Mexican food varies by countries too. Mexican cuisine has a strong influence on the cuisine of the southwest United States and in California where they are called “Tex Mex”. There are Mexican restaurants in almost any town throughout the United States and Canada. But those restaurants often use non-traditional ingredients, such as grated American-style cheese, “nacho” cheese or tomato-based sauce instead of Mexican chilli-based sauces.
There are many ways to prepare certain meals. In the north such as Coahuila and Nueva Sonora, the North-eastern Mexicans raise a lot of cattle. Their preferred method of cooking is grilling. Meat was also dried to preserve it. Dried, salted, shredded beef and aged chilli-rubbed cheese are still popular today and used around the world. Their dishes are served with beans mixed with green chilli, chopped tomatoes and sausage. Seafood such as shrimp, shellfish, and smoked marlin are popular too. Wheat flour tortillas are eaten during the meal and for dessert, Quince paste; fruit preserves and candy creams are served.
Baja California is located right by the coastal waters, which has advantage to over 650 different species of marine life. They use these marine lives to make clambake with aromatic herbs. They also like to eat tacos stuffed with steaks and shellfish stuffed chilli peppers are passed around and wine to top off the meal.
The Central Plains, basically the Altiplanos dishes are made with “imported” food. The 12 states that make up the Altiplano are famous for their snacks. Salsa is served as a sauce to fish or they are mixed with cheese, beans and onions for enchilada, soft tacos, and used as a tortilla stuffing for tacos. Salsa is very popular around world, maybe even more popular than ketchup!
The Isthmus including Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca, has a very warm region for its fertile soil. They eat a lot of toasted corn tortillas, fried grass hoppers, string cheese, tamales, red chilli and banana-leaf-wrapped pork and mole. In the Isthmus states, there are several ways to prepare a mole. There’s always a different flavour and colouring depend on the amount of chocolate used. The port is stuffed with fruit and roasted is very popular along with beef tongue with sweet and sour tomato juice. There are many fruit-based desserts and also the ones based on flour, sugar and eggs.
However, all the different variety of Mexican food is portrayed differently depending on where you are located. But one thing that all the regions of Mexico have in common is the mealtimes. The day starts off with breakfast in the morning, you can have coffee, hot chocolate or a specialty drink served with sweet bread of fruit. Later on in the morning, usually between 9 and 12, you would have a brunch, which can consist of an egg or meat dish or any dish composed of fried tortillas. Around 2 and 4 pm, you would eat comida. Comida is considered the main meal of the day which can include several courses such as soup, salad, a main dish and desert. Comida is often served with fruit flavoured water known as aqua fresca. The final meal of the day is cena. Cena can usually just have a hot drink and some bread or it can be a small meal consisting of maybe tacos.
Mexican cuisine is a natural, flavourful, colourful made with seasonal produce, and always fresh. But Mexican cuisine should not be mistaken with North American Mexican-style fast food like Taco Bell. It’s not the same. Spanish influences who have settled in Mexico since the 16th century played a role to create a unique and tasty cuisine. Till this day millions of people around the world enjoy Mexican food every day.
Overall, Mexicans are very proud of their cuisine.
