Mexican Food.....?

Where did Mexican food originate? How did this aspect of pop culture spread? And lastly who were the founders of this aspect of pop culture? Can you name any important figures today? 10 pts to the best answer! : ]Mexican Food.....?
Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico. Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices.



When Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (the ancient city on which Mexico City was built), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chiles and herbs, usually complemented with beans and squash. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut, fish and turkey. The totopo (a salted corn tortilla cooked in a fire oven) may have been created as part of this cuisine.



Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. Quesadillas, for example, are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (often a Mexican-style soft farmer's cheese such as Queso Fresco), beef, chicken, pork, and so on. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional foods is the chile pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables (among them are the chili peppers, green peppers, chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes) and meats in Mexican food. There is also a sprinkling of Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucat谩n. The French occupation of Mexico also yielded some influences as well: the bolillo (pronounced bo-lee-yo, with the "o" as in "bore"), a Mexican take on the French roll, certainly seems to reflect this.



There are also more exotic dishes, cooked in the Aztec or Mayan style, with ingredients ranging from iguana to rattlesnake, deer, spider monkey, and even some kinds of insects. This is usually known as comida prehisp谩nica (or prehispanic food), and although not very common, is relatively well known



Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its beef production and meat dishes. Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy vegetable and chicken-based dishes. Seafood is commonly prepared in the state of VeracruzMexican Food.....?
I think it was Japan. The rice dishes are delicious.Mexican Food.....?
It's not a pop culture, it's a cuisine. I imagine it started in Mexico/South American. It spread because of both American tourists going across the border and, as with most ethnic cuisines in the US, immigration. No, I can't name any important figures.Mexican Food.....?
The Conquest of Mexico in 1521 gave rise to one of the richest culinary revolutions in history. When the Spanish explorer Cortez and his followers came to the new world in search of fortune, they found a wealth of culinary specialties such as chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, beans, squash, avocados, coconuts, corn and tomatoes. In turn the Spanish brought to the Americas products such as pork, beef, lamb, citrus fruits, garlic, cheese, milk, wheat, vinegar and wine. Montezuma, the great Aztec emperor, was previously warned that one day bearded men mounted on animals like giant deer would come to take over his domain, so when Montezuma heard that men had landed at Vera Cruz he was not surprised. He made every effort to keep them in Vera Cruz by offering them great riches, but after seeing the riches it spurred them on to see where the riches came from. On November 8, 1519, Cortez entered Montezuma's capitol along with seven thousand native soldiers he had recruited along the way. He was received by Montezuma and given a great feast, but the cordial relations between the Spanish captain and the Aztec emperor were short lived. After many bloody battles, on August 13th 1521, Cortez claimed the capitol. The conquerors systematically destroyed the Aztec empire and replaced it with Spanish structures and Institutions, but they never succeeded in extinguishing the native culture and traditions, which are still part of Mexico today.



Mexican TacoThe emerging Mexican cuisine was constantly being enriched from many different countries. Recipes and ingredients from Africa, South America, Caribbean, France and the orient found there way through the Spanish - Mexico conduit. A fine, and in our opinion the finest, refinement has been the creation of Tex-Mex Food. It is characterized by a cultural blend of Northern Mexico and Southwest US (southern Texas), where Native Americans, cowboys, Texans and Mexicans intermingled cultures to give us the unique culture of Texas and fine food.



The cuisines of these countries were melded together into new culinary specialties and became what we now call Mexican food. This cuisine is constantly being changed by outside influences, even today.
Not sure what our food has to do with pop culture.



To the person below me, take some courses at UNAM or Tec de Monterrey before you judge my country. Menudo and pozole are indigenous to Mexico way before the Spanish or French came to Mexico.