Pork and Beef

Meat is a post-conquest addition to the Mexican diet that started out as the food of Spanish aristocrats. It took a while to become affordable to all—and, in fact, most European meats never did filter down to popular use. The one that eclipsed all others was the most Spanish of meats, pork. When not eaten freshly butchered, it was turned into a range of cured products and sausages, based on Spanish originals with varying degrees of Mexicanization. In the form of rendered lard, it became Mexico’s everyday cooking fat.