Mexican American Food: Tex-Mex and Other Border Cuisines

Although the cooking of the Southwest forms part of a broader norteño culture, common to both sides of the border, considerable variety exists from one state to the next. Tex-Mex cooking, found in northeastern Mexico as well as Texas, is noted for the predominance of beef and tiny, lethal chiltepín peppers. The foods of the Sonoran desert, including the Mexican state of the same name and southern Arizona, likewise emphasize beef but accompanied by mild Anaheim peppers. New Mexico, which as a region also encompasses Chihuahua, southern Colorado, and northern Arizona, is built on eponymous chilies and pork instead of beef. In contrast to the deep roots of other southwestern styles, Cal-Mex cooking is a relatively modern offshoot, cultivated primarily by new immigrants, not all of them from Mexico, and flavored by memories of the Californio ranching society that existed before 1848.