Latin America has had a longtime relationship with the United States, and for many decades, Mexico, Cuba, and other Caribbean and Latin American regions have had an influence on American cuisine. This is especially true on the Mexico-Texas border, where Americans and Mexicans have traded ingredients and recipe ideas since the 1800s or possibly even earlier. Today, all sorts of new dishes and ingredients have been concocted thanks to this exchange, and Mexican food has a large presence in the American food industry. In fact, Mexican food is the single most popular ethnic food in the United States, having 42% of all ethnic food sales in that nation (edging out even popular Chinese and Italian food). If someone wants to visit local Mexican restaurants for an authentic taste, what should they look for? There is a distinction between authentic food at Mexican restaurants and authentic Mexican dishes than Tex-Mex. Mexican catering may be either type, but some customers may have a preference.
The Ingredients
It should be noted that while popular, Tex-Mex is not fully authentic Mexican food, even if it is served in many Mexican restaurants across the United States. Rather, this may be considered a sort of fusion food, since it involved beef and wheat, neither of which are a part of the original, authentic Mexican cuisine concept. Rather, Tex-Mex was born in the 1940s when Texan farmers and ranchers met their Mexican neighbors and formed this fusion food with them. By contrast, authentic Mexican food makes use of corn tortillas, cilantro, rice, fish, chicken, white cheese, and similar ingredients. These and other ingredients are believed to come from Mayan native American dishes and cuisine ideas from over 2,000 years ago.
Whether Tex-Mex or something more authentic, Mexican food also has created some of North America’s favorite condiments. Salsa (in all its forms) is the number one condiment in the United States, and it even surpasses ketchup and mayo. Similarly, ever since 2010, tortillas have been outselling hot dog buns, showing just how beloved Mexican ingredients are.
Finding Mexican Restaurants and Catering
An American looking for Mexican food won’t have to wait for long to find it. This is the most popular ethnic food in the nation, and nearly one in 10 restaurants today serves it, more than any other ethnic food type. And this food proves popular for home cooking too, and Americans robustly buy Mexican ingredients at grocery stores and other markets. Many grocers will have an entire section dedicated to Mexican food, ranging from canned beans and re-fried beans to salsa, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and much more. Mexican food is just as popular in the kitchen as it is in the restaurant.
Someone looking for Mexican or other Latin food may narrow down their search to find exactly what they want, since the variety is large. In some cases, casual diners will go out for Tex-Mex, which is a common choice. In other cases, a more upscale customer may refine their search by area and food type, such as “authentic Latin restaurant Miami FL” or “authentic Mexican diner Dallas TX” and find some local results. Some restaurants make more use of traditional Mexican and other Latin dishes rather than the common Tex-Mex, which may be exactly what some customers are looking for. And in states close to the Latin American world, such as Texas or Florida, finding these upscale Latin restaurants may relatively easy.
Catering is also an option as well as Mexican restaurants. Catering of any kind is a great way to feed a larger group of people at events such as a large birthday party, an office party or meeting, a charity sports event, or anything else. Catering restaurants, Mexican ones included, don’t have a location that the customer visits; rather, the chefs prepare the food and then drive it to the customer’s location in trucks or similar vehicles. A person may look up “good Mexican catering near me” or “Mexican food catering for a soccer game” and find a local caterer who is to their liking. Catering involves not only the food (which often lets you make your own dishes), but also drinks, disposable cutlery and plates, and paper napkins too.