There are many reasons to take a trip to Mexico; from the beaches of the Mayan Riviera to the dream islands like Holbox and Cozumel, passing through the Mayan ruins of Teotihuacan to the capital city of Mexico, without forgetting one of the most important aspects of a trip to this country; Mexican cuisine.

Many people are worried about this before departure, not knowing exactly where and what to eat in Mexico, thinking that Mexican food is similar to what is served in the many restaurants dedicated to this country’s cuisine in Italy.

Most of these places scattered throughout Italy and Europe, however, are Tex-Mex restaurants, and their offer of delicious, colorful and tasty dishes is very different from Mexican cuisine. The Tex-Mex cuisine (short for Texan and Mexican) is a word that describes the fusion between the American cuisine derived from the Tejanos, inhabitants of the Texas region of ancient Spanish or Mexican descent, and precisely the most common Mexican food dishes .

The Tex-Mex cuisine, the only real Mexican cuisine that you can experience first hand in Italy, thanks to the numerous ethnic restaurants distributed throughout the area, suffers more influences and contaminations than the original Mexican recipes and therefore is richer in dishes, preparations and ingredients.

The next step, the one that approached the term also to the kitchen of this minority, was brief. To the typical dishes of Mexico, usually made of cereals and vegetables, was added the massive use of meat, cheese and American cooking techniques. The burrito, the rolled tortilla filled with meat or vegetables, considered the workhorse of Mexican cuisine, actually in Mexico is not widespread and its fame depends mainly on the importance of this dish in the Tex-Mex cuisine, as well as the chili with meat.

True Mexican cuisine is hard to find outside the context of origin. To get to know it in depth you need to experience it in person, along the crowded streets of Mexico, next to popular markets, through the aromas of street food and in typical restaurants or markets in the cities of Mexico.

If you are about to leave for a trip in the warm Mexico, here is a detailed guide to the ingredients, the dishes, the Mexican recipes and the typical drinks of this wonderful land.

The main ingredients of Mexican food

There would be no contemporary Mexican cuisine without the contaminations of the various peoples that have followed the land of ancient Mexico over the centuries and which have given rise to fundamental cultural stratifications.

From the pre-Columbian culture Mexican cuisine has drawn its oldest foods such as corn, a fundamental ingredient for many preparations, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, avocado, papaya and pineapple, spices and peppers of various kinds and degrees of spiciness ? and also beans, vanilla and cocoa.

To these elements are added the ingredients coming from the Spanish conquerors who invaded South America around the sixteenth century, as well as the custom of consuming a lot of meat, dairy products and cheeses. Without forgetting the arroz (rice), frijoles (beans) or tortillas, the bread or flour piadina used as bread or as a basic ingredient of many Mexican dishes.

The combination of these flavors has given life to real Mexican cuisine. The typical Mexican dishes are many, with inimitable flavors and full-bodied textures of meat, fish or vegetarians. In short, suitable for those who appreciate tasty and genuine cuisine.

Cleaned by the American elements that gave life to the Tex-Mex cuisine, Mexican food is presented as a gastronomy composed mainly of ingredients from the land, cereals, vegetables, fruits and spices.

The flavor is what most strongly characterizes the Mexican cuisine, obtained thanks to the wise use of spices such as coriander and many varieties of chilli (called chile in Mexico), from those with a lighter taste, such as the chile poblano, a the most fiery ones, like some varieties of habanero chile.

The Mexican recipes are able to satisfy everyone’s palates as they offer a wide range of both savory and sweet dishes, from appetizers to drinks, starting from the desayuno (breakfast) passing through lunch and the inevitable antojitos, word that derives from antojo (sudden desire, caprice).

Here then are the main recipes of Mexican cuisine, with a brief description of each, to help you choose what to eat during your trip to Mexico.