Latin American dishes that conquered the United States and how they got there

(CNN Spanish) – Tacos, arepas, empanadas, guacamole, ceviche, and more … are words (and foods) of Latin American origin, but they have conquered the palates in the United States.

Without a doubt, Latin American gastronomy is very popular in this country, as this region and each country has unique representative food or dishes.

But how did Latin American food get to the United States?

A simple and complex word at the same time can explain this phenomenon: migration. And not just in the last three decades, but throughout history.

For example, according to Jeffrey M. Pilcher, in an article titled The Latin roots of American food, Which is collected in a broader text on the external influences that the United States has received, around 1909 a corn miller named José Bartolomé Martínez patented the formula of what today are corn tortillas.

Puerto Ricans also influenced American gastronomy “by stimulating the food trade and industry in New York City,” writes Pilcher. At the end of the last century, with Puerto Ricans receiving US citizenship, migration was enhanced and many arrived, after serving in the military, and were greeted with dishes such as “rice with green pigeon peas, cod fritters and mofongo with tostones.”

Meanwhile, Mexico, a neighbor of the United States, has made a great contribution to American food. As Pilcher writes, a Mexican merchant was very successful in “franchising ethnic exoticism and giving Anglo-American consumers the opportunity to taste Mexican food.” According to that article, a Mexican immigrant named Juvencio Maldonado – who worked between 1930 and 1960 in a restaurant in New York called Xochitl – patented “the original cover of the taco.”

And more migration brought with it Latin American food in the middle of the last century: the Cuban Revolution, the dictatorships in the southern cone, in the 1970s, and the Central American civil wars of the 1980s “introduced new types of cuisine for restaurants at the same time as Latin American food processing companies began to open up space in domestic markets, “Pilcher wrote.

Now, the influence of Hispanics has grown so much in recent years that their US population has doubled in recent decades. According to figures from Pew Research Center, the population of Hispanics in the United States went from just over 35 million people in 2000 to almost 59 million in 2017.

By 2019, Latinos represented 18% of the total population in the United States, according to that organization.

Immigration and the influence on US food

Immigration has influenced the local gastronomy.

“More recent immigration has introduced a wider variety of recipes from all over Latin America,” adds Jeffrey M. Pilcher, in his article.

And Mexico, a neighbor of the United States, was one of the pioneers in bringing local food to the neighboring country, according to Pilcher, who describes how the term “tex-mex” was originally used to label foods that are not authentic American, but rather Typical of the culinary style of Mexicans living in Texas, dishes such as wheat tortillas and roasted meat were initial references of Mexican food.

But, he adds, by the 1990s, “Mexican food became one of the three most popular types of ethnic restaurants, and salsa (a spicy tomato-based pasta) surpassed ketchup as the best-selling condiment in the United States. .UU. “.

“Cuisine is one of the first ethnic markers to be absorbed by local communities”, said Cristiana Díaz and Peter Ore, researchers from the School of Sociology at the University of Arizona School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, who published a study on the influence of Hispanic and Asian food in the United States.

According to them, there is “strong evidence that Asian and Hispanic populations are important contributors to the local culinary culture.” And they can transform the local population.

“We interpret this as evidence that ethnic populations can transform tastes, demands and opportunities for those who are not within the ethic community,” Diaz said.

“We are trying to shift focus to show that the fabric of American culture can be transformed as a result of immigration,” he added.

The last years

And entrepreneurs have put their share in the US market.

“Political exiles and economic migrants introduced new types of cuisine for restaurants at the same time that Latin American food processing companies began to open up space in domestic markets, including in relation to basic foods (Maseca tortillas, Bimbo bread) and alcoholic beverages ( Chilean wines, Corona beer).

“In this way, the growing demographic importance and higher professional status of Latinos have contributed to a more general recognition and interest in Latino foods,” says Pilcher.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/themestudycomida.htm

The inevitable Latin American dishes in the US

We will surely lack many dishes to name here, but we have a list of some of the most popular Latin foods in the United States, which you can find almost anywhere.

Tacos, tacos, tacos!

According to TasteAtlas’ “Top 100 MOST POPULAR DISHES in the world” list, which was updated in April 2021, tacos are the most popular Latin American food in the world.

“Tacos are the national dish of Mexico, dating back to the Mexican silver mines of the 18th century when the word taco referred to gunpowder that was wrapped in a piece of paper and put into the rocks. It was used to extract the precious mineral from the mines and were called miner’s tacos. Today, the word is widely known to designate the main street and fast food in Mexico: tortillas […] with numerous fillings, folded and that can be eaten without any utensils, “explains Taste Atlas.

And attached to this, there are the tortillas, which are used for tacos and nachos and, according to this ranking of popular food, they are ranked ninth in the world and two in Latin America.

Mexican food is very popular in the United States, because in addition to tacos and tortillas, there are also guacamole, burritos, quesadillas and Mexican tamales, among others.

Ceviche

“Ceviche is Peru’s national dish, consisting of slices of raw fish or seafood that are seasoned with salt, onion, and chili peppers, and then marinated in lemon juice. Due to the acidity of the juice, the texture of the fish changes. , like its color: from pink to white “, describes TasteAtlas.

The dish from Peru, according to voters on the website, was placed at number 58 of the 100 most popular in the world. In the region, it is number eight.

steak

According to TasteAtlas, the churrasco “is a Brazilian barbecue method in which juicy pieces, slices, fillets and chops of beef, lamb, pork and chicken are placed on large skewers and roasted over a wood fire.” But beware, there is not only Brazilian churrasco. Argentines and Uruguayans will also claim their share of roasts and a taste for grills, each in their own way.

arepas

Venezuelan? Colombians? Does matters! Arepas are arepas here, there, and in the United States. It is a bread made from corn or precooked corn flour that is also consumed in several countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

This is a sensitive issue for Venezuelans and Colombians. Although there is much discussion about where the arepa really was born, we do know that the world record for the largest arepa is held precisely by Venezuela. On March 23, 2011, the Harina PAN brand of Empresas Polar, cooked the largest arepa in the world. It weighed 493.2 kilograms and fed 2,800 people.

And in Atlanta, for example, we find a famous arepería called “Arepa Mía”, a restaurant owned by the Venezuelan Lis Hernández, who as a child – along with her mother – sold arepas in a famous plaza in Petare, one of the largest neighborhoods. east of Caracas. Hernández left his country in the 1990s and in 2011 he opened his restaurant in Atlanta.

Empanadas

Although they originate in Galicia, Spain, according to TasteAtlas, empanadas have their own Colombian, Argentine, Venezuelan, Bolivian, Chilean, Mexican version … each country has given this delicious dish its own touch and it is another meal that have conquered the United States.

They can be eaten as a snack, but they can also be a main dish for some hardworking people as they “provide them with the energy and nutrients they need for a hard day’s work,” says TasteAtlas.

And how about accompanied with spicy … or guacamole, or tomato sauce or mayonnaise … the combinations are endless.

We know that many Latin American dishes were left out, but the selection would be endless.