memories of microwaves and paper plates

[NewYorkTexan]

First let me say how much fun it was to meet you at the book signing in Austin followed by beers & nachos.

As far as I could remember growing up in the Northeast, Tex-Mex was never used as a compliment in describing a restaurant. You expected to find Tex-Mex food in airport restaurants, sports bars, etc. Almost always heated in a microwave and served on a paper plate.

Do you see the term “Tex-Mex” losing its negative connotation on a national basis? Is it possible for a restaurant serving good honest Tex-Mex food to thrive outside of Texas

[Robb Walsh]

Tex-Mex is clearly an insult. It was coined to mean bastardized Mexican food.

Texas Mexicans who cooked this style of food eventually embraced the term in a spirit of defiance to the East Coast food snobs and Diana Kennedy fans who were insulting them.

What else could they do?

Like blue jeans, which were once considered too lower class to wear in nice restaurants in the United States, Tex-Mex was embraced in Paris partly because of its outlaw, counter-culture image. And like blue jeans, Tex-Mex got an image makeover in Paris.

It is now the most popular American regional cuisine in the world.

There are Tex-Mex restaurants in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Buenos Aires and even parts of Mexico. Some New York Mexican restaurants are defiantly calling themselves Tex-Mex too.

But I hope Tex-Mex will always be used as an insult by food snobs--that way it will never lose its outlaw image. Kind of like you hope Willie Nelson never pays his taxes.

[esperanza]

What an interesting response you made to NewYorkTexan's question. I live full time in Mexico and have also spent a good bit of time in France with friends who consider themselves to be quite counter-culture, and I'd say that you are dead on the money. My French friends are convinced that Tex-Mex food goes right along with that James Dean-'55 Chevy-Jack Kerouac mentality they love and live by. Your comment about the outlaw image made me laugh. It's so true.

On the other hand, it's sometimes tough to convince people from north of the Rio Bravo (that's the Rio Grande to you Texans) that Mexican cuisine may be a little broader than their preconceptions.

Here in the Central Highlands of Mexico, the food is sometimes puzzling to folks who come to visit who end up whining, "But where can we get real Mexican food? You know, like we eat in Texas (or California, or even at Taco Bell)." There is one place here in town where the food is served complete with black olives, shredded yellow cheese, and sour cream. The restaurant is much patronized by foreigners who believe it to be real-deal top-of-the-line Mexican food. The truth is that this particular restaurant is the only one around that serves what people honestly--and innocently--consider Mexican food to be.

When I try to explain to foreigners that Mexicans generally eat Mexican food at home and that many want something different when they dine out, I get blank looks back. There are plenty of places selling mariscos, tortas, lonches and other mid-day delights. We have lots of late evening hole-in-the-wall places for central Mexican tamales, tacos, pozole, birria, and other cenaduría-type food. Unfortunately, most people from North of the Border are too nervous about coming down with turista to frequent those lower-end places, and the more upscale Mexican restaurants in the city near me are far too unusual for their consideration. Just try to explain cuitlacoche to the person whose mind encompasses only Tex-Mex. What in the heck is that stuff, anyway?

When I go to Texas or California, I'm thrilled to eat authentic North of the Border Tex-Mex food. There's nothing quite like it. But when I'm home, give me honest-to-goodness comida casera, Central Highlands style.

[fifi]

It is now the most popular American regional cuisine in the world.

There are Tex-Mex restaurants in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Buenos Aires and even parts of Mexico. Some New York Mexican restaurants are defiantly calling themselves Tex-Mex too.

But I hope Tex-Mex will always be used as an insult by food snobs--that way it will never lose its outlaw image. Kind of like you hope Willie Nelson never pays his taxes.

I spend time each year in that international hotbed of highbrowed hoohas, The Hague. I generally stay at the seaside resort area, Schevengingen. I know I saw three or more "Mexican" restaurants along the seaside promenade and another one or two along the tram route. I ate at one on the promenade and it is definitely Tex-Mex, or at least their version of it. I read the menus at a couple of the others and they were about the same. It wasn't too bad, if a little bland, and the cheese may have been Gouda, but it was a fairly decent attempt to make what was available into Tex-Mex. All of the places were doing a brisk business.

Some of my fellow Texans that live there are amazed at how widespread it is in Europe.

[Robb Walsh]

In the Tex-Mex Cookbook, I interview Claude Benayoun, who may have been the first person to open a Tex-Mex restaurant in Paris. He credits the cuisine's outlaw image in Paris to the 1986 French movie Betty Blue. The hero, Zorg, a counter-culture writer eats chili con carne and drinks tequila throughout the movie.