What’s with the surge in restaurants, from other grupos like Filipinos, Chinese, Salvadorian, and other Latin Americans, that advertise Mexican food to their menu? They go as far as add “And Mexican Food” to their logo! Isn’t it hard enough to make authentic food for a respective native country, let alone add a second subgroup of food to the list? Are restaurants attempting to capitalize más feria with Mexican food to their menu? Or has comida mexicana come under attack from its commercial notoriety with the gringos over the years thanks to Taco Bell and Chipotle? Is mainstream America to blame for other culture groups mocking Mexican cuisine, by slapping the food to their meals, like if it was una Hot Pocket, ready in one minute? Or do they really look up to the mexicanos’ food?
Habla Chris
Dear Chris Speaks: Cálmese, mi cabrón. It’s perfectly fine for other groups to sell Mexican food, or combine their meals with ours to make something new—as I’ve written before, if it wasn’t for such mestizaje, we wouldn’t have al pastor (created by Lebanese), tequila (invented with European distillation methods), carne asada (Spaniards), arroz con leche (Moors), cerveza (Germans), pan dulce (French) and Tostilocos (pochos). It’s even perfectly fine for chinitos, gabachos and others to become rich off of Mexican food, as there’s a lot of Mexicans who also get rich—like a pot of tamales, there’s plenty for todos. Where the Mexican has a problem is with restaurants or companies insulting Mexican food—say, saying tamales are a thing of the past ala McDonald’s in promoting a McBurrito in interior Mexico (which is something like trying to sell Chef Boyardee in Milan), or being Chipotle and inviting writers to pen mini-essays on cups and bags…yet not inviting a single Mexican-American writer to participate (if CEO Steve Ells had any huevos, he’d excerpt the works of Chicana chingona Michele Serros, who recently passed away). Besides, can you really blame some of these groups for wanting to draw in customers with Mexican food? Even Salvadorans aren’t so pendejos as to try to make a fortune solely on pupusas, as delicious as they are. So just be proud that—again—when America needs the job done right, they call on Mexicans.
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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.
That was a complex answer. I suspect the simplest explanation is that the other ethnic restaurants have Mexican cooks or even are owned by Mexicans who figure they can pull in a few more pesos by adding Mexican cuisine to their menus. After all it’s the best food in the world, right?
I recall a visit from an old amigo from mi calle en Tucson many anos (no tilde on mi macina de escriber)ago who had been living in Mexico City for years announcing Anglo futbol en espanol por TV. We stop in an Anglo cantina /resturante por la lonche. He orders “La Plata Azule especial”. I cannot describe what it appeared to be. But there was a lot of sour crema y tortillas floras penquenos on the plata. Mi amigo digame, “I have no damn idea what the XXXX this is, but it tastes ok!” The cantina/resturante? CHI CHI’S!!!
Hombre! I shudda known!! It was a new cantina and I didn’t know! And we were in Michigan, I shudda known!