When thinking about Mexican food often the first things to come in mind are tortillas, tacos and burritos, right? Well it’s true, because those ones are the most commonly known outside of Mexico. But the thing that people usually don’t know, is that Mexican food in Mexico taste and looks totally different than from the ones you get e.g. in Europe.

When I first came to Mexico and tasted the Mexican tacos, for me it looked like I am eating a mini tortilla. As in Europe, or at least in Finland where I come from, tacos are the ones made of corn with a hard cover. But in Mexico the cover is soft and looks and tastes like tortilla, it is just a smaller version of it. I have learned that the plane corn “pancake” is called tortilla and it’s used in different ways in different dishes. Tortillas that are filled are called tacos, tortillas with sauce on top are called enchiladas and tortillas which are filled and rolled are called burritos. So in Mexico, tortilla is the base of most of the dishes. Also, nachos are made of tortillas that are cut in triangles and fried or cooked in the oven to make it hard and crispy.

When I read books and studied about Mexican food culture, it was said that corn is the most important and appreciated ingredient in Mexican kitchen. But it’s accurate as tortillas are made of corn and like I said earlier, tortillas are the base of almost all of the Mexican dishes. Other common ingredients used in Mexican cuisine are chili, tomatoes, tomatillos (green tomatoes), squash, avocado, mango, papaya and nopales (cactus). Also meat as pork and chicken are used in most of the dishes, so for vegetarians it’s fairly hard to find food especially when eating out in restaurants. And now I should probably mention that I’m vegetarian or vegan always as possible (not often possible when dining out) so you’re going to see mostly the vegetarian way of eating in Mexico. Sometimes I try to include some meat dishes (if my friends order them for themselves), especially when dining out so you get a better picture of all the foods.

In the upcoming posts I’ll be deepening my knowledge in different topics about Mexican food, for example writing about grocery stores, markets, eating out, street food, festive food, drinking culture, giving some recipes etc. I would also love to hear about what kind of topics you’d like to read in this blog. So, please comment below your ideas! Also, I would like to know what’s your favorite Mexican food, so please write that below too. I’m looking forward to continuing the discussion in the comment box.

Love, Emilia