My Story
My Tex-Mex food experience is mainly what I have eaten in restaurants, and many “hole in the wall” places in California and areas in the Southwest; specifically: Arizona, Texas, Utah, and New Mexico. Most of the Mexican-influenced food I make is, in fact, Tex-Mex.
Cuisine is a label applied to food that has a particular style, method of cooking, or that is characteristic of a particular country, region, or establishment. Tex-Mex is a cuisine that sprouted from what is now Texas and Northern Mexico, made up from foods mixing indigenous Mexican, Native Peoples, and immigrant American‘s ingredients, spices, and herbs.
Tex-Mex Food
Wikipedia defines Tex-Mex Cuisine as an American regional cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejano people of Texas. To me this cuisine started during the Spanish Mission time period in Texas (~1493), and now reflects a unique mix of Native Mexican, Spanish, and American foods.
- Tejano people are: Texans of Mexican descent
To Americans, Tex-Mex is considered often, and confusingly, as Mexican food. This has been reinforced by the food served in regional and national Mexican restaurants. Tex-Mex food contains some similar ingredients, and even has similar looks in some cases, to actual Mexican cuisine, but the cuisines are different from each other and should be identified as separate cuisines.
To be clear, this is not about Mexican food, but about Tex-Mex.
History of the Food
Tex-Mex is grounded in the creation of Texas as a state of the USA.
- Spain invaded Mexico in 1519 and set up colonies all over Mexico, which included what is now Texas.
- Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821.
- Finally, Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836 and a state of USA in 1845.
- CultureTrip writes that Tex-Mex was first used as an abbreviated name for the Texas Mexican Railway that began operating in South Texas in 1877.
- Further, they note that: In 1972, English author Diana Kennedy wrote a Mexican cookbook where she called Texas’ Mexican food unauthentic. She referred to it as Tex-Mex and popularized the term. While she meant it negatively, this categorization actually gave the cuisine legitimacy in the US.
As a result of this history, Texas, with its strong influence of Mexican and Spanish foods, becomes the creator of Tex-Mex Cuisine.
Tex-Mex Vs Mexican Cuisine
To me the main difference is noticeable from the very start of cooking; difference shows up in the approaches to food. Americans understand Mexican food to be cheap, fatty, and filling fast food; while all the people I have met from Mexico see food as priceless traditions, fresh, stomach-filling “labors of love”.
The second major difference is that Tex-Mex has no regional variations. It is one cuisine, unlike Mexican food which has dramatic regional differences.
But there are some quick ways to tell the two apart.
- Texas is known as cow country, so its foods are heavy with beef; Mexico is not. If the meal has beef, it is Tex-Mex.
- Mexico’s base staple is corn, whereas the USA’s base crop was corn + wheat. Thus, flour tortillas is Tex-Mex.
- If the corn tortillas are fried in oil and crispy it is Tex-Mex.
- Yellow cheese (Cheddar, American cheese or Velveeta) is Tex-Mex, for Mexican cheese is white in all its major forms.
- If it has lots of cumin (a Spanish spice) it is most likely Tex-Mex, as cumin is not used much in central and southern Mexico.
I personally like both foods and find the Tex-Mex Cuisine now very much American comfort food that is even well liked by children. (Who can be VERY picky eaters.)
What are Tex-Mex Dishes
I wrote above that Americans consider Tex-Mex food as authentically Mexican, please gently remind them that they are wrong. It really is a culinary shame to misunderstand these two different cuisines.
To provide a very clear picture of this misunderstanding, just look at what dishes are NOT Mexican food:
- Any dish with Beef is Tex-Mex, Mexican cuisine favors turkey, chicken, pork, or seafood.
- Beef Chili and Chili con carne are Tex-Mex.
- Black beans and “refried” beans are Tex-Mex.
- A Grilled Green Peppers Salsa and Sweet Corn + Chili Salsa are Tex-Mex.
- The big, fat, filled with ingredients Burritos, a fast food staple, is not considered Mexican either; although a smaller wheat tortillas containing just a few ingredients, is served in the Northern parts of Mexico near the border.
- Chimichanga is a deep-fried burrito that is fattening, and very Tex-Mex.
- In general, corn tortillas are Mexican, flour tortillas Tex-mex.
- Fajitas were created in Texas (1).
- Cabbage is used in Mexican Cuisine these days, but my Tex-Mex Slaw is definitely not Mexican.
- Crispy tortillas is Tex-Mex, the only Mexican dish to come to mind that has crunchy tortillas are flautas (2).
- Nachos, which I do like, are not Mexican.
- The flour tortilla based, cheddar cheese with shredded chicken and topped with salsa quesadillas is a Tex-Mex version.
- A cheese or cream sauce is always Tex-Mex, while a green sauce or mole is Mexican (3).
- Sour cream is not used in Mexico, instead they use a tangy, Crème Fraîche like, crema.
- Taco Bowls, the fried tortilla “bowls” served with a salad inside are Tex-Mex. But I like the taste of the salad, so have a Tex-Mex salad without the tortilla shell, but with crushed tortilla chips.
- Queso dip is Tex-Mex, created in Arkansas.
- Chilaquiles were supposedly developed at Fort Duncan (4).
- My Cornbread Chili casserole dish is Tex-Mex.
- Dried Fish Slaw Tacos are Tex-Mex, fresh fish tacos are Mexican.
- Tacos featuring BBQ Chicken and Shrimp with cheese are tasty and definitely Tex-Mex.
Salutation
As usual, when making broad stroke statements about a country’s cuisine, if I have written something incorrect please let me know. I am open to learning from any mistake and it is my desire to be appreciative and respectful of the world‘s cuisines.
—Patty
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