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Did you know….
The chiltepin, a wild relative of the cultivated chile, did grow in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northern Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, and the region’s inhabitants presumably used the plant (though direct evidence of such use is scant for precontact times, early Spanish documents record indigenous collection and use of chiltepin). These small, round, orange-to-red peppers with a spicy kick appear to have been used as a spice rather than as a foodstuff.
Cultivated chiles of the kind we celebrate in the Southwest today don’t seem to have been a major part of the diet north of the Mexican border until about the 1700s, and even then they were used primarily in areas with a substantial colonial presence. Minnis and Whalen argue that chiles may have been slow to gain popularity among indigenous Southwestern populations because they didn’t fit within long-standing culinary traditions that apparently favored bland foods. The spread of chiles seems to be a result of colonization, rather than just a yearning for spice in the diet. Colonization brought changes in the status of different kinds of foods, and colonial policies altered the foods produced and eaten by local populations.
In contrast, on the other side of the globe, chiles spread quite rapidly into Europe and Asia—where other kinds of spicy ingredients were common—after seeds brought back from Columbus’s second journey were cultivated in Spain, setting off what some have called a “minirevolution” in cuisine. The next time you dig into a tasty bowl of posole, pot of red or green chile stew, or green chile cheeseburger, consider the historical circumstances that led these foods to be so essential to New Mexican and Southwestern identity.(archaeologysouthwest.org)
Today’s Restaurant
Armadillo Willy’s – Sunnyvale, Ca
Average Cost
$11-$30
Rating (1-10)
10
Recommended Dishes:
Smoked Pork Green Chili Stew, Hickory Bacon Burger, All of their BBQ
Everybody loves a good soup on a cold chilly day..
Better than soup is a stew..
And what better than a stew with smoked pork in it!
I tell you ‘Hands Down’ that this Smoke Pork Chili Stew from Armadillo Willy’s is one of the best stews I have ever had in my life on Earth!
Let’s talk about it..
