Opinion: Mexican food Americanized?
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 19:42
Growing up as a Hispanic and living in the border city of El Paso, I've seen my share of Mexican food. Now this does not mean that I am an expert on what good or bad Mexican food is, but I feel it has at least given me an indication of what the difference between authentic and Americanized-Mexican food.
In the almost four years that I've been here at the University of Arizona, I've heard of many places where people like to eat Mexican food. Some include El Charro Café, while some will choose the fast food of Los Betos. Two of the places that I've heard some students talk about are Chipotle Mexican Grill and La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill.
Granted I have never had a meal from these restaurants, but to me it never seemed too appetizing. Just looking at their menu and website has me baffled at how some of this food could be considered Mexican.
Now, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here and say that most, if not all, of the items on the menu are Mexican dishes. But some of the things they add to the dishes are questionable.
For example, one of the choices for meat filling in the tacos is chopped up steak. To me, steak does not seem like the best choice. Sure, some people might like it, but growing up in a city where the Mexican influence was almost everywhere, I never saw chopped up steak in tacos.
Now, even though restaurants like Chipotle and La Salsa serve countless customers daily, there are restaurants out there that actually serve authentic Mexican food.
Los Betos and Rosa's Mexican Food are two places that embrace the Mexican culture in their food. When you first step into either of these restaurants, you are given a sense that you're in a place where you are going to eat quality Mexican food.
Akash Savdharia, a management information system, finance and operations management junior at the University of Arizona, said that Chipotle is more Americanized and doesn't give you the satisfaction of authentic gourmet Mexican food. He added that he wants to walk into a restaurant and feel like he's in Mexico. Other restaurants provide him with that experience but places like Chipotle and La Salsa don't he said.
Perhaps the biggest problem I see with authentic Mexican food and Americanized-Mexican food is the appeal interest. Restaurants like Chipotle are franchises that have restaurants all over the country. They have to appeal to the mass audience. And the mass audience is Americans.
They see what we like and have to somehow come up with a way to get us to eat their food. As we try the food, we get hooked on it and keep coming back for more. There are people out there that probably say that their favorite place to eat Mexican food is places like these franchises.
But we are not at fault for calling places like Chipotle and La Salsa our favorite Mexican restaurants. The point is that we do not know what authentic Mexican food is. Chances are if you do not live near the United States-Mexico border, you probably do not know authentic Mexico food is.
The bottom line is the mass audience is fed with things we like in order to get us to try their product. Businesses have been doing this for long time, but it was just a matter of time until they started invading the food industry.
And now Americanized-Mexican food is starting to take over authentic Mexican food.
Written by Christopher J. Valverde You are reading Opinion: Mexican food Americanized? articles
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