Which are the 5 states in the United States where Mexican food is most popular?


In the United States, Mexican food occupies an important place. is the second most popular “ethnic” cuisine in the United States after Chinese.

Mexican food is also the number one favorite in 27 states.the Chinese in 22 and the Thai in two states (Alaska and Hawaii), according to an analysis through Google of several kitchens made by Chef’s Pencil.

On a scale from 1 to 100, Mexican food has a score of 59, while Chinese food has 64 points.

What are the states that love Mexican food the most?

  1. Arizona with 100 points
  2. Texas with 88 points
  3. Nevada with 86 points
  4. Arkansas with 84 points
  5. New Mexico with 84 points

Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Tennessee y Mississippi, They are also among the first 10 states that prefer Mexican food the most.

As for the cities, the one that enjoys Mexican cuisine the most is San Antonio (Texas), while San Diego and Sacramento (California) rank second and third.

According to Chef’s Pencil, around the 9% of the country’s restaurants are Mexican. Just a few decades ago in New York it was difficult to find Mexican food, but today the situation is very different.

In a mapping of Mexican food in New York historians of the Stony Brook University It is noted that up to summer of this 2020, there are 27,556 restaurants in the New York City. Of this number, 977 are Mexican restaurants (338 and Manhattan, 301 and Brooklyn, 203 and Queens, 126 and el Bronx y 43 and Staten Island).

New York leans towards Chinese food, then through the kitchen Italian and thirdly for the mexicana.

Why is Mexican food so popular in the United States?

Foto: Wotancito/Creative Commons

Mexican food is a favorite for different reasons. A lover of this food would say that it is tasty, colorful and spicy.

Your country of origin is neighboring. The taste for Mexican food in the United States not only happened because more Americans were curious or had traveled to Mexico, but because of the growing Mexican population

There is a large presence of Mexicans. According to the most recent statistics shared by Mexa Institute. Mexicans are 62.4% of the Hispanic population in the country.

In the 20th century, after the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the cuisine of the Aztec land began to grow in popularity, with the increase of Mexican migrants from the United States who later established food businesses ranging from truckloads of tacos and tamale carts until tortilla shops and then restaurants.

“Mexican-inspired” restaurants

Photo: Alfonso Charles/ Pixabay

Hay another reason, perhaps the most powerful, so that Mexican or at least “Mexican-inspired” food is popular among non-Mexicans as well. It is about the fast food restaurant chains who saw the great business opportunity to recreate food that was appreciated by the Mexicans and the distributed throughout the country. Being the tacos the most famous mexican food abroad.

Chains like Taco Bell offered a taco version that for many Americans (non-Latinos) was the first opportunity to enjoy or acquire them.

Glen Bell (creator of Taco Bell) began in 1946 with a hot dog stand in San Bernardino. Tacos were a fairly common food item in Southern California, seeing the lines at a taco restaurant was what gave Bell the idea. In 1952 Bell turned to tacos and with his franchises he took them all over the United States.

The tacos that Taco Bell makes, despite not being like authentic Mexican tacos, have become so popular that to date the chain has 6000 restaurants in the United States and more than 500 restaurants around the world, including Spain, China, Brazil, India and Canada.

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