Talk:Tex-Mex

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 August 2020 and 23 November 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Chak24. Peer reviewers: Lilian2742, Nclayton24.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:55, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Huh?
This article states: "Serving tortilla chips and a hot sauce or salsa as an appetizer is common in Tex-Mex restaurants." Serving tortilla chips and salsa is common in virtually all Mexican restaurants in the U.S., Tex-Mex or otherwise, so not terribly useful (or accurate). Zlama (talk) 21:48, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

Yeah it also doesn't say what Tex-Mex actually IS, either. I live in Austin, and all it looks like to me, is Fajitas. Maybe brisket tacos. If you look at the Southwest Cuisine page there a huge list of items.Hanz ofbyotch (talk) 22:15, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

This article has no consistent voice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.224.123.143 (talk) 21:20, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Really, it's not about the restaurants. They aren't what makes TexMex, TexMex. What does a TexMex meal look like in a private home? What's breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? And don't tell me what restaurants serve for those meals. TexMex started in the homes of Texas and moved into the restaurants. Zlama (talk) 13:11, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Wow - this is poorly researched and written and clearly a summary of what the author wants to believe without any sort of substantiation or basis in fact. Tex-Mex is a cuisine that has been developing since before the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent land deals/grabs. It is eaten by people in a region including what is now many northern Mexican states and southwestern US states. It is not simply Mexican food adulterated for US or Texas tastes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Legin99 (talk • contribs) 20:44, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Tex-Mex is well-represented by the gatefold of ZZ Top's album Tres Hombres which was recreated by a chef a few years ago. Beer is essential. A photo of this feast belongs in the article, but I don't know about getting permission. Also, I have never heard of a "fajita bowl" although it has become popular to serve "bowls" these days. Fajitas are served on a hot metal plate set in a wooden holder, typically with grilled bell peppers and onions. It is served sizzling at the restaurant table, and the secret to the sizzle is a little water or sauce squirted on it just before it leaves the kitchen. There is a picture of a fajita plate in that link. Everyone has known this "secret" for a long time, except TikTok users. Wastrel Way (talk) Eric

Tejano/Texicano
Tejano is simply a Spanish word for people from Texas. It has absolutely nothing to do with whom you are a descent. I grew up in Texas on the border of Mexico and speak English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently. The slang word Texicano may refer to a mix of Texan, Tejano and Mexicano. This is incorrect.

Thank you, Texicano — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.79.166.28 (talk) 11:34, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

In the mission era, Spanish cuisine and Mexican cuisine was combined in Texas as in other parts of the Northern Frontier of New Spain.[6] However, the cuisine that would come to be called Tex-Mex actually originated with Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent) as a mix of native Mexican and Spanish foods when Texas was part of New Spain and later Mexico. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.79.166.28 (talk) 11:25, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

TexMex is not a restaurant menu
How is Texan and Mexican fusion different from other geographical areas? If there were no differences, there would be no need for this article. Take, for example, the much maligned chili with beans discussion -- classic Texas chili doesn't have beans. Yes, chili competitions all over the globe allow beans, but that is not Texas chili.

Combination plates??? Like Denny's, for example, I guess is TexMex because they put all the food (except the salad) on one plate, too! Combination plates are a marketing thing - get everything on one big plate for one low price! Saves on washing dishes, too. It's just putting a basic entree and typical accompaniments all on one plate. Very common and not cuisine-specific.

So much of this article seems like padding to make it longer, yet what's lacking is substantive information. That list of herbs and things -- they are in no way unique to TexMex cooking.

I'm not trying to be rude, but this article sounds like it was written by someone who once visited Texas and ate in some TexMext-style restaurants with only that slanted picture of the cuisine. I wish I could say, "Do this and it will be perfect," but it's much easier to point out what's wrong, unfortunately. Sorry. Zlama (talk) 13:27, 3 March 2012 (UTC)


 * once your recognize that "tex-mex" is a pejorative catch-all by connoisseurs of "authentic mexican" (whatever that's supposed to be) food this all starts to make sense. just as there are i suppose regional variations in mexican food, there are variations in what the food has become in the u.s., not every evolutionary change from "traditional" mexican recipes originated in texas so can hardly universally be called tex-mex - the funny thing is some of the worst mexican food i've ever eaten was cooked by mexicans for mexicans - true authentic mexican food - tex-mex (or californian mexican or colorado mexican) is a welcome change for the better in some cases. in general, when someone touts something as being or not being "authentic" whether it is mexican, cantonese, or anything else you can effectively ignore them - who cares! eat food for how it tastes, not its pedigree. if authenticity were the overriding consideration for goodness of food, we'd all still be eating nuts and berries gathered off trees and eating raw, freshly killed game on the savannah somewhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.51.66.32 (talk) 07:38, 29 June 2013 (UTC)

Although Tex-Mex is not a restaurant menu, this article could perhaps benefit by the mention or enumeration of typical dishes or items served at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and as snacks. Such things as migas, huevos rancheros and chilaquiles are typical breakfasts, usually served with refried beans, fried potato cubes and two or three tortillas. The plate is generally heated in the oven before the food is put on it and served at the table with a warning "hot plate!" from the waitress. Donald Trump's famous "taco bowl" (usually called a "taco salad") is one of many lunch items, and enchiladas of various kinds for lunch and dinner. There is much more variety than that. Lunches and dinners generally include a small salad, sometimes with guacamole. "Queso" made in various ways and chips are a typical sort of snack. If someone could get permission to use the picture of the food on ZZ Top's album Tres Hombres, that would be a great contribution. 173.174.85.204 (talk) 15:25, 27 May 2017 (UTC) Eric

To put it another way, Tex-Mex is not a restaurant menu, but Tex-Mex restaurants have menus and they are mostly all alike. I live in Austin, and I know. 173.174.85.204 (talk) 15:47, 27 May 2017 (UTC) Eric

Cumin / Comino
Tex-Mex uses cumin while most Mexican food does not? That is the claim in the article and it is incorrect. To make this article better it needs less of a focus on restaurant food and needs to present better facts.

Cumin is used throughout Mexico. Mexican cuisine is a combination of the native cultures there (Nahua, Zapotec, Mayan, etc., etc.) and Spanish cuisine. Like the rest of the Mediterranean Basin --Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Levant, etc.-- Spanish cuisine uses cumin relatively regularly in sauces and roast meats for/as appetizers, side dishes, and main dishes. Romans, Greeks, and Ancient Egyptians used cumin. And, the Arab/Berber influence in Spain, especially southern Spain, also reinforced cumin use.

The article incorrectly states that Mexican cuisine rarely uses comino (cumin), which is not true. There are hundreds of Mexican dishes from Oaxaca to Nogales without cumin; however, there are hundreds more with cumin as an integral taste component and therefore ingredient. The article also seems to insinuate that Indian (subcontinent) cuisine has somehow influenced Tex-Mex cuisine, perhaps because Texas is rather diverse. While Indian cuisine does also use cumin (it is in a continuous chain of overlapping cuisines, e.g. Inland Arab, Persian, etc.) it is highly doubtful that it is the source of cumin in Tex-Mex food. Spanish cuisine is the source of cumin in Mexican food, Tex-Mex or not.

This article is crammed with opinions posing as facts. This is just one of them.

174.45.104.187 (talk) 14:20, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

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Chefs and Related Cuisines
I propose to expand on the "prominent chefs" section by adding a brief description of how each chef contributed to the Tex-Mex cuisine. I also want to list other chefs such as Otis Farnsworth who influenced the development of the cuisine.

I plan to expand on the "related cuisine" section to explicitly state the similarities and differences between Tex-Mex and the other cuisines.

Here is a list of the sources I will use:

- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191308517300035 - https://www.dailynews.com/2020/01/02/la-chef-josef-centeno-has-a-michelin-star-restaurant-and-a-new-cookbook-now-hes-on-a-mission-to-defend-tex-mex-cuisine/ -https://www.pbs.org/food/shows/jane-butels-southwestern-kitchen/ -https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321636907_Cultural_Hybridity_in_the_USA_exemplified_by_Tex-Mex_cuisine - Pilcher, Jeffrey M.. Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wooster/detail.action?docID=1015305.

140.103.40.35 (talk) 16:54, 25 September 2020 (UTC) Chak24

Calling it Tex-Mex: a U.S. East Coast invention
I grew up in Phoenix in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and ate "Mexican" food with relish, both at restaurants, stands, and at the homes of friends of Mexican ethnicity. I never heard the adjective "Tex Mex" used to describe food until I moved to the East Coast in the early 90s. "Tex-Mex" was a term I associated with Tejano music, or Ranchero music, as it was also referred to. But I learned. My erudite East Coast friends would explain to me that the "Mexican" food that I'd been enjoying since my youth, and that the mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers of my Chicano friends had been preparing for generations in their homes in Arizona, New Mexico, and California, wasn't actually "Mexican" food, but was "Tex-Mex." They used that term to differentiate tacos, enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, menudo, pasole, machaca/carne seca, etc. popular in the homes in the South West, from the REAL MEXICAN food, which they knew from their extensive time in Mexico eating dishes featuring mole, corn fungus, grasshoppers, etc. Properly chastised, I came to realize that the foods I'd grown up eating, including the meals prepared by Hispanic cooks who had never set foot in the state of Texas, and whose families had lived in what is now Arizona before it was part of the U.S., was really "Tex-Mex," and a derivative. I got it now. Glad to get this off my chest. 2600:4040:264D:1700:FD6E:62BA:F8DC:1C6 (talk) 14:05, 5 July 2022 (UTC)