ANGLO AND TEJANO FOODS

I am a cooking enthusiast and extremely FOOD DRIVEN.   Looking for super good recipes is a hobby of mine, especially if it's Tex-Mex, but Denmark continuously  makes it hard for me.  It's a country that isn't ingredient friendly.  Most of the times I have to substitute or order from Germany and England. 

My new cook book came in today.  I ordered The Tex-Mex Cookbook by Robb Walsh.  What got me interested in it was this, "The Tex-Mex Cookbook will delight "chile head", food history buffs, Mexican food fans, and anybody who has ever woken up in the middle of the night craving cheese enchiladas.

I AM ALWAYS CRAVING CHEESE ENCHILADAS!!!!!

(I couldn't help laugh at what I read below.  It's from the book, but so true.)

     In 1835, when Juan N. Almonte wrote his "Statistical Report on Texas", there weren't a lot of things to count.  Between Goliad and San Antonio, a distance of thirty-eight leagues, he couldn't find a single inhabitant.  Between San Antonio and Austin, only a few houses were seen at intervals. 

     Though the Brazos region was the most successfully cultivated, it offered the least comfort for outsiders.  "Each settler lives independent of the whole world, having at home everything which he needs for himself but nothing for travelers", Almonte wrote of the Americans.

     When it came to food, Almonte found major differences between the Tejano and Anglo communities.  His survey left us with a very interesting pair of grocery lists to compare:


     "The food most generally used among the Mexicans in Texas is the tortillas, beef, venison, chickens, eggs, cheese, and milk, and sometimes coffee, chocolate, tea and sugar may be secured", he reported.   "Among the Americans, the most common is bacon, and cornbread, coffee sweetened with bee's honey, because they have no cane sugar, butter, buttermilk, and sometimes crackers."
      No wonder the Anglos became so fond of Texas-Mexican food.