RICE IN MEXICAN CUISINE

QUESTION

Hi James,

As we were eating lunch today, my husband asked how "rice and beans" can be a staple of Mexican food if there is no rice production in Mexico and parts south. Can we assume that the combination is a result of U.S., or Tex-Mex influence and is only recently associated with Mexican food? What's the history?

Thanks, Paula

ANSWER

Hello Paula

Early Spanish explores introduced rice in the Caribbean and South America, and to Mexico by the 1520s (rice wasn't introduced to the Carolinas until more than a century later). Rice has been part of Mexican cuisine for almost 500 years.

Mexico's rainy season follows a monsoon pattern, with the summer rains moving from southeast to northwest and back again. This makes two yearly rice crops possible in the southeastern state of Campeche, which borders on Veracruz, where rice is a summer crop. Rice is also a large crop in Colima, Michoacán and Nyarit.

Today, Mexico imports more then 60% of its rice, most of it from the U.S. That is not unusual - more than 80% of the world's rice is grown in 7 countries. (China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines).

Chef James, FoodReference.com

You are here > Home > FOOD TRIVIA & FACTS >

RHIZOMES to RYE > Rice Use In Mexico

Please feel free to link to any pages of FoodReference.com from your website.
For permission to use any of this content please E-mail: james@foodreference.com
All contents are copyright © 1990 - 2024 James T. Ehler and www.FoodReference.com unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved. You may copy and use portions of this website for non-commercial, personal use only.
Any other use of these materials without prior written authorization is not very nice and violates the copyright.
Please take the time to request permission.

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS

Also see: Food Articles and Cooking Tips

FoodReference.com (since 1999)

FOOD TRIVIA and FOOD FACTS SECTION