I am curious. do many of you actually think "Fajitas" are authentic Mexican food (read on)????

Question

they are not lol. theres nothing more ridiculous then fajitas as an excuse for Mexican cuisine. fajitas are more American that Mexican. i am Mexican and where my family is from there is no such thing as "Fajitas". every region of mexico has different types of dishes. in my house, we only cook AUTHENTIC Mexican food, we never go to restaurants. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO COOK YOU SOME REAL, AUTHENTIC MEXICAN CUISINE, i love to cook for people and then see the look on their faces lol. people have tried our cuisine(when they go to my house for dinner) and they always cant wait for more.

oh ,theres nothing wrong with fajitas! they're good, but its not right to consider it authentic. people always use this food as a sterotype of mexican cuisine. thats my opinion.

Answer 1

no...and you have a point...alot of stupid people think that and food they find at taco bell is real mexican food...its not

Answer 2

You just answered yourself. Stereotypes. Unfortunately we have misconceptions to deal with when it comes to Mexican food, or anything Mexican. Many people think that anything remotely Spanish is connected to Mexico, along with Spanish guitar, flamenco, bullfights, señoritas, ole, castanets and other ridiculous labels. And no the term fajitas is not Mexican. What I can tell you is that back in the 90's in Mexico we started importing a cut of meat from USA and Canada, which both nations considered as waste meat. That cut is from band of meat that girdles the stomach. We call it arrachera. When imports reached an all time high, USA and Canada began wondering why in the world we would want to eat that? So they investigated and found out it was not waste meat at all. So of course they hiked the price and started this fajita thing. Now of course fajita is any meat cut into strips because you have chicken fajitas and beef fajitas.

If you live in the States you will have to live with the fact that many untraveled Americans judge others by offensive stereotypes. Many times people have told me that burritos is Bona Fide Mexican food, when it is actually an Americanized term, or that Taco Bell is Mexican, when it is Americanized Southwestern or Tex Mex quasi Mexican stuff, but definitely NOT Mexican at all. Some time ago some jerk actually had the gall to say that he attended a Mexican restaurant and that everyone asked for burritos or tacos, this was during Oaxaca cuisine week which featured mole, and that he preferred to go to another restaurant that served what he considered to be Mexican fare. That is how things are.

Keep up the good cooking and education of uninformed Americans who sometimes refuse to look beyond their borders or their culture.

Answer 3

The cabelleros and cowboys in early Texas always shared cooking duties and learned from each other. That is why a lot of less then authentic mexican recipes are really just Tex-Mex.
Most were from what ever food source was common in the area. Skirt steak is commonly used for beef fajitas and was an inferior cut of meat that the cowboys could have. It needed a lot of tenderization and seasonings. Cooked fast over an open flame out on the land was the preferred cooking method for most any meat or game. Tortillas were these guys white bread.

Answer 4

I spent some time in Monterrey, Mexico. While there I often ate carne asada. This comes very close to the seasoned steak used in fajitas. They would serve it with grilled onions, peppers, rice and re-fried beans. There were always tortillas on the table at every meal. So it seems that a fajita might be a derivation of this.

Answer 5

According to wikipedia, the fajita is a texas food, made popular by tex-mex restaurants...Thankfully we can appreciate our differences and sometimes enjoy a mix of culture and cuisine.

"In Spanish, fajita is the diminutive form of the word faja which translates to "belt" or "girdle" in English. Butchers along the Texas border with Mexico used the word to refer to the diaphragm muscle of a steer. Researchers found references to Hispanic ranch hands eating this cut of beef in a tortilla with condiments as early as the 1930s but the word fajita is not known to have appeared in print until 1975."

Answer 6

chale... Look, I don't get it. I'm Mexican. My grand dad is chinese. I grew up in a chinese food restaurante enviroment and also, we served mexican food. I belive in evolution. The only way this humanity can grow is by "mingle" forget about races and move over. even the most refined chinese food come from a mixed bunch of cultures and races. Italian food became from greek, chinese and other mediterranean cultures. open your mind "brother" and you'll see how beautiful is to be part of this humanity and not only one breed. or you'll miss a few GREAT chinese-mexican recipes i know. and BTW... we mexicans ROCKS cooking, so may be that's why we are not just the best in kitchens all over the world, but also, we are hard working, fast, and mentioned as some of the happiest people in earth. if the owners of this restaurants need to say "authentic chinese, italian, soul..." on its ads, is because of people who need instructions for eating. We know food baby! Buen provecho

Answer 7

You know i'm never really bothered about where my food comes from as long as i like the taste, did think they were mexican tho lol, i love all that kind of food, fajitas, burrito's (had them tonight) enchiladas, chilli con carne anything spicy really, so i would prob love to taste real mexican food i'd love some recipes lol

Answer 8

Fajita's are lovely, but I always thought they were Mexican. That can only be my own ignorance! I suppose it is a bit like pizza we have here in the UK, the Italians have never heard of deep pan or thick base!

Answer 9

Ignorance would be to suggest that spiced, marinated, sliced steak served in a tortilla is NOT Mexican. The fact is that most, if not all, Mexicans have eaten that and claimed it as their own. They may not call them fajitas but the fact is that "fajitas" are not only called "fajitas". But what they truly are is MEXICAN!

Answer 10

When people say Mexican here in America they are refering to Mexican inspired, a use of spices, to southwest, etc. I've had authentic Mexican food and it ranks right up there amongst my favorites. If you come up with a better word for Mexican inspired American food let us know. It's just terminology afterall.

Answer 11

I really don't care if fajita's are real mexican food or not; they are good. I'm not saying that real mexican food isn't good also, but so is fried chicken and pizza and lots of other things that are not mexican. When I'm in the mood for real mexican food I have it....when i'm in the mood for fajita's I have them.