The American government hordes cheese. It’s an odd deal you may want to investigate, but there are actual stores of processed American cheese, not too unlike Velveeta, in giant government warehouses on the ready to distribute to disaster victims, food banks and welfare recipients. Other governments have been offered this cheese and refused. Ronald Reagan loved the program, with piles equivalent to two pounds per person. But what can be done with this cheese? Why not make queso? Continue reading →
From chili and nachos to fajitas and enchiladas, Tex-Mex could be called the ultimate comfort food. Despite its enormous popularity all over the United States, it’s an understatement to say that Tex-Mex has struggled to get respect as a regional cuisine in its own right, rather than a lower-quality, corrupted version of traditional Mexican food. But with deep roots in both Spanish and Native American culture, the history of Tex-Mex cuisine—and the stories behind some of its most famous dishes—is worth another look.
Native Americans lived in the area that is now Texas for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived in the early 1500s. For more than 300 years after that, Texas (like Mexico) was part of the Spanish colony known as New Spain, and Texas and Mexico remained linked after 1821, when the latter separated itself from Spain. Texas, of course, won its own independence 15 years later, and became part of the United States in 1845. Throughout this complicated history, and in the years since, a number of cultures—and culinary traditions—have been inextricably combined to produce what is known as Tex-Mex cuisine today. Continue reading →
by Steven Doyle
Herrera’s Enchiladas
