When I was mulling over when I was going to be able to come to Mexico over the past couple of years a couple of things stuck out to me about the journey: One was that I have been a lifelong fan of Mexican food and I was delighted to finally be able to try it at the source. The second thing was that my family, who have lived here for years, well I never hear them talk about Mexican food over the many years they have been here.
When I hit the ground I naturally became very ill but I am happy to say that aside from some minor sinus issues caused by the change in elevation and humidity that I think I am going to suffer forever, my illness is gone. This is a huge plus. So when we finally got to get out and explore the culinary delights I was wondering why my family was always going to places that had western food. I kind of forced them to go to some places that have Mexican food (which isn't tough to find in Mexico) and we even have a local that one of my siblings is in a relationship with who is Mexican to show us where the "real spots" are.
One of the places that we went to was a place that had almost entirely Mexican customers in it and the only table available was the one that we sat at. In almost any country that is a sign of a place that is going to have really good food and honestly, I wish I could say that this was the case.
Above you see a picture of a chicken flauta, which was one of my favorite dishes at a Mexican restaurant that I frequented in college. So good was the flauta that I used to regularly have as a student that every single time I went to that place, which was 3 times a month or so, I always ordered only the flauta. I don't even remember what else they had for sale there. So I thought that getting this wonderful dish at the country of origin would just be a flavor explosion of epic proportions. I don't know if I got my hopes up too high or what, but this flauta in Mexico would better be described as fried tasteless crap.
Honestly, I can't even tall you what it tasted like other than that. Basically it tasted like some corn tortillas that had a miniscule amount of chicken in it and then was deep friend until it had the consistency of tree bark. I would imagine that this is why they have so many hot sauces on the table because that is the only way that you could make this taste like anything at all.
The one I had in college over and over again was majestically better than this. What a massive letdown.
Next up at a food court that had a wide variety of dishes and again was filled mostly with locals, I tried 2 pork tacos and a quesadilla with something, it doesn't matter.
Now the first thing that struck me was the fact that (and I knew this was the case) the tortillas are remarkably small compared to what I grew up expecting of "Mexican" food. To put it in perspective, if you had a golf ball you would not be able to completely wrap it up in these tortillas. They are slightly larger than a coaster you would put on a table to keep the water from dripping off your glass onto the wood.
Despite the fact that the meat looks really nice, it was once again rather tasteless and the 4 sauces on the table were necessary to give it any flavor at all. These were about $1 each and if I had wanted to each of them could have been finished in 1 bite. I don't know why Mexicans make their portions so small but it's their food and they can do what they want with it. The quesadilla was passable and had some flavor thanks to the cheese but once again it was a letdown and I have actually had Mexican food that is more to my liking in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, USA, and even Korea.
Actually, the only thing I have had since I got here that was really nice IMO was guacamole and chips. Avocados are basically everywhere in this country and cost next-to-nothing so everyone has guac. It is really nice actually and is the only thing I have had to eat here that I would consider is the best version of it in the world.
Now before anyone thinks that I am trying to make some blanket statement like "Mexican food sucks in Mexico", get that idea out of your head. I have only had it a grand total of 3 times since getting here. Also, Americans hijacked Mexican food like 100 years ago and created "Tex-Mex" which is heavy on cheese and sour cream and this two things are something that real Mexicans rarely incorporate into their food. Therefore my taste palate is tainted in a way because I grew up absolutely loving Tex-Mex and likely never even had authentic Mexican food at any point in my youth.
I feel as though Tex-Mex is superior to authentic Mexican food but we are all products of our environments.
I am disappointed because I was so looking forward to having cheap and wonderful tacos around me at all times but the reality of it, as someone who grew up on Tex-Mex, is that the "real" version of these dishes is very likely to disappoint me because in my mind, it is missing "something." I also feel like the cook the absolute hell out of everything over here to the point of well-done. I don't know if this is to avoid food poisoning or if Mexicans genuinely enjoy things being cooked nearly to the point of ash but that does seem to be the case. I am starting to understand why over the years my family never mentioned or showed photos of any Mexican food they liked.
Now the drinks on the other hand, that is a wonderful part of Mexico.
While not as inexpensive as Vietnam (because nowhere is) it is still remarkably cheap and Mexico has a ton of local beers that I believe are some of the best cheap lagers in the world. Many of the brands I have never heard of because they don't exist outside of Mexico. Dos Equis does of course, but it doesn't have a large presence in Asia. Corona is everywhere but did you know that Mexicans don't generally drink Corona and it is more of an international thing? I almost never see anyone drinking a Corona just like you don't ever see Australians drinking Fosters in Australia.
My apologies for the out of focus picture (what the hell, $500 phone?) but this is called a michelada. This is something that I have heard about for a long time and a half-Mexican friend of mine attempted to make it for me in Vietnam. These are on signs everywhere in Mexico but the other night I finally had a chance to try one. It is basically a bloody mary but instead of vodka they put beer in it. That might sound disgusting to most people but I found it to be kind of refreshing but then again, I like bloody marys. Perhaps you can't tell by the picture but this glass is also huge. That is more than a liter of drink there - maybe more like 1.5 liters - and one thing that works about this drink for a borderline alcoholic like myself is that I was unable to drink it quickly. Add to this the fact that you are getting some level of nutrition and vitamins from the tomato juice and this is probably a good drink for me to have seeing as how I am capable of frat-boy-pounding regular beers.
A michelada can be found anywhere in this country for about $2-$3 and I think it is an exceptional value since it took me over an hour to drink that one drink. Apparently there are dozens of variation of this drink many of which have gummy bears as well as meat served with them. I have not tried those yet and really I'm not sure if I will bother. When you see some of the things that Mexicans drink or eat you can start to understand why they have overtaken both USA and Australia as the fattest country in the world.
So in summary I have to say that I have been relatively disappointed with authentic Mexican food and feel as though the variations of it that exist around the world are actually much better than the source material. I think that most Mexicans feel the same way about it because that food court I was describing earlier had a burger place, and Indian place, and a Chinese food place in the same court. All of those places had lines to order but the place with the tacos and the quesadillas you could just walk right up to the front.
The search will continue for "good" tacos as they are cheap enough that there is no reason to not try them if I see them. Hopefully there is a hidden gem out there and I am just yet to discover it.