Tex-Mex

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Went to a Tex-Mex place last night. It made me wonder the origin of Tex-Mex. So did this style of foods have it's origin before the Civil War? I have some doubts that Civil War soldiers in Texas were eating hard shell tacos, but what about rice with spices?
 
I'll bet they were eating some kind of tortilla--at least those who were closer to the Mexican border. Flat bread has been present in most cultures seemingly forever. I imagine the indians of the area had been making tortillas since before history was written. I don't know when rice became available in the area, but I'll bet those soldiers were familiar with beans and squash, too.

HOWEVER...

Let me add that I'm just chiming in because I like tortillas. My first paragraph was pure speculation.
 
TexMex is a great regional cuisine! It's basically plain American cooking meets Native cooking with a heavy splash of Spanish. The Tejanos, Texan Mexicans, used the tortillas and cooking methods of Mexican Indians, and Native Indians such as Apaches, Comanches and others added chilies, beans, barbecue and other unique ingredients. Rice did appear but not as often as beef (American) and corn (Mexican and Indian) but they did get it in eastern Texas from the Gulf states. There is even a Moroccan influence with the use of cumin and garlic - the Spanish imported a large number of Moroccan laborers in east Texas. Americans also added cheese! The combo platters we see today also originated with TexMex.
 
Fish tacos are a new thing in some areas. However,I would think any people be the Mexican Indians, Native Indians, Spanish or American would add seafood if they lived near the coast, a lake or river. Most any available food source would have been used and fish and other sea food is a real bonus to any people.
 
We shouldn't confuse Tex-Mex with Mexican or even Tejano (Texas Mexican) cuisine. When you think of Tex-Mex think of cheese enchiladas served with American or Cheddar cheese, chile con carne or even chili gravy; crispy tacos; and, as mentioned above, combination platters. This style of cooking came into style in the late 1940s-early 1950s in Texas, and has continued down to the present but with more additions from Tejanos (breakfast tacos, nopalitas, fajitas, barbacoa, tamales, and flour tortillas) and Mexicans (salsa mole, tacos, guacamole, ceviche, frijoles negros, tamales de Oaxaca).

The cuisine in Texas during and before the Civil War was plain old Tejano/Texas Mexican food, not Tex-Mex.

Spoken with love from a Texan who loves his state's cuisine with all his heart...
 
Back
Top