This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
News Provided by the Pinal County Historical Museum
Free Program at the Pinal County Historical Museum
Sunday Jan 13 th at 2 p.m.
When you sit down at the table for a fine Mexican meal, think about this….most of the foods you will find there started out somewhere else. Consider the taco, that favorite treat, a staple of Mexican and Mexican American cooking and an old standby on an Arizonan’s plate.
The corn in the tortilla comes from the Valley of Mexico, the cheese from Anatolia, the lettuce from Egypt, the onion from Syria, the pinto beans from central Mexico, the tomatoes and peppers from the Caribbean coast, the chicken (optional, of course) from Indochina, the beef (ditto) from the steppes of Eurasia. Add a chimichanga, that Arizona invention, and you introduce wheat from what is now northern Iraq into the mix. Add rice, and you travel to East China; add olives, and the eastern Mediterranean comes into view.
The foods of Arizona speak to the many cultures, native and newcomer, that make up our state. Join Gregory McNamee, the author of Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food, in exploring these many traditions. For more information call 520-868-4382. Museum is located at 715 S. Main Street, Florence.