Taking a Culinary tour through the US Southwest is not a trip for the easygoing. The Southwest is filled with culinary style that is as simple to prepare as it is flavorful – as full of hot ingredients as it is filled with the healthiest of vegetables. If you’re looking for a food tour in the US Southwest, don’t expect to land in a big Mexican restaurant with a dizzying array of fillings for burritos. In fact, don’t limit the Southwest and put it all under one blanket, because you are in for a gustatory awakening.
Southwest cuisine can actually be summarized up into hybrids of various cuisines. Border cuisine, sometimes fancifully referred to as South of the Border, might be more toward your local Mexican restaurant fare, with some burritos flavored mildly to suit a wider range of palates. You also have Tex-Mex cuisine, a blend of Texan and Mexican, heavy on the meats and spices. There is also the fresh, corn-rich American Indian flavors, the richer and hotter Mexican offerings, and even nueva Latina, a new version of Southwestern pairings that is springing up in various places across the Southwestern states.
If you are taking a Southwestern Food trip, then you’ll surely pass by the Lone Star State, and get a whiff of huge Texan meats and steaks. You’ll go through Kansas, where you can sink your teeth into wonderful corn breads and products. Nothing beats a Kansas vacation. You will visit Southern California and the Baja, where the burritos are hot and the tamales are even hotter. You will find yourself in New Mexico and Colorado, even parts of Oklahoma, and you’ll get yourself some American Indian cuisine that is as historic as the hills but plenty flavorful, too!
It is no suprise, then, that the Southwest is often described as the godfather of all American cuisine, containing the roots of its indigenous cooking. Ponder it: even before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock got their first taste of Europe, a whole lot of food was already cooking in these parts! A food tour through the Southwestern United States, therefore, is a trip through history, where you can actually savor the meals that have been around from times past, and are testaments to stories long past but never forgotten.
So what should you discover? Look for blue, purple, or even red corn, all of which can be prepared into various tasty tacos, among other things. You will also find a whole lot of hot, so go for fire-roasted chilies, and other chili dishes that will make your mouth water immensely (and your eyes tear up, too!). You’ll get meat smoked with mesquite, searing the air with flavorful aromas. Whether you’re drinking it all down with a bottle of South of the Border Tecate, or a bottle of European wine, you’ll surely find something to look forward to in the US Southwest.
If you are scheduling a trip to the US Southwest on a culinary tour, there are a few things that you will need to remember. First, because many of the dishes are spicy, you may need to check if you have any palate or health sensitivities with spicy foods. For instance, if you have irritable bowel syndrome, then you may need to ease up on the chilies. You will also need to check with your tour planner if the tour covers all the lodging and transportation, while you have to pick up the tab when you stop for meals. Don’t forget to examine the fine print and ask questions. Take the necessary precautions, and you can manager your Southwest US Food tour into a fantastic getaway.
