La comida más fronteriza
Traditions are such integral parts of a culture's identity. These traditions tell a culture's story, preserving it for generations to come. There is power in the practice of those traditions, so much so that throughout history, oppressive forces have gone so far as to outlaw the traditions of certain peoples in and effort to erase their cultural identity entirely. This makes it that much more important for to do all we can to embrace and preserve those traditions. Sharing these traditions with those outside our culture also provides them incite into what it is that defines us.
This is done through clothes, tattoos, and music & dance. The most common, and universal way to share our culture with others, though, is through food.
Everyone loves to eat, and why shouldn't we? Food is great. It provides us with the fuel we need to survive, sure, but it also appeals to just about five of the senses, it can create such incredible emotions inside us, and it brings people together. Eating can be such a profound social experience. Families, friends, strangers, and even enemies all bond around the dinner table. It's such a remarkable phenomena.
The unique culture of the communites along the US/MX is no different than any other, and food plays a major role. Just this past week, my wife and her sister were passing on the classic holiday tradition of making tamales to our son. We also celebrate the well established holiday traditions of homemade pozole and menudo.
With that in mind, let me share with you a delicious, unique piece of culinary art from my culture - the chimichanga.
In my humble opinion, there is no food in the world more "Fronterizo" than the chimichanga. This is mostly due to the fact that it was invented here. An argument could be made, I suppose, that there are other foods that better demonstrate the clash of cultures that happens at the border, therefore creating something altogether unique, but as far as I know, none of those have a history as closely connected to border communities, nor have they had as large of a worldwide impact as the chimi.
There is some debate about the origins of this culinary masterpiece, but all the stories and theories seem to agree that its roots are tied to either northern Sonora, or southern Arizona right near the border. Some claim that this magnificent staple of Tex-Mex cuisine was acutally originally from Mexico and was brought into the US by immigrants. This is entirely possible, but those making this claim are unable to offer any specifics about exactly where, or when the dish came into existence.
The two better known claims to this masteful work of culinary ingenuity are actually a point of contention for a pair of dueling restaurants with deep roots in Tucson - El Charro and Macayos.
El Charro original location in Tucson, AZ
The story from El Charro goes back a century to 1922, when the restaurant's founder, Monica Flin, had prepared a burrito and was carrying it out of the kitchen when she accidently dropped it into some oil, exclaiming "Chi- michanga" catching herself just short of blurting out an expletive, creating the now world famous dish and naming it all at once. It's a colorful story, sure, but what about the other restaurant?
The Macayo's story is almost identical to that of El Charro, with the owner, Woody Johnson, either dropping a burrito into oil on accident, or experimenting with some new recipe ideas. This story takes place two decades later in the 1940s, however, and has no mention of any expletives or other suggestions of just how the deep fried burrito got its name.
If I'm being honest, the story coming out of El Charro is a bit more believable. The level of detail along with the fact that it takes place twenty years before Macayo's claim lends to it a certain credibility. I do love Macayo's, though.
Maybe the real origin story isn't that important. The chimi is just as delicious either way. Maybe it's enough that this culinary masterpiece, the most "border" of all "border" foods, has reached every corner of the Earth, serving as ambassador of border culture to the entire world.
Photos by: Victoria Emerson from Pexels, El Charro Café website