick off with Mex-cellent dishes… Who doesn’t love tequila and tacos?
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