@Rod1 Have you ever visited the States and tried Mexican cuisine here?
I have lived in a few Mexican-American neighborhoods and have a lifelong love of Mexican food, and I think Mexican immigrants to the States have created some of the most dynamic cuisine in the world.
As far as I can tell, there are at least 10 subsets of Mexican cuisine in the United States:
- Type A - Authentic Mexican - Pretty much only found in somewhat dense Mexican-American neighborhoods; owned, staffed, and mostly patronized by Mexican Americans; most common drinks are natural juices, sodas, and beers, with margaritas and cocktails being rare
- Type B - Semi-Authentic "Americanized" Mexican - Found in most towns and cities; comparable to type A but with more cheese, more flour tortillas, more sour cream, and less onions and way less cilantro; also, margaritas; still owned and staffed by Mexican Americans but mostly patronized by non-Mexican consumers
- Type C - Semi-Authentic High-End Mexican - Exclusively found in big cities; generally operated by a Mexican American chef that seeks to experiment more with his cuisine, accentuate lesser known Mexican dishes, and maybe borrow some dishes from other Latin American countries; smaller portion sizes and less reliance on beans and rice
- Type D - Semi-Authentic Fast Casual Mexican - Found in medium-size cities and up; generally mission-style restaurants, offering burritos and bowls; generally staffed by Mexican Americans but owned by non-Mexican investors
- Type E - Semi-Authentic Mexican Fusion - Found in medium-size cities and up; Mexican cuisine mixed with other national cuisine, most commonly Korean, but still generally staffed by Mexican American workers
- Type F - Non-Authentic Fast Casual Mexican - Found everywhere; mission-style restaurants in the vein of Chipotle and Qdoba. Not overtly inauthentic like true fast food, but little to no effort is made to retain real Mexican ingredients.
- Type G - Non-authentic Mexican Fusion - Found in medium-size cities and up; purely non-Mexican cuisine using Mexican cuisine vehicles, mostly tortillas; not staffed by Mexican Americans
- Type H - Non-authentic High-End Mexican - Found in big cities; similar to type G, but instead of other immigrant cuisine, it's mostly hipster urbanites putting weird shit into tacos but also accentuating random Latin American items like yucca. Portion size is tiny and price is high. Not owned, staffed, or generally patronized by anyone but young white people
- Type I - Non-authentic Mexican Fast Food - Taco Bell has pretty well cornered this market on a national scale; not authentic by any means but still some attempt to retain references to Mexican cuisine even if in name only
- Type J - Non-authentic American Mexican - Not authentic at all and very little attempt to appear otherwise; ballpark nachos, "totchos," and fast food tacos from Burger King and Jack in the Box.
And all of them are awesome. Even the shitty ones.