This article is part of the Cuisine series Preparation techniques and cooking items Techniques - Utensils Weights and measures Ingredients and types of food Spices and Herbs Sauces - Soups - Desserts Cheese - Pasta - Bread Other ingredients Regional cuisines Asia - Europe - Caribbean South Asian - Latin America Mideast - North America - Africa Other cuisines... See also: Famous chefs - Kitchens - Meals Wikibooks: Cookbook Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and the variety of spices that it has. Mexican gastronomy, in terms of diversity of appealing tastes and textures, is one of the richest in the world in proteins, vitamins, and minerals, though some people characterize it as excessively spicy. When Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (on the ruins of which Mexico City was built), they found that the common people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chilis and herbs, usually complemented with beans and squash. Later on, the conquistadores added to their original diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic, and onions that they brought with them from Spain to the indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico (including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut and turkey). The totopo (cooked in a fire oven corn tortilla) may have been created as part of this cuisine. Most of today's Mexican cuisine is based on pre-hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. Quesadillas, for example, are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (often a Mexican-style soft farmer's cheese such as Queso Fresco), beef, chicken, pork, and so on. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional foods is the chile pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables (among them are the chili peppers, green peppers, chiles, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes) and meats in Mexican food. There is also a sprinkling of Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucatan. The French occupation of Mexico also yielded some influences as well: the bolillo (pronounced bo-lee-yo, with the "o" as in "bore"), a Mexican take on the French roll, certainly seems to reflect this. Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef production and meat dishes; southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. Veracruz-style is a common method of preparing seafood. There are also more exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Maya style, with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, and even some kinds of insects. This is usually known as comida prehispanica (or prehispanic food), and although not very common, is relatively well known. A distinction must be made between truly authentic Mexican food, and the Cal-Mex (Californian-Mexican) and "Tex Mex" (Texan-Mexican) cuisine. Mexican cuisine combines with the cuisine of the southwest United States (which itself has a number of Mexican influences) to form Cal-Mex and Tex-Mex cuisine. Another style of cuisine that is commonly mistaken for Mexican food is New Mexican cuisine, which can be found in, of course, New Mexico, USA. Traditional dishes Enchilada with mole sauce Salsa verde, salsa roja Pico de gallo ("salsa mexicana") Assorted tacos Guacamole Foods that are part of the Mexican culinary tradition include: aguas frescas albóndigas arroz amarillo arroz con camarones arroz con lima arroz con pollo arroz Español (Spanish rice) arroz verde ate atole or champurrado bacanora barbacoa birria bistec picado bolillos burrito cajeta calabasa calabaza camote capirotada carne asada carnitas cecina cemitas sandwiches chapulines and escamoles charales, small fish, basically a type of smelt chicharrón and chicharrones chilaquiles chiles en nogada chiles rellenos chilorio chimichangas chocolate chorizo churipo cochinita pibil cocido cóctel de camarón and other seafood cocktails caldo de queso caldo de pollo (chicken soup), other caldos are made from beef, seafood, etc. coyotas empanadas enchilada (red or green) ensalada de fruta fideo flautas frijoles pintos frijoles negros frijoles charros Refried beans (frijoles refritos) fritadas de camaron gorditas glorias gringas guacamole horchata huevos divorciados huevos motuleños huevos rancheros jamoncillos jicama lengua lentejas longaniza machaca mancha manteles mariscos menudo mezcal michelada milanesa mixiotes mole molletes moronga nopalitos pambazos papas (potatoes) parilladas picadillo pico de gallo platano pollo asado pollo picado pollo rostizado polvorones pozole pulpo(From the Sinaloa Fish Recepies) quesadillas rajas con crema romeritos salsa sopes sopa azteca sopa de pollo sopa tarasca tacos tamales taquitos tepache tequila tortillas tortas (sandwiches) "Tortas de...." Small omelettes similar to egg foo yung patties. tostadas tlacoyos tlayudas venado, particularly in the Yucatan. yuca Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe for Mexican cuisine Search Term: "Mexican_cuisine" Category: Mexican cuisine

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