Immigration and Migration and the Making of a Modern American City

Cultural Influence On The United States

Today we are driving down the street and we see a typical fast food restaurant, Taco Bell. On the menu they have items like nachos, quesadillas, tacos, burritos and an extensive menu of many foods similar to these. We have seen how there are many restaurants with Mexican influenced cuisine, either an authentic Mexican restaurant or a Tex-Mex restaurant. Throughout the years we have witnessed a flow of diverse Latino sub groups. These groups, which consist of countries from Central America and the country Mexico, have introduced their culture and traditions to the United States.

With the range of Mexican and Latino foods that were introduced to the American culture we find some of the more common foods today in chains like Taco Bell. It is not limited to their menu as stated in ¡Que vivan los tamales!, but that ingredients and technique can change. ²⁵ Like Taco Bell many other companies have grown with these different ethnic types of foods. Americans have adapted to it and now it is not only a cultural connection but also more business oriented. In We Are What We Eat by Donna Gabaccia states that by the 1980's Americans were eating fast foods nine times a month spending plenty of money. ²⁶ People of all background were going out to eat and many times a tourist would prefer to go to a chain restaurant like Taco Bell verses a small family owned restaurant. "Eating homogeneous, processed, mass-produced foods is no more, or, less, American enjoying the multi-ethnic mixtures of particular regions." ²⁷

It has grown to be big business today with fast food and processed food companies. Many of the corporate productions are not founded by a Mexican or Salvadorian but by Americans that have Americanized Latino food into a commercial variation of what is known as Tex-Mex. These foods have become what most Americansbelieve to be authentic Mexican or Latino food. It is the demand for these supposed ethnic food that have been Americanized that people want.These leading ethnic foods that have been desired, according the American Frozen Food Institute and AC Nielson Mexican, have been made into frozen entrees that came in second place for the most sold in grocery stores in 2001. ²⁸According to Jean Ford, in the Latino Cuisine and Its Influence on American Foods, demonstrates that there is a process in which the original food have become an Americanized industry. Some of the specific foods that have been commercialized and are found in the frozen food section of a grocery store or in many home freezers are enchiladas, burritos quesadillas, taquitos and chimichangas. ²⁹These food items can be served at restaurants but the demand of people wanting to make them at home has led to the growth of these being read-to-eat items.So now a days people can go to a store and buy one of these Latino influenced items and skip the process of making it at home.

Food is an important factor to history, and teaching students how immigrants have influenced history and how we can relate to the way we perceive things today. The emphasis that food has is important to life and make meaning of it first, is ideal for students to realize we need food to survive. Then making the connection and realizing that there are different foods and that we have many choices when we choose to eat. There is American, Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Mexican and many other types of cuisines. Different immigrants that traveled to this country and shared the cuisine and culture within the United States made these choices for us. Many times these foods were Americanized by using some of the spices but then adding American ingredients and giving it a twist still keeping the principal of the ideal dish but adding something to it or combing it with other foods. For example in Mexico they may just serve some chiles rellenos (stuffed peppers) but here we would combine a dish and serve it alongside with beans, rice and eggs. The important part is appreciating the food and where it originated.

Although we associate with all these types of Latino foods there is more truth to what we call "Mexican food" than what meets the eye or in this case — the mouth. Many of these foods that are made today are processed and tweaked a little to change some features of it. Many Mexican families go to the market and prefer to buy fresh foods and prepare the food more natural. "Mexico gave us tomato and the avocado, it gave us corn and chocolate (an indulgence of the Aztec nobility)." ³⁰ Having these indigenous crops in our markets, came from when agriculturalists would expand into the United States and plant these plantations. ³¹ We are able to experience the fresh ingredients of many different cuisine because they are not only imported to the United States but are also grown here to allow for the American culture to expand and embrace other individual cultures that have had an impact on the American society.

Many restaurants today, serve typical "Mexican food" and do not necessarily need to be labeled as a Mexican restaurant. Some of the foods like burritos, carnitas, huevos rancheros, enchiladas, and rice are almost universally available in restaurants and we do not have to go look for a Mexican restaurant. ³² The idea here though is to value the opportunity to have these foods influenced by the Mexican culture. These foods were made by immigrants that adapted their native cuisines to the ingredients that were available to them so that they could have a little bit of their precious culture with them. As the Mexican cuisine increases throughout the country it has cause for flank steak to double the price that is usually used in fajitas. ³³ So we see the economics behind the cultural food. As demand and popularity of the different dishes increases the price in the supply also increases which shows the impact that the Latino cuisine has.

One ingredient that has been around for a long time and has been used as the base for a majority of the Latino cuisine is corn. Corn is a very important vegetable that the Mexicans brought to U.S. and has become a very big part of our diets. The corn was planted by Native Americans and then was adapted by Mexico and other Central American countries. Corn is also used to make the dough for the tortillas, which is a very important part of a Mexican or Salvadorian meal. Tortillas have also been altered to make other dishes such as pupusas or empanadas. In most Latin American countries it is traditional for all women to know how to make tortillas by hand. Therefore, traditionally making tortillas by hand is a very powerful skill in a Latina women but now there is access to food processing machinery that take from the labor it takes to make the tortilla. ³⁴Many times we can see that tortillas does not require a specialized individual to make these but can be produced in large quantities for the needs of tortillas either for purchase at the grocery store or restaurants.

Our ultimate focus is for the students to understand that Latino food has not always been present in the cuisines of the country. Before the American government would try to make sure that the Latino immigrants were taught to be as Americanized as any other American that had be born and raised in the United States. However, over the passage of time the influence of the Latino cuisine has been more and more present. Today in the United States we are able to see how there has been influence of what Mexican food is by the marketing. However, not all food that sounds Spanish is "Mexican food". There are many differences in cuisines between the multiple Latino subgroups. "In the Southwest, Americans who traveled there both before and after the region was annexed to the United States expressed interest and amazement at the Mexican food they discovered." ³⁵

Overall the Latino population takes pride in cooking and making food at home. Cooking a typical dish at home with the spices and fresh vegetables creates a tasty meal for any family. Like "in Mexico, the hungrier the cook, the tastier the food." ³⁶ Our students will see the appreciation for food and how history has shaped the way we see "Mexican food".