Do Mexicans eat 'mexican' food?!
And, based on what they do eat, how different is Taco Bell from real Mexican food?
Answers: I can go to many mexican restaurants, and think that if I see mexicans there, then it must be authentic. Is it? I imagine there are impostors...Taco Bell, Don Pablos, etc. But El Potro has lots of Mexicans there.
And, based on what they do eat, how different is Taco Bell from real Mexican food?
I live on the Texas-Mexico border so Mexican food is something we know around here. Years ago before the first Taco Bell came to town, I had a disdain for the concept of Taco Bell because they used pre-fabricated taco shells. Heresy! Authentic Mexican food will fry their own from scratch, rolling their own tortillas or that they've purchased from a tortilla factory and deep-fried to make the shells for tacos, chalupas, and chips. And it is authentic to ask for white flour tortillas to wrap around the outside of your fried corn tortilla taco shell to prevent all the crumbling and dripping. Try it sometime if you haven't done this before.
But then I moved to a town where they had a Taco Bell and I started eating there more often because the food tasted good and I needed my occasional "Taco Fix", having grown up eating Mexican Food often (not every day, but often enough). Now I don't mind Taco Bell at all, but I don't consider this to be "authentic" Mexican food. It's fast food done with a Mexican theme.
The food of Northern Mexico is different than the food of Southern Mexico. Many aspects of it are the same, but other aspects are different. One of the things I always look to are how they make their salsa. Is it thin and watery? Does it taste more like barbeque sauce? Did it come from a jar? Or was it made from scratch? So many different ways to fix this but it is usually the first thing you are served (along with chips) when you sit down at the table and are being waited on by a waitress or waiter. So look to the salsa as a sign of authentic.
Taquerilas done cafeteria style are popular with a lot of Hispanics with a taste for authentic Mexican food. If you are a purist, I don't think any fast food chain restaurant in the United States could be said to be serving "authentic" Mexican food, particularly if it is set up more like a McDonalds, Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, etc. I ate a fast food restaurant in Acapulco called AcaTaco and it was fabulous...but that was IN Mexico so one might call it "authentic".
When I think of "authentic", I do look for traditional Mexican spices and flavors like ancho chili pepper, adobo, onion, garlic, oregano, and cilantro.
Also if they cook with LARD...sad to say, but it is true...that adds a lot of flavor and comes closer to tasting "authentic" as I have known it. The taste of their frijoles / refried beans is also a good test. Too many frijole concoctions lack real flavor but if it tastes rich and deep, then they probably used lard in the preparation and that is authentic.
If they serve good Cabrito (roasted goat), that's a good sign they are authentic as this is more rare outside of Mexico and goat meat may be hard to come by. If you've not tried Cabrito, I recommend it as it can be very good if it is not too fatty. Looks like chicken, tastes more like pork.
But your rule of thumb in seeing if there are numerous Mexicans eating at the restaurant as a test of authenticity, is generally a good one. If you don't have a lot of variety in town when it comes to Mexican food restaurants, though...then they may be there out of having little to no other choice.
I once belonged to a fun group called the "Find a Better Mexican Food Restaurnat Club" in New York City. We were all transplanted Texans who grew up with a taste and later a yen for good Mexican food and perceived ourselves to be better connoiseurs for this than the average New Yorker. So we took turns once a month picking different Mexican food restaurants we had discovered and introduced the rest of the group to our "find". It was fun trying different places but in general, just trust your own palate. If you've not been to Mexico and tasted authentic, I recommend vacationing there and honing your palate that way.
Regarding other things you might try...
I also discovered Baja California cuisine when I was living on the West Coast and thought it really, really tastey. This is "Fresh Mex", sometimes called "HeathMex" using more fresh ingredients and healthier preparations that include things like fish tacos with a white sauce or whole wheat tortillas and minus all the lard. You might think healthier meant less flavor but no...the freshness made the flavors really pop. I don't know where you live, but one chain I had the Jones for was Rubio's FreshMex Grill. Here's a link:
http://www.rubios.com/menu/
This may not be "authentic", but it's still Mexican food of a different variety and tastes great. Hope this helps!
The Mexicans in our community eat Chinese food.
I'm serious; there is an all-you-can eat buffet that is pretty inexpensive and every time I go there it is full of Mexicans.
Taco Bell is Mexican "junk food". Some of the dishes are adapted to make them easier to eat as finger food and take-out. For instance, in a traditional Mexican restaurant, a burrito would be covered with cheese sauce and/or chili gravy to be eaten with a fork.
Things like chili con queso and even fajitas are more Tex-Mex (or maybe regional?) than "authentic Mexican". The reason I say that is because the older authentic Mexican restaurants didn't use to have them (I think Ninfa's in Houston may have either invented them or have been one of the first restaurants to serve them.) Also, one time I asked for queso (meaning cheese dip) at a Mexican restaurant in Juarez, and they had a puzzled look on their face and brought me grated cheese.
Latinos in general take mejor pride in there foods and culture, so it is true you will catch mexicans at a mexican rest. i feel alot of my border brothers are a lil' affraid to go off and try something new and most men in our culture will be so full of pride that they wont, but most of these are the older generation. The " mashismo" in our men take over and become somewhat ignorant to everything else, but then again there are mexican like myself who like all foods over mexican food.. i love me a good steak and burgers...LOL!!! Not that mexican food isnt awesome but man we got to evolve.. and who the hell doesnt like a good chaluopp from taco bell... LOL!
P.S Mexicans do love chinese...LOL you go to mexico and there is tons of chinese rest. but no chinese people...LOL!!
"Real" Mexican food is as widely varied as American Food.
Their regions are every bit as diverse, different and interesting as ours are.
Taco Bell and authentic Mexican Home Cooking? ... Well, they use carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. That's about as close as you're going to get.
The meats are different, ditto the spices, tortillas, cheese, arrangement, presentation, taste... all different.
It's like someone showed a picture of mexican food to a martian and had them duplicate it based on the picture alone.
just because u see mexicans in a resturaunt doesn't mean it is authentic mexican food.and taco bell isn't even close to authentic mexican food,trust me i kno cuz im half mexican.
That's like asking do Americans eat 'American' food. When driving around the USA you don't see resturants saying American food if they sell hamburgers. When in Mexico (and probably anywhere else) you see signs that say comida china (Chinese food) comida americano (American food), to let people know what kind of food is being sold there. So yeah if a place in American sells carne asada, chorizo, and tacos you will define it as Mexican if they sell noodles and orange chicken it's Chinese/Asian. And believe me just because you see a certain race eating somewhere doesn't make it 'authentic' it's probably just good.
Taco Bell is just the idea of Mexican food Americanized, one more thing there are no Chalupas and Gorditas in 'Mexican' food.
More importantly, what sort of people eat 'fast' food?
Generally, you can tell how authentically mexican a place is by looking at the drink selection. If you see things like JuMex, Tamarindo flavored pop, or 'Orange Bang', then it's probably authentic.
Taco bell is FAR from being mexican food.
My hubby is mexican...we eat taco bell if we are STARVING and on the road, and don't have money to buy anything better.
Most of the mexican restaurants...even the ones you see mexicans at...are not quite authentic. They take shortcuts to make mexican dishes quickly. Mexican food takes a pretty good amount of preparation.
It is hard to say. I would say that if you walk into a restaurant that offers "Taquitos al pastor, pozole (with all the condiments), Tamales (in corn husks, in banana leaves, and sweet tamales), and menudo" on their menu, I'd say you may have fallen upon an authentic mex restaurant.
Yes they eat Mexican food, and a wide range of other foods--especially if they live in the US. This theory doesn't work every time but is an effective gauge, I've used it myself! Though, it may not neccesarily mean the food is authentic, but that it is close enough and tastes good. Taco Bell is Mexican "inspired" food and yeah it's junk food, but there are some worse "authentic" Mexican foods nutritionally speaking. I say Mexican "inspired" because they sometimes come up with stuff that you will not find anywhere in Mexico! The difference between Taco Bell and REAL Mexican food is HUGE! I live in Guadalajara right now and there is no comparison between the two!! It is like with any food the more time and care you put in to making it, the better it tastes.
mexicans do eat mexican food...authentic mexican food is different than the one u get at these chains just like any other ethnic foods!
Mexicans in the US eat hamburgers and pizza.
Authentic Mexican food, what we eat here in Mexico, isn't comparable with the stuff Taco Bell et al. serve.