Why there’s so much more to Mexican food than Tex-Mex

As Mexico is celebrated in the UK this year, Matt Brady finds out about some of its dishes you won't find in the chain restaurants.

It's the Year of Mexico in the UK and the Year of the UK in Mexico. This mutual event was prompted following talks between our respective governments, with hopes it will stimulate business and motivate co-operation between our countries.

As you might have guessed, we’re more interested in the food aspects of this relationship, so I headed along to an event organised by the Mexican Tourism Board designed to show off the gastronomy of Mexico.

More than just tacos

“Tacos are a way of life,” says Enrique Olvera, head chef of Mexican restaurant Pujol – which took 20th spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list of 2014. “You can make a taco with anything.”

That's a bold claim, from an expert in a bold cuisine. Big and powerful flavours are the things we associate most with Mexican food, and Enrique says that Mexican food is an “explosive” experience.

We’re not exactly strangers to Mexican food here in the UK, but restaurants (and brands) tend to centre on the 'wrapping things in a tortilla' experience.

However, there’s a lot more to the cuisine than that. Even corn is more complex than you’d think, with Enrique having 50 varieties to choose from when making tortillas at Cosme, his restaurant in New York.

Mostly though, he claims, Mexican food is associated with being happy – and partying! It’s “exciting, deep, complex, fun and unforgettable.” Tequilas all round to go then please…

World heritage

Traditional Mexican cuisine is the only cuisine to have been recognised by UNESCO as part of the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. “Mexican cuisine is elaborate and symbol-laden” says UNESCO, while the knowledge and techniques “express community identity”.

Enrique says that while this is an honour, but comes with obligations “to maintain [the cuisine and] go deeper in our efforts to document, investigate, understand, assimilate and promote the best of our gastronomy.”

Beyond Tex-Mex

Both the USA and chain restaurants have played a part in turning Mexican food into Tex-Mex, the fatty, greasy, spicy fast food that’s become popular in Europe and North America. Katya Torres, CEO of Mexgrocer.co.uk, says that this is a misconception, and “in reality, Mexican food is very healthy.”

Her company imports around 500 different products into the UK, and she says that among these “there are lots of options for vegans, vegetarians, children, people with gluten allergies”. She offers nopal leaves (prickly pear cactuses) as just one example.

A cactus salad, she suggests, might consist of “a bed of lettuce, with tomatoes and fresh coriander with cactus on top, perhaps some pumpkin seeds.” The cactus tastes rather ‘gourdy’, she explains, but they’re sold through her website as a jarred pickle.

“It would be impossible to sell them fresh” she laments, because of the time it takes to ship the cactuses to the UK. But even as a pickle, they’re still really good for you.

“They contain immense amounts of antioxidants, and a lot of people on diets in Mexico eat loads of nopales… you can juice [them] for a drink in the morning, since they give you a lot of energy and vitamins!”

She tells me that business is booming thanks to the fact that Mexican food is “growing up” in Europe, moving away from Tex-Mex, and people are becoming really interested in the authentic ingredients and recipes of Mexico. “I think the key is that Europeans travel a lot, so they have very open minds.”

The question still remains whether our minds are open enough to eat insects (as we did recently), which was the first thing Enrique suggested when I asked him about Mexican ingredients that we are unfamiliar with here.

Seafood in Baja

A demonstration by chefs Benito Molina of Manzanilla Restaurant and Diego Hernandez Baquedano of Corazón de Tierra Restaurant reveals some beautiful techniques for cooking seafood.

Baja California is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and the east by the Gulf of California, giving it almost 2,000 miles of coastline. So it’s no wonder that seafood is the star of this peninsula state. If you love seafood, you might be interested in this Mexican aguachile recipe, featuring fresh scallops bathed in seasoned lime juice.

Molina and Baquedano talk through the process of shelling an abalone: spoon it out, slice between the antennae and remove the cartilage jaw. You then sear it on one side, then the other, and serve with a simple tomato and olive sauce. Basic techniques, done right, and with the freshest produce imaginable.

Abalone in the region has had a history of being overfished, but the chefs say that now it is farmed in a sustainable manner.

Mexican herbs

In a separate session, chef Elena Reygadas talked about the variety of Mexican herbs she likes to cook with. The first that would spring to my mind is coriander/cilantro, but Elena says there are roughly 4,000 herbs that might be used. There are 15 distinct types of oregano to choose from alone.

Many of these herbs have been in use in Mexico for millennia, due to their purported medicinal properties. For example, a type of stinging nettle, urtica, is used to treat various afflictions, but Elena says she uses it in cooking, sometimes to the surprise of fellow Mexicans. She likes to take the herbs out of their traditional context – such as when she uses basil in desserts with guava and chocolate.

The herbs she names sound alien: papalo, epazote, pipicha, chaya, hojo santa. There’s a whole world of fresh herbs to be discovered for Europeans. However, they don’t travel well so would really need to be specifically dried and imported to supply the market.

It’s not a herb, but there’s also the case of the curious huitlacoche (alternatively spelled as cuitlacoche), otherwise known as the 'Mexican truffle'. This fungus is actually a disease known in other countries as ‘corn smut’, which blights maize crops.

Despite this, Mexicans actually consider it a delicacy, and Katya describes it as having a “very delicate flavour, like the French truffle.”

Are you a fan of Mexican food? Have you visited Mexico? Would you like to discover more of its cuisine? Let us know in the Comments below.

You might also like:

South American food to take off in 2015

Ten top chillies and how to eat them

Does Britain have a street food culture?