The Rising Ubiquity of Mexican Cuisine in the American Food Scene

Mexican Cuisine
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A native of Santa Barbara, CA, James P. Knell entered the real estate industry in the 1970s, initially acquiring numerous residential properties in Santa Barbara area, the Pacific Northwest, and the southeastern United States. In 1984, he founded SIMA Corporation to manage and redevelop these acquired properties. An avid traveler who considers Mexico among his favorite destinations, James P. Knell has developed a taste for Mexican cuisine.

Although described by Anthony Bourdain as undervalued, Mexican food has become a ubiquitous presence in the American food scene. In fact, it is currently one of the most famous cuisines in the United States. But just how famous is it, really?

The Washington Post reports that there are at least 40,000 Mexican restaurants in the country – almost the same number as that of Chinese restaurants. Moreover, a 2015 survey by the National Restaurant Association found that out of 1,000 respondents, at least half of them eat Mexican food at least once a month.

The National Restaurant Association also found that in the Western United States, where a large majority of the population has Mexican heritage, 62 percent of the respondents claim that they eat Mexican food at least once a month. On the other hand, Americans in the northeast where the Mexican heritage isn’t so pronounced, a respectable 36 percent still claim to eat Mexican food regularly.

Moreover, there are signs that the Mexican food habit has become more ingrained in the eating habits of Americans. The same National Restaurant Association survey found that among respondents ages 44 years old and below, a greater percentage prepared Mexican food at home compared to those who ate out in restaurants.

The Origin of Tex-Mex Cuisine

Tex-Mex Cuisine
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An experienced business executive, Jim Knell received his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology, Sociology, and English from the University of California Santa Barbara. An avid traveler, Jim Knell has traveled to Mexico and enjoys dining on Mexican fare.

Mexican cuisine is known worldwide for its distinctive taste, and Americans love it. In fact, there are over 38,000 Mexican-inspired restaurants across the US as of 2011. However, no matter how popular Mexican food is in the US, there’s little chance that what Americans are eating is authentic Mexican but instead, a fusion cuisine known as Tex-Mex.

How did this cuisine come to be? The history goes all the way back to America’s early years when Anglo-American settlers traveling west arrived at what is now known as Texas and stumbled upon Mexican cuisine. As more people settled in Texas, the demand for Mexican food grew and soon enough, people started experimenting with dishes, adding ingredients readily available in the Texan landscape such as beef and wheat flour. Mexican restaurant owners caught up with the trend and also started adding beef to enchiladas, thus giving birth to Tex-Mex.

Despite the long history, the term Tex-Mex only started appearing in print in the 1940s. By the 1970s, it was a household name largely thanks to food writers such as Diana Kennedy

The Complex, Diverse Mole Sauces of Oaxaca

Mole Sauces of Oaxaca
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Based in Santa Barbara, Jim Knell leads the SIMA umbrella of companies as chairman and pursues real estate investment and property management strategies spanning the country. He enjoys surfing in his free time and has traveled along the Mexican coast on numerous occasions. Jim Knell has a particular affinity for Mexican dishes, one which extends well beyond the tacos and burritos that are so familiar to many Americans.

Known as Mexico’s “culinary center,” coastal Oaxaca is a rugged region that was traditionally resistant to Spanish colonialism and to this day retains many elements of its indigenous culture, from unique languages to a variety of complex mole sauces. These sauces are made through a combination of seeds, chiles, chocolate, and spices that are ground and toasted.

Two basic types of mole are negro and rojo, with the former incorporating chocolate and roasted chiles, as well as cinnamon, onion, garlic, and cloves. Seeds used in the sauce include sesame and pumpkin. The mole rojo, or poblano, gets its reddish hue from a higher proportion of chiles, as well as the addition of raisins for sweetness.

Mole coloradito features guajillo chiles and chipotle, as well as mashed plantains, as its key ingredients, while mole verde is packed with tomatillos, jalapenos, and cilantro. The mole chichilo has a distinct corn flavor, as it features maize flour paired with chiles and avocado leaves.