Tex-Mex Cuisine

Tex-Mex Cuisine, also called Tejano cuisine, is a regional American cuisine that grew from the cooking of the Tejano people, inspired by Mexican culinary traditions, and has spread from Texas and the Southwest to the rest of the country. It is a subtype of Southwestern cuisine. It is characterized by heavy use of shredded cheese, beans, meat such as chicken, beef and pork, chili peppers and spices, along with flour tortillas, and it uses cumin more than most Mexican cooking. Cheese plays a bigger role than in mainstream Mexican food, notably in queso served with tortilla chips. The ranching culture of South Texas and northern Mexico gave it beef, grilled food and tortillas, and the fajita was popularized from 1973.