Guardian's "How to eat: burritos"

This isn't Mexican food-related, but the first time I came to the UK to stay for any length of time, I was doing a teacher training course, and one lunchtime I watched one of my fellow trainees eat a cheeseburger and chips with a knife and fork. That was when I truly understood how far from home I was .

Our very first public fight, my husband and I were sitting in the waiting room with my family in anticipation of the arrival of my cousin's baby. We ordered a burger and baked potato from a steak delivery place called 'Steak Out', an establishment I used to work at before I met him. He had a total meltdown that they only sent him a fork pack [napkin, fork, salt pepper] with which to eat his dinner, and insisted he could not eat his potato without a knife.  Knowing the owner as I did, I told him that they didn't send out knife packs with anything but steak because they cost more, and Dave cut corners wherever he reasonably could.  He kept on complaining until I took the fork out of his hand, stabbed the potato, and proceeded to cut it open with the edge of the fork.  He was so horrified that he left and we didn't see him again until his dinner was good and cold, at least an hour later.  I swear, in the apocalypse, none of my British relatives will survive even one day, lol. In his defense, after 9 years in the US, he's adapted pretty well, and will eat almost anything with just a fork if necessary, and is happy to enjoy handheld foods without utensils.  You can tell it urks him, though.

Historyenne & Wren Black--I literally LOL when I read your replies. Back in 1994, my then boyfriend (my now husband of 18 years) came to Houston to visit me and I was very eager to introduce him to my friends. We all met up at the local Wings & More for dinner. We ordered a huge plate of wings and all asked the English boy to "tuck in". He proceeded to politely cut his wings with a knife and fork and declared them "a bit weeny". I swear that the entire room went silent!  He was a good sport and took all the ribbing he got.

FutureMrsHandy2014--I totally feel your pain. I'm from El Paso, Texas originally. My father was a mariachi and an owner of a group and his partner owned a Mexican restaurant so yes, my family is a Mexican family! Lol I lived in Reading and Bolton from 1995-2004. There was absolute freaking squat at the time for Mexican foods anywhere! Not even tortillas or Old El Paso kits until 1997. Plus, this was a world before the internet was everywhere and no online ordering! I was told that a place called Chiquitos in Virginia Water and Manchester but I could never bring myself to go. I just accepted that I would have to learn to do without. I only ate it when I visited and that was about it. I've been back for 10 years and I hardly eat it because I had no choice but to learn to cook English/ Irish/ European/ Indian dishes and I have a large repertoire of meals. But, tamales and menudo are a clear exception!!

I really do miss good Mexican food! I've tried several places here and felt a pretty big "meh" about them. And I agree with other posters, Mexican food doesn't have to be rocket science! But here we are with dry steak/pork, bland guac, and the incessant snide comments about my pronouncing "taco" correctly! (or general snide remarks about my latin-spanish pronunciations whilst everyone else pronounces words as someone from spain would. Not that its really *wrong* but I'm not gonna pronounce Chorizo the way a spanish person would when I'm eating a Mexican dish!)

And I'll never forget this girl gently correcting someone that a dish wasn't really a tamale but actually just a smothered burrito (in my experience you'll be offered a variety of mexican dishes here that really do just turn out to all be the same smothered burrito) and a bunch of people got really snippy with her for pointing out that it wasn't actually authentic.

I have to say this:  if you want Mexican food so much why move to the UK?  You can't expect to have every cuisine available to the highest standards.

I have to say this:  if you want Mexican food so much why move to the UK?  You can't expect to have every cuisine available to the highest standards.

I wonder this as well sometimes. There are so many types of great food you can get here- Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, Polish, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, various South American dishes... and yet all I ever hear are complaints about Mexican food. I love Mexican food as well, but I wonder if some people actually realise that there is a dearth of Mexican people in the UK, which means that Mexican (and let's not kid ourselves, they mostly mean Tex-Mex) food isn't really going to be super authentic. I don't understand people who want a country on a different continent to be exactly like the country they left. Be a bit more adventurous!

I think it's because the UK does do so many different cuisines that it seems unusual that it's so hard to find Mexican food there! It's not exactly terribly difficult to make, and it's not like the ingredients aren't available. Plus it's strange that people DO try to do it but then do it so badly.

I think it's because the UK does do so many different cuisines that it seems unusual that it's so hard to find Mexican food there! It's not exactly terribly difficult to make, and it's not like the ingredients aren't available. Plus it's strange that people DO try to do it but then do it so badly.

I agree with you on that. I think that's most of the feelings with Americans and Mexican food in the UK. It's the fact that you can find some attempt at Mexican or tex-Mex on nearly every pub menu but it is always terrible. (I will say Wahaca and mission burrito do a pretty good job though). I think anyone who is familiar with one cuisine in a more authentic way will be a bit incredulous or even annoyed when someone else attempts to make it and bills it as authentic and it turns out to be completely inauthentic.

Plus I think food is a big part of home comforts, and if we, as Americans in the UK, see something on a menu that should be familiar and turns out not to be, we find it off putting. We wanted some small semblance of home and we got a bad imitation instead. I think it's totally natural to have those feelings and want to commiserate with others who will understand about it, which is why we get some much criticism of British Mexican food here on a board for Americans.  I feel the same anytime I see something in the UK marked as "American" or, even worse, "southern."  Being an American from the Deep South. Those are my home comfort foods and it just makes me cringe to see how they have translated here.

I just found it hilarious that the picture they use of a burrito is so OBVIOUSLY from taco bell!

I'll be moving over in a couple of months from Arizona, so I'll be missing my local salsa. I've even begged the chef at my favorite restaurant to give me the recipe, promising that I will never sell it or give it to anyone else, but he won't do it!

Food is generally introduced to a country via immigrants cooking their traditional food. Gradually, the traditional is adapted and modified to suit its new country. Pizza, for example, is very different in different countries around the world. The UK doesn't have many Mexican immigrants, so it has not really had any exposure to Mexican food. Fair enough, and as has been pointed out, but there are plenty of delicious cuisines in this country. The issue is when a country with no exposure to Mexican food or significant ties to Mexico publishes an article in one of its national newspapers telling people how to eat Mexican food.

The issue is when a country with no exposure to Mexican food or significant ties to Mexico publishes an article in one of its national newspapers telling people how to eat Mexican food.

The Guardian.....

Why "How to eat"?

There is always so much introspection with them...

For me, the area from which I hail in the US only really has two 'international' foods available (not counting Italian, which seems pretty standard across the US): Chinese and Mexican.  Thanks to the migrant workers who spend their summers in NE Ohio, the Mexican food we have is more authentic than you would expect in the North.  It is strange for me to come to the UK, which has a lot of international options, and not recognize the Chinese and Mexican food available.  I agree with alisonr about seeing attempts in pubs.  I still don't want to believe that I will get tortilla chips with melted cheddar cheese if I order nachos.  One place served beans with their nachos: a side of plain Heinz beans, not refried beans.  I was stunned!

I was recently in a restaurant that offered Boston cream cake (sic).  So I thought I'd give it a try and it wasn't bad.  Not my mum's Boston cream pie but edible: yellow cake with creme patissiere and chocolate ganache.  It looked a little strange as the chef had made individual rounds of cake not the wedge-shaped slice you might expect.  But I didn't go home and moan.  I give them credit for trying something a bit exotic.

Ugh. Six years in the UK and I think I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that they will never truly get Mexican. At least not until they can a) learn to make guacamole properly (which will mean sourcing decent avocados), b) stop being so damned snide about frijoles (and learn to make them properly as well), and c) STOP WITH THE CHEDDAR CHEESE ALREADY!

That is all.

I've lived in Texas most of my life, and use Cheddar, colby or colby-jack often when making Mexican food.  I'm by far not the only one doing it either.  Is there something different about the way Cheddar is used when attempting Mexican or Tex-Mex in the UK?

I've lived in Texas most of my life, and use Cheddar, colby or colby-jack often when making Mexican food.  I'm by far not the only one doing it either.  Is there something different about the way Cheddar is used when attempting Mexican or Tex-Mex in the UK?

I expect that Texas cheddar is milder and melts more smoothly than British cheddar, which is aged and has a strong, distinctive flavour. Certainly colby and colby jack are much, much milder. We always used Monterey jack in Mexican when I was growing up, and when I lived in California I used to go to this taqueria run by actual Mexicans, and they always used queso blanco or asadero. The point of the cheese is to be melty and creamy, British cheddar is too invasive flavour-wise and too oily when it melts.

ETA: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/articles/detail/mexican-cheeses

Agreed on British cheddar.  It's delicious, but not in Mexican food. It's much stronger than American cheddars.