Tex-Mex Vs. Authentic Mexican Food

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Tex-Mex vs Authentic Mexican FoodBy: Quentin Gray Mexican food dates way back. People believe that authentic Mexican food might have been from the Mayan indians, in Mexico or around that region. Corn tortillas with a bean layer was a common food item and is today. The Mayans started to use salt, chili peppers, and honey in their food once the Aztec empire started to thrive. Then even more food started to be introduced when Spain invaded Mexico, in 1521. The new ingredients from the Spanish food influenced most Mexican dishes to this very day. The Spanish introduced them to pigs, sheep, cows and some other livestocks. Also the Spanish gave them garlic, dairy products, such as cheese, wheat, and many different …show more content…

They also used the method of steaming. They would put meat wrapped in banana leaves and put it over boiling water in a deep pit. Tex-mex cuisine has been part of Texan culture, and later the whole United states, since the 1800’s. Also Tex-Mex ties closely to Texas’s history. Because Texas was part of Mexico until 1836, Texas had original Mexican dishes. When Texas became part of the U.S.A, in 1845, the ingredients started to get replaced with English or/and American ingredients such as corn, beef, cheddar cheese, wheat, and etc. Once the ingredients were replaced, the new recipes started to enter restaurants and gained popularity across the United States as Mexican food. Even though Tex-Mex and authentic Mexican can seem really different, they actually have some similarities. For an example, Mexican and Tex-Mex both use meat in most of their dishes. Even though they use different kinds of meat, both kinds of many dishes have meat. Also both use, the tasty, cheese in the ingredients. Another similarity between the two is that some dishes of the the two use tortillas. …show more content…

For an example, both styles of dishes use meat but Tex -Mex uses mainly beef. On the other hand, authentic Mexican food uses more of pork, chicken, and fish than beef. This is because beef cattle, or cows that are used for their meat, are more scarce in Central America than North America. Another major difference between these interesting food styles is that Tex-Mex tortillas are made from wheat instead of corn or maize like authentic Mexican food. For a third difference is that authentic mexican food acquires white cheese or also known as queso. Tex-Mex cheese is yellow. This is because yellow cheese has an additive called annatto, which is a natural plant-based color from a South American plant. This also is why yellow cheese contains more fat. Believe it or not, there is some restaurants with these styles of food in our community. Yes, not just Texas. Tex-Mex restaurants in our community include Taco Bell (a fast food-Tex-Mex restaurant), Moe’s Southwest Grill (people categorize this restaurant as a fast-casual Tex-Mex restaurant.), and another Tex-Mex restaurant in the area of Indiana is Chili’s which is down in Greenwood, Indiana. Chili’s is a American,

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