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Southwestern Cooking
The Old New Spicy Cuisine
Southwestern cooking is directly influenced by Mexican cuisine because of the area's proximity to Mexico. Some call this cuisine Mexican American, where new culinary creations such as the fish tacos of California, the chile con carne of Texas, and the chile verde of New Mexico. Other people have coined the new versions of southwestern cooking as, respectively, Cal-Mex, Tex-Mex, and New Mex-Mex. With the New Mex-Mex cooking, the use of chiles as a vegetable in sauces, rather than as a spice or condiment, as is the case with the other kinds. The cooking of early Californians from Mexico, or Californios, helped lay the foundation of early southwest food. These Californios were Indians from Mexico, and generally had no Spanish ancestry. The first records of cooking from these people was not published until the end of the 19th century. There is another type of southwest cuisine that is making history as a new cuisine. And that type of cooking stems from the innovations of today's chefs. More new cooking ideas are coming out of the Southwest today than any other region of the United States. The beginning of spicy cooking in the Southwest is dated by the arrival of the chile in the late 16th century. The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico were introduced to the chile by Spanish explorers, who gave them some seeds to plant as a symbol of goodwill. Interesting characteristics that make Southwest cooking different from all other cuisines is that it has evolved, in a nontraditional way, among a rich society of Americans from many different places. This cooking is not based on staple, seasonal, or traditional ingredients or methods. Home cooking in the Southwest tends to have international characteristics, but with the use of lots of chiles. The influences of Southwest cooking are Mexican, Cajun, and Caribbean, but most likely other influences will make themselves felt as the population of this area grows.
Leave Southwestern Cooking For Other Spicy Cuisines
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