Carne adovada, calabacitas, posole, sopaipillas . . . Menu items like these put you squarely in the lower left-hand quadrant of any U.S. map. But how do you know whether you’re eating traditional New Mexican cooking, Southwestern cuisine, or the popular hybrid known as Tex-Mex? Truth is, they’re all hybrids, launched nearly five centuries ago when the Spanish brought European spices and domestic animals to combine with indigenous ingredients. As Spanish and Mexican settlers followed El Camino Real north from Chihuahua to Santa Fe, culinary distinctions grew out of regional variations in locally grown products along the way.
What’s new is the categories: A generation ago, folks just helped themselves to “Mexican food.” Tex-Mex, as its name implies, draws from both sides of the international border, from grazing lands where vaqueros roast meat over mesquite fires. In New Mexico, it’s the chiles that set the dishes apart—and set your taste buds afire. When you order a local specialty, the server may ask, “Red or green?”—referring to red or green chile. Red chiles are usually sun-dried, while green chiles are fresh, but the flavor and spiciness varies depending on which of the 200 or more different chile varieties are used to make it. Try a little of each, and enjoy.
