Tex Mex and Mexican food didn’t just appear on your plate. Each dish has a history. Every recipe has a story.

Each has facts. Interesting ones, too.

Hungry for some conversation starters to impress your friends over Dallas’ best Tex Mex? Read below for some of our favorite fun facts about Mexican food.

• • Some traditional Mexican food recipes call for exotic ingredients such as iguana and rattlesnake!
  • Mexican food today actually has a rich and very long history – many of Mexico’s more traditional recipes are centuries old and hail from the Aztecs and Mayans.
  • You can find Spanish roots in much of the Mexican food we know and love today; the traditional Indian foods (inherited from the aforementioned Mayan and Aztec recipes) were changed as the Spanish colonized Mexico, infusing their own cooking ideas, methods and ingredients into the mix.
  • Authentic Mexican food is actually quite healthy. Not only is it high in vitamins and minerals, it’s also quite low in fat. Many people consider it the perfect blend of the important food groups including meat, dairy, grains, and vegetables.
  • Traditional Mexican food wastes almost nothing. For instance, there’s a dish for practically every part of the cow’s meat. That means rarer cuts like the udder, stomach, tongue, even the uterus and testicles are incorporated into the meal.

• TacoTimeCanada.com reports that tortillas once came in cans, and were popular in this form of packaging from the 1940s to about the 1980s. It wasn’t until more recently that disposable plastic packaging was so prolific.
• Every region within Mexico has its own distinct type of Mexican food. Northern Mexico tends to like its dishes made with meat, while Mexico’s southern states prefer chicken and vegetables as the main ingredients. Both regions, however, tend to use the meat as a relish, instead of making it the main course.
• However, the number one ingredient in traditional Mexican food isn’t meat, veggies or chicken: it’s chili.

The Chili Pepper is the most-used ingredient in traditional Mexican food.

• Even traditional Mexican desserts have chili within them. The chili helps create a nice melding of hot and sweet.
• One family in Mexico can consume up to two pounds of tortillas a day.

Whether you like your Tex Mex food spicy hot or you prefer it a bit milder, visit the Matitto’s nearest you to sample some of our delicious menu items!

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