Mexican food is not all beans and tortillas, neither is it all based upon the food of the indigenous people who intermingled with the Spanish Conquistadors. Rather, like the most cuisines, it is a melding of all the people who passed across her border, and who settled that vast country south of the US border. Much of what is sold in restaurants is really "Tex-Mex," a conglomeration of northern Mexican food adapted for the tastes of Americans across the Rio Grande.

A trip into the interior of the country shows a vast array of different cooking styles and tastes. Prior to the Irish Diaspora which was caused by the 1843 Potato Famine, there was a large influx of sons of Eire into Mexico. In order to hold land in the then Spanish kingdom, a settler had to be a professed and practicing Catholic. The Mexican government would give land grants to immigrants willing to work the land, and to give a Christian presence in areas heavily populated by Indios, the native population. This situation was tailor made for the Irish, who were willing to work for a piece of land which they could never hope to own at home, and land could be had merely by benefit of their labour. The Irish history in Mexico goes all the way back to the 17th Century. William Lamont, an Irish Catholic who entered the service of the King of Spain and who fought in a campaign to in the Netherlands was exiled to Mexico after he was caught in a scandalous affair with a woman at court.

Once he arrived in Mexico, he began to sympathize with the Indios, and was subsequently arrested for sedition against the crown. Lamont was sentenced to ten years for his crime, but managed to escape. His mistake was, two days after bolting from prison, he was caught plastering anti-Inquisition broadsheets on a wall. Conspiracy against a monarch 6,000 miles away was one thing. Bad mouthing the Church who was present on a daily basis was another. Lamont was executed as a hieratic. Lamont's actions on behalf of the native people of Mexico earned him the name of El Zorro, the Fox, whose legend was later transformed into a series of adventure stories, movies and TV shows, thanks to Lamont's story being co-opted by Johnston McCulley in New York in 1919.

There is also a large Chinese population in Mexico. There was a huge influx of oriental workers into California early in that state's history, where they were treated worse than slaves. Forbidden to own property in the US under the Chinese Exclusion Act, many of them managed to make their way into Mexico, where they assimilated into the population. So, what does this have to do with food? Mexican reliance on milk and cheese as part of their diet is partially due to the Irish and German influence. While there may not be a good Cheddar substitute in Mexico (difficult to make without the necessary cooler temperatures needed for curing out the hoops of cheese one it is cooked and pressed) there are many other wonderful soft cheeses. As many of native descent suffer from lactose intolerance, due to historically not being exposed to dairy products, milk and cheese was a much later addition to their food. It was the European tastes that led to the addition of these products.

Of course, given the seclusion of Mexico from their homeland, the European settlers quickly adapted the local food to their own tables. Bread made from wheat was difficult to obtain. But corn was plentiful, and the settlers welcomed the tortilla to their table. Chilies were incorporated to by the native cooks who worked in the "big houses," in much the same way that Africans added their own touches to the cuisine of the American South. Do not be surprised if a dish suspiciously like Corned Beef and Cabbage winds up on a menu in Mexico City, or Dim Sum appears made by a cook call Rafael. It is all part of the Great Mexican Melting Pot.

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