International Mexican Restaurants

Mexican Food has spread to almost all corners of the world. There is a constant trend that as the demand for traditional food making decreases in Mexico, it increases in other countries miles away. Owners of restaurants like El Sombrero in Stockholm had to “recreate a small tortilla factory” (Pilcher 169). This is evidence that many places around the world want to give their customers an authentic Mexican experience outside of Mexico. While this may sound exciting, this could be hurtful to the many Mexicans who are forced to witness other embarrassing the culture and traditions that they were forced from in their homelands.  Further, hence being far from Mexico, chefs are forced to substitute the ingredients. For example, a chef working in Paris, Earlene Ridge, has to travel to Algerian markets to obtain jalapeño-like pepper along with cumin seasoning and pinto beans (169). This theme is similar to an earlier post where people, like Selma Hayek, try their best to find ingredients that similar to those found in Mexico. It is evident that in the future restaurants across the globe will strive to preserve the Mexican food traditions that the Mexican culture has continued to reject. Specifically, this behavior is aimed at modernizing the indigenous people of Mexico, by urging them to consume more processed as a result of the NAFTA trade agreement. In upcoming posts, stay tuned to find out more about the effects of NAFTA, with Alyshia Galvez’s phenomenal book, Eating NAFTA. 

Work Cited:

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. Planet Taco: a Global History of Mexican Food. Oxford University Press, 2017. p. 169