The Popularity of Mexican Cuisine in the United States - Book Report/Review Example

TACO USA Question Food is an important aspect of any given community or society. Essentially, Gustavo Arellano fully demonstrates this in his book. The text primarily addresses the integration of Mexican foods into the American communities. For decades, the variety of foods in the American markets has kept changing. In this process, one social setting stands above all others, the Mexican society. As early as the 1800s, Mexican foods have already found their way into the United States (Arellano 163). In this respect, Mexico has been an influential society as far as American foods are concerned. The author demonstrates how Mexican food culture became a key part of the American way of life in relation to recipes. In other words, Mexico has had all sorts of influence on the America food culture. Arellano’s book explores a historical evolution of foods in the United States. To aid this exploration, the origin and the present day aspects of Mexican food come in handy. Today, taco is the most common meal among many different American bellies. Notably, Mexico has all and everything to do with this taco business. From the introduction of tortillas to the massive consumption of taco, Mexican influence on this trend has been enormous. In this respect, Arellano employs personal experiences, social observations, and anecdotes to describe how America was conquered by Mexican food. To do this, Arellano uses progressive chapters that continuously dig deeper into the integration of Mexican food in America. Question 2 There is no doubt the author believes there is authentic Mexican food. In light of the arguments made in the book, the author promotes the idea of authenticity of Mexican food. It is noted, however, that not all foods purported to be Mexican are authentic. From burritos, to tamales, to chilies, to salsa, to enchilada, and finally the tortilla and the taco, the author describes the originality of Mexican food, thus ascertaining the food’s authenticity (Arellano 29-215). Moreover, the text notes of slight differences that many different people and restaurants introduced in the name of authentic Mexican food. While the author is not in support of these “authentic” dishes, Arellano acknowledge that there is authentic Mexican food. A critical factor to the incarnations of Mexican food was the massive immigration of Mexicans to America. Given this move came after the year 1965 (Arellano 157), the authenticity of Mexican food is not challenged. In light of the fact that Mexican food hit the American society from as early as the 1800s, it is plausible to contend that there could be alterations to the authenticity of Mexican food, but this does not reverse the fact that there is authentic Mexican food amid such alterations. In some parts of the book, the author describes properties of authentic Mexican food. For example, Arellano describes Doritos as flavored in a unique Mexican style while Fritos carry the property of being heavy (211). This argument stems out of a business contest between a number of restaurants and companies that try to present themselves as the most authentic in the Mexican food context. The text presents this contention as a mere realization of business difference, but the uniqueness and authenticity of Mexican food, by any chance, is not jeopardized. Question 3 The future of Mexican food in the United States is highly dynamic. In light of past and present trends, the author foresees major changes to come. This is only in terms of Mexicans’ influence on American foods, but also in consumption, food evolution, and food-related business. As the situation stands, much have taken place in the Mexican-American food context. Most of Mexican food has been Americanized in almost every aspect. The author notes that the steps of making tortillas were repeated very time tortillas had to be made (Arellano 199). However, this has changed and will continue to change as time goes by. Mexican food that was once primarily made at home has now become a lucrative business factor. “Tortillas now sell in the billions of dollars” (Arellano 199). This trend will undoubtedly continue to the future. What Arellano oversees here is a changing cultural approach to food in the American context. Traditional Mexicans still make the tortillas just like their ancestors used to. On its part, the American society is highly diverse and dynamic. In the process of this realization, Americans have moved swiftly to make their lives and food culture easy to deal with. Almost every aspect of majority American life is technology and business-driven. In the fall of change and dynamism, Mexicans have not been left behind either. The author notes that most Mexican families buy tortillas the same way Americans do in the United States unless they are from rancho (Arellano 199). What this statement signifies is that times are changing as far as Mexican food is concerned. In future, Mexican foods are highly likely to retain their originality and influence across United States, but the changing nature of food culture is inevitable. The influence of Mexican food could remain substantial in the United States, but the future presents a highly probable fading trend. Mexican food, in the contemporary American setting, has hit an explosive peak. What this means is that there are many different choices of Mexican food in America. In light of this realization, what has followed is a wave of transformation, evolution, and change. On the same note, there is a massive move from individual to commercialization of the production of Mexican food. Today, almost every grocery store in America sells ready-made Mexican food. What the future holds for Mexican food is continued dilution of Mexican food culture as United States population strives to Americanize every aspect of Mexican food. According to Arellano, the popularization of chili towards the end of the nineteenth century did not take Mexicans living across United States (256). In the same manner, Mexicans will continuously have less and less say as their food moves into the next level on the time scale; the future. Question 4 At the height of Mexican food’s influence across America, Tex-Mex food came to the limelight. The interesting aspect about Tex-Mex food is that there are critical issues in relation to how this food came to be. As the name suggests, the origin of this cuisine is blend of Mexican and Texan cuisines. Texas-based Mexicans and Americans came up with the Tex-Mex food at the height of integrating Mexican food into the Texan community of the United States. Inhabitants of Texas, both Mexicans and Texans, used a blend of Mexican ingredients and those available locally to improve this type of cuisine. In the process of developing Tex-Mex food, critical problems and issues emerged with regard to the authenticity of this food. The history of Tex-Mex food is rich, diverse, and dynamic in the context of Mexican food. For intellectual Mexicans, Tex-Mex food was considered peasant food (Arellano 134). On the contrary, this food took over Texas by a storm. What this shows is that the history of Tex-Mex food was marred by mixed perceptions, and its integration into the American community was characterized by diverse and ever changing reactions. Amid this, the notable commonality is that the Mexican factor was a critical force behind the realization of Tex-Mex food. The relationship between Tex-Mex food and Mexican food is fundamentally close. This is accordance to Arellano’s arguments on just how the Tex-Mex type of food was developed. In particular, the author notes how Mexican food was set on the process of becoming Tex-Mex food (Arellano 129). Tex-Mex food, therefore, was inspired by Mexican food. The underlying relationship in this case cuts across the ingredients and the process used to prepare Mexican food. Tex-Mex food developed from the localization of Mexican food in Texas, as well as the integration of even more ingredients to the basket of primarily Mexican food. The regionalization of Mexican and Tex-Mex food further accelerated the underlying differentials between the two types of foods. This, as the author describes, became a wave of problems and issues that revolved around Tex-Mex and Mexican food. On one side, the authenticity of Mexican food was questioned in the context of Mexican food, while on the other side the authenticity of Tex-Mex food was questioned in the context of Mexican food. This became a cold war kind of battle between the cuisines therein. In light of the text, Tex-Mex food presents many different inventions that primarily capitalized on Mexican cuisines. The author of the book notes that Tex-Mex food resulted in a struggle for authenticity and originality between Mexican and Tex-Mex foods at a time when Mexican food options are unlimited (Arellano 135). Competition for supremacy, therefore characterizes Tex-Mex and Mexican foods. The common denominator, however, is that the links, connections, and relationships between the two are undoubtedly existent. In this respect, Arellano contends that battles between the two types of foods are inevitable. However, the already existing unlimited options with regard to Mexican food are critical to account for. Works Cited Arellano, Gustavo. Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012. Print. Read More