My Scholarship entry - Understanding a Culture through Food
WORLDWIDE | Wednesday, 4 April 2012 | Views [170] | Scholarship Entry
Last weekend I went to visit my family in Mexico and realized quickly that Mexican food is all about improvisation and movement. Mixing and matching red, green, and white foods atop sizzling steak is something you learn to do at a young age. Beans are optional but often necessary accompaniments to most dishes. And sometimes you just gotta add salsa. Spicy, mild, or hot, is up to you. While traditional foods like mole, asado or chile colorado come from a long history of trial and error, dishes like chips and salsa are relatively new additions to the expanding genre of Mexican food.
Many of these dishes derive from indigenous plates that can be traced back to the Aztecs and Mayans. With the arrival of the Spaniards, new foods and toppings such as corn, tomatoes, avocados and even vanilla were introduced to native indians as both a conquering tactic and as an item for trade. Now, with a heavy reliance on these foods (such as the corn used to make tortillas) Mexican meals have incorporated these additions into every day dishes.
Then there’s Taco Bell. With a blasphemous interpretation of Mexican food, some people associate the Dorito flavored taco shells and suspiciously pale ground beef with the food served in the south of the border. These, served alongside “Volcano tacos” and “Soft Taco Supremes” are both strange and intriguing interpretations of Mexican food. They are, after all, options - especially if you're on a budget. Though it is miles away from traditional meals cooked over an open fire long hours, the Taco Bells selling Americanized Mexican food in different cities of Mexico serve as an example of how strong the influence of the west truly is. Even countries that don't border the United States are affected by the massive importation of Burgers and Fries, Pizza or Chicken strips. The clash between these meals and the traditional meals made from inherited recipes of past ancestors is a delicious phenomenon that we are only now beginning to understand.
Tags: Travel Writing Scholarship 2012
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