Sometimes you'll notice an odd tendency of Mexicans insisting on how special or different their food is.
Everyone agrees that their food tastes pretty good.
Some of the best in Latin America.
I would say the best in Latin America actually but you obviously have solid competition from Argentina, Peru, etc.
However, Mexicans tend to exaggerate a little too strongly just how different their food is.
For one, we all know the classic joke that "all Mexican food is just tacos."
....Wait? That's a joke?
While that's technically not true and Mexico has plenty of cuisine that isn't a taco, it is true that a lot of the more popular items do resemble each other so closely that you'd wonder "what difference is there really between these things?"
Like a quesadilla to a taco to a fajita to a gringa and more.
To a lot of outsiders, it's the same: "here's a tortilla, here's some junk to throw on it, boom food made."
Obviously that's not all Mexican food though and each of those food items do have their own distinct differences but Mexicans do sometimes exaggerate the differences even between those items.
And that's just the start.
Take another Mexican classic: mole.
Here's a video on mole for those not familiar with it.
Basically just some chocolate flavored salsa with a tiny bit of spice to it.
And Mexicans act like they invented the culinary Mona Lisa with that shit.
It tastes good but it's not like they invented the wheel out here.
And, as of recently, I came across another example of Mexicans over hyping to a T the creativity that they imagine their food to have.
Introducing the Suadero: Never Before Seen Meat Introduced to Humanity by Mexicans
Did you know that, before Mexicans existed (which is the same as before Christ was born), that the meat from the middle of the cow NEVER existed?!
It simply did not exist.
Literally.
That meat between the sirloin primal and the lower flank did not exist.
It wasn't until Mexicans came into existence that they invented a special type of cow to have that type of meat that nobody in human history had ever seen.
Known as suadero.
No, no, no. I know what you are thinking already.
"But Matt, doesn't this exist in Argentina and known as matambre? And doesn't Colombia sell it as sobrebarriga? And maybe elsewhere?"
FAKE NEWS.
Only the Mexicans were ever creative enough to think of taking this part of the cow to cook.
What do Argentinians know anyway of cooking meat?
It was only recently anyhow where I became aware of one of the greatest gifts Mexico has ever given to humanity.
The Gorditas de Suadero of Milpa Alta
In another day of the Milpa Alta town of Santa Ana, I went to buy some street food at around 9 AM.
There was some restaurant that made some of the best quesadillas I have tried anywhere in Mexico City.
Literally the best.
I'm not the biggest quesadilla fan to be honest. I don't mind it but I generally don't care that much about quesadillas.
Machetes are better.
But this place had quesadillas so good that I was always willing to eat them.
Especially their quesadillas de picadillo.
Unfortunately for me, they were not open for another 30 minutes despite advertising as being open by 9 AM.
As usual, open later than advertised.
Well, I wasn't going to wait 30 minutes so I walk over to buy some gorditas instead from another lady.
There were actually 3 street food spots on this exact same street that always made good food early in the morning.
Another one was a taco place that put french fries on the tacos when not every taco spot does that. I like the french fries but wasn't feeling like eating there that day.
So I check out the gordita lady spot.
She sells other things like quesadillas and tacos also but she's my gordita lady.
She does the gorditas better than anyone else. I got my taco lady and my quesadilla lady already picked.
Plus her quesadillas don't include picadillo and her tacos don't have french fries.
So objectively speaking she is the gordita lady.
Her role has been assigned.
Unfortunately though, she was good at her role but also kinda not good.
She made damn good gorditas. Always tasty as fuck.
The best in CDMX? No.
There was a cute indigenous slut in a neighborhood called Pedregal de Santo Domingo of Coyoacan that made better gorditas and some middle aged Mexican dude outside Copilco metro that made some of the best I've had in the city too.
But her gorditas were pretty damn good. Definitely worth a mention.
Though she was a middle aged woman and not some indigenous slut that I'd want to see choking on my white cock.
Anyway, back to the topic! I'll try to control myself here.
So she was the gordita lady.
Made good gorditas but her problem was that she always was missing half of the menu items whenever I showed up.
Like I wrote about here where so many places here in Mexico just don't have half of the fucking menu.
She was like that.
On this day, I wanted chicken gorditas.
She didn't have chicken.
I ask for chorizo gorditas.
She doesn't have chorizo.
"God damn, why you open then lady?" I thought.
My precious indigenous slut of Santo Domingo wouldn't be out of half the menu.
Do better next time!
But she did assure me that she has this special type of meat.
And she really begins hyping it up like I've never heard of it before.
Even though she knows I've been in Mexico City for years now but that's typical of some Mexicans for you.
Like I wrote in this article here, even if you live here for years, some Mexicans have this mental blockage that sees you as a perpetual "fresh off the boat" gringo that doesn't know anything about Mexico.
Even to the point that they don't think you know what "suadero" is.
It'd be like going to a Mexican who has spent years in the US and asking him "hey bro you hear about this cool shit we have in the US called hamburgers? Yeah? Nah, I bet you haven't. Let me teach you the ways of my ancestors."
And it's because this person is perpetually seen as "the other" that they are unable to see you as having any real knowledge of the local culture or language despite having immigrated here.
Anyway, she begins hyping up this "special" type of meat she has that, in her words, is "essential" and "unique" to Mexican cuisine.
Suadero.
And she pulls out the little container that has left over suadero meat like it's the next best thing since the wine made by Jesus.
All with a giant smile on her face and a look of "I'm going to introduce this gringo to some of the BEST of Mexican cuisine with this shit!"
Even though it's just cow meat.
Since I like suadero, I go along with it.
She cooks it just right.
As I walk away after paying, she tells me that "there's many things to our cuisine that are delicious! I hope you enjoy it!"
I nod and wish her a good day.
She was a nice lady overall.
And the food was tasty as always.
Here's a picture of it that I took that day.
Anything to Add?
While suadero is objectively part of Mexican cuisine and does deserve mention when discussing the cuisine of the country like I wrote about here, it was a bit silly in the moment for her to be hyping it up so much.
For, after enough years here, I am familiar with it. Not saying I am an expert on all things Mexico but you don't need to be to know what suadero is.
But, more importantly, suadero is literally just some cow stuff.
As we already laid out, it's not unique to Mexico and exists in other countries and comes from a very specific part of a cow.
Cool and all.
But it's not like Mexicans went to another planet to find some exotic product to be consumed that is so different from anything else that could be enjoyed at the dinner table.
And that is, like I said, just something you see among a lot of Mexicans.
This need to hype the living fuck up anything to do with their country (be it cuisine, culture, etc).
Unless of course they are talking to each other and begin bitching about things they don't like about the country.
Still, I ain't shitting on them too much here.
It ain't a bad thing to take pride in your country or culture.
Just a little bit silly to be hyping up that much suadero.
Anyway, that's all I got to say.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt