the notorious hermit, lured into public by a burrito

February 21, 2015 4:54 PM

Why was Mexican food so pervasive in Pynchon’s work? (via the Paris Review)
posted by glass origami robot (21 comments total)

Does it really need a reason?
posted by acb at 5:08 PM on February 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

Every time I go to LA, friends insist I just have to try their favorite Mexican place and I'll understand. And every time, it's bordertown crap, exactly what people push on tourists in Tijuana and would never dream of eating at home. In NYC, we have no shortage of mediocre Californa-style tacos. But we also have a lot of central and southern Mexican places, some killer moles, and some Mexican places that don't use cheddar cheese, which seems bizarrely beyond most LA joints' reach. Californian's delusion that they've got the good stuff is like listening to someone rave about the cafeteria in Ikea.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 6:01 PM on February 21, 2015 [7 favorites]

Ikea's the sort of place that might serve the lingonberry pancakes that Bigfoot likes so much in Inherent Vice, just to bring us back round to Pynchon...
posted by sobarel at 6:12 PM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Californian's delusion that they've got the good stuff is like listening to someone rave about the cafeteria in Ikea.

Doesn't anyone know how to find good Mexican food in LA? You go where Mexicans go to eat Mexican food. You go the places where the menu is in Spanish and the waitresses don't speak English. You go where the Mariachis go and where people enjoy Mariachi music. And even if you hate Mariachis (I sure do) you ask them for a song and you tip them. I suggest Malaguena Salarosa, they will love you.

Go to Mariachi Plaza in East LA some evening. Follow the Mariachis. Back when I lived in LA, it was a parking lot next to a donut stand, across from the lavanderia closest to my loft.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:38 PM on February 21, 2015 [4 favorites]

Mexican food plays a large role in Thomas Pynchon's work because Mexican food is the greatest thing about America.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:16 PM on February 21, 2015 [17 favorites]

I want to refute that statement but I've got nothing.
posted by clarknova at 7:20 PM on February 21, 2015

I came in here to say what BitterOldPunk already said. I write novels too and the characters are chowing down on burritos pretty much 100% of the time. If you're going to create a fictional world why not create one where the people are eating something delicious.
posted by town of cats at 7:39 PM on February 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Californian's delusion that they've got the good stuff is like listening to someone rave about the cafeteria in Ikea.

Doesn't anyone know how to find good Mexican food in LA?

Your favorite Mexican food sucks.

(I can think of three different taco trucks off in a 15 minute drive of my current location in West LA that will serve me delicious things sans cheddar.)
posted by weston at 7:42 PM on February 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

I want you all to consider the following, which I consider the most profound mystery of the culinary universe:

Indian Food + pork fat = Mexican Food

I know it's reductionist, but that's what makes it beautiful
posted by mr_roboto at 9:03 PM on February 21, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ah Mexican food, delicious, delicious soft power.
posted by johnnydummkopf at 10:18 PM on February 21, 2015

ThatFuzzyBastard: " But we also have a lot of central and southern Mexican places, some killer moles, and some Mexican places that don't use cheddar cheese, which seems bizarrely beyond most LA joints' reach. Californian's delusion that they've got the good stuff is like listening to someone rave about the cafeteria in Ikea."

I live in Mexico, but I sometimes eat Mexican food in LA. There's indeed plenty of non-border adjacent Mexican to get in LA. I've been to places where I've been the only non-Mexican in the place, I order in Spanish, and it feels just like being in Mexico. Mariscos Chente, which used to be right by the airport, but moved a little further north, to Del Rey, is like that, and it's seafood as good as I've had anywhere on the Mexican Pacific coast.

So, in conclusion, maybe it's just your friends who have bad taste?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:02 AM on February 22, 2015 [7 favorites]

I want you all to consider the following, which I consider the most profound mystery of the culinary universe.

I swear I remember reading somewhere that it was nuns (Portuguese, IIRC although that doesn't really make historical sense) who had served in India who brought peppers and a lot of the cooking techniques of India to Mexico. That would be cool if true, but alas my google-fu is weak this Sunday morning.
posted by digitalprimate at 12:24 AM on February 22, 2015

You're probably thinking of black pepper, not (bell) peppers. India has been a (the?) primary exporter of black pepper possibly as far back as ancient Egypt. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it's us Indians who received bell peppers and tomatoes from South America via the Portuguese.
posted by vanar sena at 1:55 AM on February 22, 2015

a lot of the cooking techniques of India to Mexico

There's this old post on the topic.
posted by dhruva at 5:19 AM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Indian Food + pork fat = Mexican Food
Truth be known, I've been making curry burritos for years.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:49 AM on February 22, 2015

But does anyone else have North African tacos?
posted by Ideefixe at 8:40 AM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I always thought a Reuben Burrito would be nice, but it would depend on the availability of rye tortillas, and a few other issues.
posted by jonmc at 9:27 AM on February 22, 2015

So, I checked out, "Against the Day," last night, that's one trip out, and now I'm heading for El Rancho Market, or Betos for immediate gratification, sucidal intake, Carne Asada Fries!
posted by Oyéah at 10:44 AM on February 22, 2015

Rye wraps.

Keep Kraut moist and dry. Thin shavings of Swiss. The corn beef does present a moisture issue. Sauce is matter of either region or personal taste. Still.
posted by clavdivs at 1:47 PM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mexican food has Mesoamerican Indian influences too. From food historian Jeffrey Pilcher on the complicated history of the taco:

"Border residents often take great pride in their Hispanic origins, but Indians also made vital contributions to the cuisines of northern Mexico. Despite the priests’ tireless proselytism of wheat bread and wine, pioneer women of Mesoamerican origin were just as successful in spreading corn tortillas and chile pepper stews to the region. Spaniards were also influenced by native cooking practices, for example, during a famine of 1590 in which a Spanish official ordered two oxen to be pit-roasted in an indigenous manner as “barbacoa de mezcal.” Nor were the native inhabitants of the frontier passive in these cultural exchanges. They provided crucial knowledge of local foods to both Spaniards and Mesoamerican Indians alike. While adapting new foods and practices to survive in a landscape irrevocably changed by colonialism, the Pueblos, Rarámuri, Cunca’ac and others succeeded in preserving their cultural integrity."
posted by minhrootloop at 10:43 PM on February 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

I dunno, I've alway been a bit underwhelmed by the Mexican food places in New York. Most of the places people rave about is just on par with some place like El Coyote. It's good but not worth going out of your way for. The ease and availability of good Mexican in LA makes it superior. Just like how finding a good slice of pizza in NY is only 5 minutes away in any direction.
posted by cazoo at 2:17 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]