Mexican Food

Mexican food has been consumed in the United States ever since the American annexation of Texas in 1845 and the American conquest of California and the Southwest in 1848. Mexican food, such as tamales, enchiladas, beans, and later tacos, were frequently served by street vendors in cities of the Southwest. To make them more appealing to Anglo tastes, Mexican foods were adapted in America. The taco was the staple of Cal-Mex food. Mexican tacos are basically any food rolled, folded, or fried into tortillas that are consumed by hand. The various fillings for tacos include chili sauce, beef (shredded or ground), chicken, pork, chorizo or sausage, egg, tomato, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, onions, and refried beans. Mexican tacos are usually soft-shelled, unlike the U-shaped crisp fried tortillas served in many American Mexican restaurants and fast food outlets.
Although avocados were grown in Florida during the early twentieth century, it was in California that avocado cookery took off. After World War II, corn chips and potato chips were recommended as guacamole dippers, but were soon replaced by corn chips.
The burrito, literally meaning little burro or donkey in Spanish, became irreversibly linked to the tortilla-rolled packages. Burritos entered Mexican-American cuisine in the Southwest around the 1950s and went nationwide a decade later. Many so-called Mexican dishes were concocted to please the American palate. Leftover tortillas could easily be cut up and used to scoop up sauces, beans and other foods. Nachos, for instance, originated in a Mexican border restaurant catering to Americans. They quickly spread throughout Texas, where they were served at a concession stand at the Texas State Fair in Dallas in1964. Within two decades, nachos were served nationwide in stadiums, airports, and fast food establishments.
The success of corn chips can be attributed in part to the related popularity of salsas, which are generally composed of various combinations of chili peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and spices. Salsa has been around since the time of the Aztecs. The first known manufacturer of salsa was Pace Foods of San Antonio, Texas. Dave Pace experimented with bottling salsa in 1947 and finally succeeded in getting the formula right the following year. Pace’s initial market was regional. Other salsa products were produced by Old El Paso and Ortega. During the 1970s, salsa sales skyrocketed and Pace became the largest producer of Mexican sauces. The fresh salsa market exploded during the 1980s and continued to increase during the following decade. By the 1990s, salsa outsold ketchup in the United States. Consumption of these quasi-Mexican products was abetted by the American mania for salty snack food. Fritos, potato chips, Doritos, and tortilla Chips spurred supermarket sales of salsa and spicy dips, which in turn created a core of consumers willing to try more authentic Mexican food.
Thus, another significant type of commercialization was the establishment of Mexican fast food. Several small fast food operators established multi-unit, drive-in outlets near Los Angeles. Small Mexican-American roadside restaurants were often called taco stands. The first Mexican fast food franchise was launched in Downey, California, in 1962 by Glen Bell. Taco Bell quickly expanded around Los Angeles. In 1978, Taco Bell sold out to PepsiCo. Taco Bell had numerous imitators did not stray too far from the traditional American palate. The historian Harvey Levenstein attributes its success to being “no more spicy or un-American tasting than hamburgers.” Still, Taco Bell had to overcome vast distrust and prejudice among consumers against Mexican restaurants and to emphasize that these were American restaurants that happened to serve somewhat Mexican ethnic food; Taco Bell exchanged its symbol of a sleeping Mexican in a sombrero for an innocuous pastel-colored bell. In terms of profit and popularity, tacos and other Mexican foods pale in comparison to pizza and other Italian foods. Other regional chains include Del Taco (Barstow, California), Taco Time, (Eugene, Oregon), Taco John’s (Wyoming), Taco Maker (Ogden, Utah), Taco Casa (Topeka, Kansas), Pepe’s (Chicago), and Pedro’s Fine Mexican Foods (Mississippi).