Immigrants' Food Traditions - Research Paper Example

As we walk across a supermarket in America we realize the impact of immigrants’ food in the United States. The citizens of the USA have easily adjusted to Mexican food habits. This has increased the availability of a wide range of cuisines in American food today. Food represents the culture of a country. Mexican cuisines are basically simple they are easy to cook. As it is cheap and tasty Mexican food is widely accepted by Americans. When Americans refer to Mexican cuisine they usually talk about “Tex-Mex cooking, an extremely popular cuisine that spans the long border between the United States and Mexico.

The food of the south western US state of New Mexico and the dishes of many of the Native American peoples of the southwestern US, employ similar dish names to many Tex – Mex and some Mexican dishes, but use different flavorings and cooking techniques” (Essman para 1). Tex-Max foods are made spicy with the use of chilies, pepper, garlic, onion and other spices. “Beans are a primary starch, along with the flatbread, wheat or corn based, known as tortillas. The corn chip, the tortilla chip, and the piquant tomato dip known as salsa are all Tex-Max inventions, better known in bars and casual restaurants in Minneapolis, Seattle, or Chicago than they are in Mexico City or Guadalajara.

Some other typical Tex-Mex favorites include” (Essman para 5). . It became widely popular among youngsters in 1970s. “The original Tex-Mex hybrid began with a mixture of European Spanish and the Native-American cook ways of the region. When a number of families from the Canary Islands migrated to San Antonio in 1731, they brought a taste for Spanish and North African spices like cumin and cilantro that would differ from those that would become popular in metropolitan Mexico. Some theorists believe that Tex-Mex chili is a descendant of the Moroccan stews that are still today slow-cooked in the distinctive tangine clay oven” (Essman para 3).

“Tex-Mex describes a great American food tradition” (Essman para 1). Tex-Max food varieties are very popular, and they are easily available in United States. It could be described as a typical food which is dominant and ethnic in its quality. It has been integrated with the mainstream eating delicacies of America. Americans have introduced some new cooking styles in the traditional Mexican food. “American variants of Mexican cooking also add prodigious quantities of cheese, either shredded or melted, to nearly every dish, a practice rare in Mexico itself.

The same heavy hand applies to the American use of sauces of all kinds. North of the border portions are larger, plates crammed with dishes that tend to run one into the other. In Mexico, the soft corn tortilla performs the function that bread on the table performs in the United States; it is a side starch. In the United States, tortillas, often fried up to a state of crispiness, become an ingredient in nearly every dish” (Essman para 3). Some Mexican dishes are served in a different style in the United States.

Dishes like “enchiladas, tacos, and tamales are cooked and served differently” (Essman para 2). Mexican food has